[Education of the workers and their participation in occupational health programs].

In addition to being exposed to the variables and factors that affect the health of the entire population, workers are vulnerable to other risk factors of a biological, chemical, physical, psychosocial and biotechnological nature. These factors cause work-related accidents and occupational and other work-related diseases. Biological factors may be present at workplaces and can spread rapidly in a dense population such as that of an industrial community. Chemical factors can cause acute intoxication and chronic and prepathological conditions, and physical factors include vibrations and ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. The risks related to posture, physical exertion, fatigue and stress can impair the health of healthy individuals and aggravate existing conditions in the handicapped and predisposed individuals. Finally, work practices increase the incidence of some pathological conditions. It is important to study these factors because when they are well understood they can be eliminated or controlled, and their possible harmful effects avoided. This is why prevention needs to be studied in the setting of a functional dynamic. Professionals in the field of prevention, which must include sociologists and psychologists, must train workers with the help of appropriate educational technology. Workers must participate actively in work programs, along with employers and organizations that represent them. The setting for joint participation in the field of prevention and workers' health--the enterprise in which measures are being promoted, and at the regional and national levels for framing standards and regulations, determining general policies, drawing up labor statutes, and setting up institutions for control and surveillance--imposes on the parties (particularly workers and organizations representing them) a series of rights and obligations that require training for proper observance. The author notes in particular that participation in prevention work means that workers must be given instruction in occupational health. Proper and effective training must impart an understanding of the risks, their consequences, the relationship between exposure, disease and health, and the techniques for the elimination and control of unhealthy, toxic, dangerous and uncomfortable situations, as well as an understanding of health promotion and well-being. This training must be provided by the public administration, and especially, by the institutions responsible for education, the drafting of laws and regulations, advisory services, research, and surveillance of conditions in all working situations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)