VETTER E learning course (EN)

- Active listening - is based on knowing how to listen. Listening is an act of will, it requires voluntary attention that involves and commits the professional. 

Listening means focusing on holistic needs, listening with an active attitude, with the gaze, with monosyllables, silences, maintaining a conversation that involves the accommodation of the user's situation. 

- When someone wants to listen, they must focus their attention on what they are listening to. Listening is difficult and uncomfortable, perhaps because we fear that the demand for help is a threat of danger, capable of unbalancing our way of intervening. 

- Effective listening - We cannot take into account only those aspects on which we believe we can intervene. Listening involves an empathic response, rather than giving solutions, it is about reasoning together, discovering solutions together. 

- Empathic Response through Reformulation - Aims to reformulate the reality for the user, but in a more objective way. It is the fact of reformulating the conflict situation expressed, but without affective charge. With it, we encourage the individual to distance him/herself from the problem and to value it more objectively, to encourage reflection.

SOCIAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Before addressing this topic, we must be clear that when research is applied to the social environment, we obtain new knowledge in the field of reality, or we analyse a situation to diagnose needs and problems in order to apply the knowledge for practical purposes. The objective is the study of a concrete fact that is common and affects every member of a society, in our case, every trainee or employee in a working environment. With the help of this research, we can set more specific objectives, based on reliable logical relationships and not only on personal beliefs. 

Methodology, on the other hand, is the science (or technique) we use to carry out this research effectively and to achieve the desired results, and with it we obtain the strategy to follow.

That said, social research applied to our field is a systematic process that will allow us to make more appropriate and timely decisions for the achievement of the objectives of an organisation, understanding these in a broader sense which will also include issues such as safety, quality of life and development of workers and trainees, among others.

But how do we apply these concepts to our field of interest?

Some fields of application of social research in the business and labour relations field can be: finding out the degree of satisfaction of the company's employees, investigating the causes of an accident at work, studying a system of continuous improvement in the company, analysing the starting situation for the implementation of a quality system, solving communication problems between departments, determining the company's training plan, establishing a system of remuneration by objectives, classifying the different jobs, finding out the current state of labour relations in the company before the negotiation of a collective agreement, implementing a system of suggestions, measuring the working environment, among others.

With the use of the scientific method, the aim is to incorporate conscious, formal and selective research processes. As we have already pointed out, the plan that we design to achieve an adequacy in the objectives and theoretical assumptions, and the collection of data can be called "method".

Within the method, social research techniques, whose main dimension is practical, have an essential role to play. As García Ferrando (1980) puts it, techniques are specific operational procedures for gathering and ordering data before submitting them to analysis. This analysis will be logical, interpretative, statistical and/or causal, depending on the nature of the data.

There are different data collection techniques. The most commonly used in the social sciences are the survey, the interview, direct observation, secondary sources, the focus group and the experiment. It is clear that we are talking about qualitative research, i.e. data collection through open and conversational discussions, implementing focus groups, one-to-one interviews and case studies, as well as quantitative research through surveys and questionnaires (closed questions), which will allow us to analyse the data in order to reach numerical or statistical conclusions.

The suitability of the technique to collect information on the problem we have to deal with does not only depend on the problem, there are also other elements that have a restrictive effect. Therefore, it is necessary to know the possibilities, advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

Bringing a methodology from the academic field to a new context does not mean transferring a rigid and closed procedure, but adapting it while maintaining the rationality of the process.

In the following, we propose some priority orientations used to approach the reality of a work activity:

• Referential key, we must be aware of the existence of a direct referent or referential limits of the immediate context, established by the organisation that originates the study.

• Temporal key, establishment of objectives to be met and the consequent design of the action.

• Quantitative-qualitative key, framework of action in which the use of quantitative and qualitative techniques appears and are combined. The former offers us the possibility of obtaining data in sufficient quantity to be able to respond to the hypotheses or initial questions posed in the research. The latter aim to deepen our knowledge of the particular and detailed knowledge of this need. 

• Intervention key, as this research is about a concrete reality, the criterion of practical intervention will be present throughout the research.

• Key to results, it is a question of a purpose-profitability in terms of synergic effects at levels such as conclusions, solutions, improvements, performance.

APPLICATION TO THE CASE

We propose three situations where the rational and systematic application of a social research process as described above would be possible. In each of them, a comparison of the most important aspects of the research methodology is proposed; it is not therefore a detailed development of the research, but an approach to the application of a method:

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY LEGISLATION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY ENFORCEMENT

With regard to the legal framework, we must be clear that the legislation on Health and Safety at Work was established to protect both workers and employers. It is part of the legislation under the basic regulatory guidelines.

It's sometimes referred to as HSWA, the HSW Act, the 1974 Act or HASAWA. It sets out the general duties which: employers have towards employees and members of the public. employees have to themselves and to each other.

Remark: 

Which standards are used in Europe?

Harmonized Standards (cited in the OJEU) and Presumption of Conformity. In the EU, there are three officially (legally) recognized European Standardization Organizations (ESOs). These produce “harmonized EN (European Norm) standards”.

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards. Its goal is to prevent accidents and harm to people from work-related activities. 

The 5 main objectives of the occupational health and safety procedures includes: 

• Adequately maintaining equipment and other systems to ensure their safety.

• Provide training and information on how to carry out work processes safely.

• Provide a safe place to work and working environment.

• Develop a health and safety policy.

• Undertake risk assessments.

Health and safety at work is one of the areas where the EU has had the biggest impact – with a solid legal framework covering the maximum number of risks with the minimum number of regulations.

As set out by principle 10 of the European Pillar of Social Rights, workers have the right to a high level of protection of their health and safety at work.

They have the right to a working environment adapted to their professional needs and which enables them to prolong their participation in the labour market. 

Legal basis

Article 153 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union gives the EU the authority to adopt legislation (directives) in the field of safety and health at work, in order to support and complement the activities of Member States.

Directive 89/391/EEC, the so-called occupational safety and health (OSH) “Framework Directive”, lays down the main principles to encourage improvements in the safety and health of workers at work. It guarantees minimum safety and health requirements throughout the European Union while Member States are allowed to maintain or establish more stringent measures.

The Framework Directive is accompanied by further directives focusing on specific aspects of safety and health at work. Together they form the fundamentals of European safety and health legislation. Read more about specific OSH areas of activity.