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WBTTH&S Project – final conference in Madrid, Spain
The Confederación Española de Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado (COCETA) has presented the final results of the European project on Health and Safety in the Social Service Sector WBTTH&S (Web Based Training Tools for Health and Safety).
The results can be seen at the web www.wbtths.com, where readers will find a series of seven educational videos acted by professional actors that try to show risky situations -and their solutions-, with a bit of humor. The videos are to be used in training about labor risks to people that work taking care of other people (elderly, with disabilities...), in particular houses or at residences. The training also includes a questionnaire with questions to be answered in certain determined time, about what the videos are trying to teach.
During the event, that took place at the Economic and Social Council (CES) of Spain, representing people of the five countries that were part of the project participated: ANJAF and APSHSTDC from Portugal, Balkanplan from Bulgaria, GIE from Romania, Oltremodo from Italy, and COCETA, the Spanish entity that coordinated the project.All of them agreed with the good reception that the videos have had in their own countries. “More than 700 worker cooperatives in Spain give services to the elderly people, or with disabilities”, explained also Juan Antonio Pedreño, president of COCETA, who spoke in a table with Marcos Peña, president of the CES. “This is an educational tool for social services sector so in their daily life people that work in this sector are protected, as in other labor activities, and so the low can be fully accomplished”.
The president of the CES agreed on Pedreño´s words, and also argument the proud of his institution to be able to present this project in its house. He appointed the idea that the enterprises and workers should be able to develop their activities with security, health and respect.In a room full of people interested in the results of the material, COCETA also presented in the round table a representative of a cooperative dedicated to the services sector. It was Manuela Rodríguez, president of the cooperative Tosande, owners of the elderly residence in Madrid, Los Balcones. She stressed the good host that the videos had on her cooperative, coinciding with what happened in other European countries where a test was performed in situ on the effectiveness of the same.
The director of COCETA, Paloma Arroyo, showed one of the videos and the web, which is in English and translated into each of the five languages of the participating countries.
Among the speakers were also Rafael Ruiz Calatrava, president of the Council of Professionals in Occupational Health and Safety (UMIVALE), who congratulated the technicians for the "great work" made with these training videos; and referred to the prevention of risks in the workplace, the impact on productivity and employment generation in the sector.
Ruiz Calatrava stressed the need to carry out more videos like these, especially with regard to psychosocial risks that are a central point related to the work-related accidents and absenteeism: stress and depression, related to the precariousness and the ill-treatment of the workers.
Malena Riudavert, vice president of COCETA, who comes from a school cooperative, closed the event, and stressed the need for projects such as these, also in the education field.
The ending conclusions were made by Pedro Vicente Alepuz, director of the department of outreach and training of the National Institute for Health and Safety at Work, who emphasized the quality of the materials and say that they will put on them on their own web page.
This project (number 2013-1-ES1-LEO05-66909) has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.Previous page: Executive Director - MS Carmen Andreea ONEATA
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