Interview with Alessandro Bussotti, Coordinator of the HSE management community of Confindustria Umbria.
On the occasion of World Occupational Safety Day 2025, we interviewed Alessandro Bussotti, Coordinator of the HSE management community of Confindustria Umbria, to take stock of the evolution of the role of the RSPP, the main current and future challenges in the world of occupational safety, and the fundamental importance of quality training for accident prevention.
How has the role of the RSPP changed in recent years? How do you see the world of safety evolving in the near future?
In recent decades, the role of the RSPP has been shaped around new requirements for prevention and safety in the workplace. Technological innovations such as robotics and automation, the increasing presence of personnel who do not speak Italian and adopt uncommon working methods, has resulted in a necessary push toward professionalization of the RSPP. The most prominent areas have certainly been those related to staff training and safety communication. The RSPP, nowadays, cannot avoid having knowledge of general psychology and also related to communication.
Security is also effective human relationship.
These issues will become increasingly important in the coming years, and the arrival of A.I. will force us to support organizations in reshaping work processes. I would also add that all organizations will be faced with the major issue of an aging work population. The RSPP will have the daunting task of keeping prevention intrinsically linked to all aspects of corporate governance.
What are the main challenges for those involved in workplace safety today?
The main challenge is certainly that of transferring all those concepts related to occupational safety to middle managers and workers. The first and most fundamental concept is certainly that of the inextricable link between safety and value generation. This is a link that is not only inextricable but also directly proportional.
New technologies are changing the way work is done and monitored. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this development, from an occupational safety perspective?
The use of new technologies brings with it reduced wear and tear on the body and allows workers to produce while staying away from sources of risk. I would also add the great risk control capabilities that A.I. and increasingly sophisticated control sensors have. One example out of all: the obstacle identification technologies that equip industrial vehicles are now very useful tools in avoiding accidents. Personally, I see no major disadvantages to new technologies. At least for the time being.
What is the most common mistake companies make with respect to security?
Not understanding that prevention well embedded in a company is prodromal to value generation. I repeat myself, but I think this is the biggest problem. Still, unfortunately, occupational health and safety are considered obstacles to business process management.
In your experience, how important has quality training, in injury prevention, been compared to other measures (e.g., PPE, procedures, …)?
Quality training, that is, training that succeeds in stimulating the awareness of workers and company executives, is worth far more than any procedure or PPE. It is the worker who ultimately must understand the meaning and principles of safe work.
What really makes a safety training course effective?
Field training, concrete examples, exercises, data, testimonies.
Imagine having people understand during a training what happens to the body after a fall from a height of 6m, for example.
What does “working safely” mean to you?
I can say that working safely means being free. Free from the risk of permanently ruining one’s own life or the lives of others, and also freedom from the risk of destroying a company.