RLS - Workers’ safety representatives
Who is the workers’ safety representative (RLS)
The workers’ safety representative is a "person elected or appointed to represent workers with regard to aspects of health and safety at work" (Legislative Decree no. 81/2008, art. 2 - Definitions)
With Legislative Decree no. 81/2008, an attempt was made to give a more significant role to the workers’ safety representative (RLS) through certain changes introduced in art. 47 et seq., highlighting its function as a guarantor of workers’ rights to participation and oversight in matters of health and safety at work.
In the activities of the RLS, greater involvement of workers in the preparation and updating of protection and prevention measures is emphasised, together with its crucial liaison role between workers’ needs and the company’s contact persons.
Legislative Decree no. 81/2008 confirmed the RLS’s advisory and supervisory duties, with the right to receive information from the supervisory authorities; in particular, the RLS’s right to obtain a copy of the risk assessment document (DVR) provided for by Articles 17 and 28 was reaffirmed, even if the recent corrective decree-law 106/09 limits consultation of that document to within the company only. In addition, an active role for collective bargaining is envisaged for the RLS, which may introduce further responsibilities and specific rules for those already listed in Article 50, which also broadens, in paragraph 2, compared with 626, the right to have “the means and space necessary for the exercise of the functions and powers granted to him/her”.
The supplementary and corrective provisions to the decree also include the possibility for the employer to provide the RLS with the risk assessment document “on electronic media”. Therefore, upon request, the RLS must receive a paper copy of the risk assessment document and, in addition, if prepared, the document on electronic media: a useful aid for access, reading and use. It is useful to remember that Article 26 (paragraphs 3 and 5) also extends this right to the single document for the assessment of interference risks (DUVRI), a copy of which may be requested both by the RLS of the contracting company and by the RLS of the contractor companies. This is intended to enable the workers’ representative to perform their role with greater awareness. The RLS is required to comply with the provisions of Legislative Decree 30 June 2003, no. 196 and with industrial secrecy in relation to the information contained in the risk assessment document and in the single risk assessment document (DVR), as well as confidentiality regarding the working processes of which he/she becomes aware in the exercise of his/her functions
Legislative Decree 9 April 2008, no. 81
Consolidated text with Legislative Decree 3 August 2009, no. 106
CONSOLIDATED ACT ON HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK
Implementation of Article 1 of Law 3 August 2007, no. 123 concerning the protection of health and safety in the workplace.
(Official Gazette no. 101 of 30 April 2008 - Ordinary Supplement no. 108)
(Supplementary and corrective decree: Official Gazette no. 180 of 05 August 2009 - Ordinary Supplement no. 142/L)
Faculty
Area no. 1 - Centro-umanisti
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Area no. 2 - Medicina
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Area no. 3 - Sud Piovego
Saverio SANTI - saverio.santi@unipd.it
Luigi QUINTIERI - luigi.quintieri@unipd.it
Area no. 4 - Nord Piovego
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Area no. 5 - Agripolis
Franco MEGGIO - franco.meggio@unipd.it
Daniela PASOTTO - daniela.pasotto@unipd.it
Technical and administrative staff
Area no. 1 - Centro-umanisti
Simone STECCA - simone.stecca@unipd.it
Carlo POLTRONIERI - carlo.poltronieri@unipd.it
Area no. 2 - Medicina
Cristiano LANZA - cristiano.lanza@unipd.it
Giuseppe RIGGIOLA - giuseppe.riggiola@unipd.it
Area no. 3 - Sud Piovego
Nicola NALESSO - nicola.nalesso@unipd.it
Matteo SARDELLA - matteo.sardella@unipd.it
Area no. 4 - Nord Piovego
Ettore BORTOLATO - ettore.bortolato@unipd.it
Area no. 5 - Agripolis
Anna Rita TRENTIN - annarita.trentin@unipd.it
Stefania ZANNONI - stefania.zannoni@unipd.it
RLS - Workers' Safety Representatives
via Marzolo, 3/A - 35131 Padua
rls@unipd.it