Resumen de Los programas de protección voluntarios en la industria de la construcción: desarrollo de un modelo con integración de la cadena de valor
Pablo Yáñez Rodríguez
Background. The construction sector presents a significantly higher rate of work injuries than other sectors. Beyond strict legal compliance, voluntary protection programs (VPP) showed an average 52% reduction in accidents according with official sources. However, these figures have not been contrasted by empirical evidence. Moreover, VPP¿s do not usually include the contracting companies throughout the value chain, which are precisely those that provide much of the workforce of the construction phase of the projects. Objective. The objective of this research is to propose an evidence-based Voluntary Protection Program for the construction sector (VPP-SC) with incorporation of subcontractors. Methodology: After documenting and reviewing the empirical evidence on the effectiveness of voluntary programs in 5 countries, we carried out a field study in Spain and Mexico, where 309 VPP¿s were implemented in 87 contracting companies involved in the construction phase of 37 civil and residential projects. During the 13-month course of the project, monthly data on the results of accidents are taken, in terms of incidence rate and frequency rate, performance appraisal and management of occupational risk prevention (SVG). The results of the field study support our hypothesis, namely: The voluntary incentive programs reduce accidents in the workplace and Subcontractors enrolled in VPP improve the management of occupational safety performance. Regarding the first hypothesis it has shown a significant negative correlation between accident rates and the number of voluntary programs adopted in the various workplaces. Regarding the second hypothesis, in 100% of cases, empirical evidence supports that participation in VPP improves SVG scores. Based on this empirical evidence, a VPP-SC has been proposed. The VPP-SC constitutes a performance indicator for the management of occupational risk prevention (PRL) that confirms the presence of continuous improvement processes
