Abstract

BRICENO, Leonardo. Prevention of professional risks in Colombian companies. Rev. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2003, vol.1, n.1, pp.30-44. ISSN 1692-7273.

We assessed the preventive activities performed in 120 Colombian workplaces in Bogotá and El Valle del Cauca, Colombia. The results were analyzed by level of intervention considering the primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and by size of the workplace. It was established that those enterprises affiliated to the Professional Risk insurance system -part of the Social security system- with higher levels of premiums paid to the insurance companies, had more prevention activities than those with lower payments-75% vs. 16%. The Professional risks administrators -Insurance companies- gave more services to those workplaces with high premiums than those provided to enterprises with low premiums. 75% of the big factories had a commitment signed by the insurance company related to prevention services, while only 19% of the little enterprises had one. The enterprises with less than 20 employees had less prevention activities than those with more than 100 employees. None of the evaluated workplaces with less than 100 workers had a licensed occupational health counselor. Primary prevention activities like Industrial Hygiene studies in specific risks factors are scarce -24% of the workplaces had any evaluation about noise levels, illumination, temperatures or any other occupational risks factor 22.5% of the workplaces show any activity of risk control. It was concluded that the preferential services provided to the biggest enterprises carry a loss of cross subsidies in the social security system between big and little factories. Finally, the government must create an information system regarding the preventive services surveillance in the highest risks factories.

Keywords : Prevention; occupational health; professional; risk.

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