ENHANCING SAFETY IN GREEN JOBS: THE SOHS PROJECT FOR EFFECTIVE SAFETY TRAINING IN WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANTS

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) has a remarkable impact on the productivity of companies, as well as on their environmental and social responsibilities. The combination of “safe” and “green” becomes particularly challenging when we consider municipal solid waste management (MSWM). Workers in this sector engage in tasks that promote resources sustainability and the preservation of the planet, but these activities are often “Dirty, Dangerous and Demeaning” and the combined exposure to multiple hazards (chemical, biological, biomechanical and psychosocial) and unpredictable waste materials in plants represents an emerging risk. Safety training is crucial for accident prevention and the evolution of training through the integration of digital technologies becomes essential to improve its effectiveness. The SOHS (Sustainable Occupational Health and Safety) project addresses these challenges through a human-centered ergonomic approach. Four Italian academic partners collaborate to create a prototype of a gamified training solution based on a multidimensional occupational risks assessment in two waste management plants. The multi-method risk assessment relies on both objective and subjective data. The case studies treat different materials (plastic, paper and cardboard), process similar quantities of materials and are similar in the level of mechanization of their activity. The first phase of the risk assessment included the administration of a questionnaire to 31 workers and observation of working postures of 12 workers from the two plants. The results pointed out specific needs in the two plants for workstation re-design to improve workers’ posture and workload, based on their anthropometric and behavioral variability. Participants declared to be familiar with digital devices but their potential as safety training tools has to be further explored. Objective and subjective data will be integrated and used to create game scenarios with rewards and penalties in the prototype of the innovative training tool with potential for industry-wide adoption in the waste management sector.