Ges.Sic.A.: an Innovative Approach for Monitoring and Managing Health and Safety in Activities with High Variability

Abstract

Recent changes in the world of work show, in comparison with the past, a larger use of outsourcing, a higher staff turnover and new atypical contracts (Koukoulaki, 2010). This introduces new issues in H&S management. In the past, the concept of job was mainly related to a specific and well-defined set of tasks. Nowadays, instead, it is increasingly linked to a variability of activities and work typologies carried out in collaboration, by personnel of different enterprises. Often, people involved in the activities work on the basis of a plurality of formal and informal agreements. Universities represent an example of this scenario, being workplaces characterized by high variability of activities involving a multiplicity of different subjects. Universities, hence, can be considered as a point of reference for defining prototypal models of H&S management, capable to cope with the change of the world of work. In this paper, the authors illustrate the approach developed and adopted by the University of Udine (Italy) to facilitate H&S management. The approach is based on the concept of "profile of activities" and the use of an ICT-based management tool. The tool, named GESSICA, allows us to monitor and manage the high variability of activities, thanks to effective and fluent procedures. The paper illustrates the approach and the tool as well as the results obtained after two years of testing. In the work, the authors highlight the aspects that can be assumed as reference point for implementing H&S management systems in other sectors characterized by high variability of activities and a multiplicity of types of employment contracts.