RDRL and Supervisors

Pursuant to the provisions of D.M. n.363 del 05/08/1998, “Regulations laying down rules for identifying the particular needs of universities and university education institutes (….)” in the field of workplace safety, the content of art.5 is reported below – “duties and responsibilities of the person responsible for teaching activity or research in the laboratory”

1. The person responsible for teaching activity or research in the laboratory, in carrying out such activity and for the purposes of risk assessment and the identification of the resulting prevention and protection measures, collaborates with the prevention and protection service, with the occupational physician, and with the other figures provided for by the legislation currently in force.

2. The person responsible for teaching activity or research in the laboratory, at the beginning of each academic year, before starting new activities and whenever there are significant changes in the organization of teaching or research, identifies all persons exposed to risk.

3. In particular, the person responsible for teaching activity or research, within the limits of their duties and competences, must:

1. take action in order to eliminate or reduce risks to a minimum in relation to the knowledge deriving from technical progress, providing the employer with prior and comprehensive information thereof;
2. take action, whenever there are changes to activities that are significant for the health and safety of operators, so that the document referred to in paragraph 2, article 4, of legislative decree 19 September 1994, n.626, is updated on the basis of risk assessment;
3. adopt prevention and protection measures before risk-related activities are carried out;
4. take action to supervise the correct application of risk prevention and protection measures;
5. attend the training and refresher courses organized by the employer with reference to their own activity and the specific duties performed. 

Within the University, the role of the Person responsible for teaching activity or research in the laboratory (RDRL) will therefore be placed within the hierarchical structure of the active roles in the safety organizational chart, between the following roles:

- Manager (or Head of Structure): a person who, pursuant to art. 2 paragraph 1 letter d) of D.Lgs. 81/2008, implements the employer’s directives by organizing the work activity and supervising it;

and
- Laboratory supervisor (or related space): a person who, pursuant to art. 2 paragraph 1 letter e) of D.Lgs. 81/2008, oversees the work activity and guarantees the implementation of the directives received, checking their correct execution by workers and exercising an effective power of initiative.

Please note that, if no identification is made, the responsibilities assigned to the RDRL will fall to the Head of Structure/Director of the Department (see organizational chart on page 12 of the SGSS Manual).

Once identified, the RDRL is included in the dedicated training and refresher program provided by the University, in accordance with the applicable legal requirements.

Pursuant to the provisions of Legislative Decree 81/08 “Consolidated Act on health and safety at work”, the content of Article 19 is set out below. “Duties of the supervisor” 

1. With reference to the activities indicated in Article 3, supervisors, according to their duties and competencies, must:

a) supervise and monitor compliance by individual workers with their legal obligations, as well as with company provisions on health and safety at work and the use of collective protective equipment and personal protective equipment made available to them and, in the event that conduct not complying with the provisions and instructions given by the employer and managers for the purposes of collective and individual protection is identified, intervene to correct the non-compliant conduct by providing the necessary safety instructions. In the event of failure to implement the instructions given or continued non-compliance, interrupt the worker's activity and inform the direct superiors;

b) verify that only workers who have received adequate instructions access areas exposing them to a serious and specific risk;

c) require compliance with the measures for controlling risk situations in the event of an emergency and give instructions so that workers, in the event of serious, immediate and unavoidable danger, leave the workplace or the dangerous area;

d) inform workers exposed to the risk of a serious and immediate danger as soon as possible about the risk itself and the measures taken or to be taken regarding protection;

e) refrain, except in duly justified cases, from requiring workers to resume their activity in a work situation where a serious and immediate danger persists;

f) promptly report to the employer or manager both deficiencies in the means and work equipment and in the personal protective equipment, and any other dangerous condition that arises during work, of which they become aware on the basis of the training received;

f-bis) if deficiencies in the means and work equipment and any dangerous condition identified during supervision are detected, temporarily interrupt the activity if necessary and, in any case, promptly report the non-compliances identified to the employer and the manager;

g) attend specific training courses in accordance with the provisions of Article 37. 

Once identified, the Supervisor is included in the dedicated training and refresher program provided by the University, in accordance with the applicable legal requirements.

Training is defined as “the set of activities aimed at teaching workers the correct use of equipment, machines, installations, substances, devices, including personal protective equipment, and work procedures”.

Article 37, paragraph 5, Legislative Decree 81/08 provides that “Training is carried out by an experienced person and in the workplace. Training consists of a practical test for the correct and safe use of equipment, machines, installations, substances, devices, including personal protective equipment; training also consists of applied exercises for safe work procedures. The training activities carried out must be tracked [...].”