The International Social Security Association

An introduction

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 PREVENTION
OF OCCUPATIONAL RISKS IN THE HOME-
HELP AND HOME-CARE TRADES

Carole ALLARD
Safety Inspector at the French Mission
for Preventing Occupational Risks in
the Home-Help and Home-Care Trades
Occupational Health and Pension Insurance Fund (CARSAT)
of the LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON Region - FRANCE

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Accident Rate

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 The risks encountered

‰ Psychosocial risks: specific organisation of the work and major psychosocial

dimension: emotional load, isolation, confrontation with new work contexts, time
constraints.

‰ Road risk and work-related transport with road accidents. Half of the fatal
accidents among home-help and home-care assistants are due to road
accidents, since they mainly use their cars for work-related travel.

‰ Risks of falls (slips, trips, and falls from heights): nearly one third of lost time
accidents among home-help and home-care assistants are due to slips and trips.

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 The risks encountered

‰ Risks related to physical activity: carrying heavy loads, uncomfortable postures,

and repetitive actions (defective or unsuitable equipment, lack of space in the
home), ... The main recognised occupational diseases are periarticular disorders
such as tendinitis (accounting for nearly 90% of the cases) and lower back
disorders such as, for example, sciatica (about 6%).

‰ Infectious and parasitic risks: depending on the state of health of the assisted
persons and of their environment (presence of children and animals, insalubrious
housing), home-care and home-help assistants can be exposed to infectious
agents. Bacteria (staphylococci, streptococci, tuberculosis bacillus…), viruses
(influenza, chickenpox, hepatitis), and parasites (that cause scabies or
toxoplasmosis…).

‰ Chemical risks due to use of cleaning products. These products can cause
irritations, allergies, burns, intoxications or accidents (fire, explosion).

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Implementation of prevention actions

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 National information campaigns
‰ Objective
ƒ Raise awareness among employees and employers through a short and
simple message on the most frequent occupational risks
‰ Distribution/Target Audience
ƒ National campaign over a given month:
ƒ 1.4 million employees
ƒ 1.5 million contribution-paying employers
ƒ 100,000 copies for federations and the network of the CARSATs/CGSSs
(General Social Security Funds)
‰ Already published
ƒ Prevention of biological and chemical risks: December 2008
ƒ Prevention of risks related to physical activity: October 2009
ƒ Prevention of trips, slips and falls: March 2010
ƒ Prevention of infections: September 2010
ƒ Prevention of risks related to work-related travel: February 2011
ƒ Prevention of psychosocial risks(PSRs): October 2011

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National information campaigns

Brochure on biological
and chemical risks

Brochure on risks related

to physical activity

Brochure on risks of
trips, slips, and falls

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National information campaigns

Brochure on infection
risks

Brochure on accidents
related to work-related
travel

Brochure on the
prevention of
psychosocial risks

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 Checklist for identifying occupational risks in
the home

‰ Objectives

ƒ Have a simple checklist of the most frequent risk situations for a home-care or
home-help assistant.

ƒ Propose standardised recommendations and guidelines for eliminating as far

as possible the identified risk situations.

ƒ Constitute a monitoring tool for measuring home adjustments.

ƒ Check, through the use of the checklist, that the occupational risks are
integrated into the service provider’s management structure.

ƒ Constitute a tool for raising awareness of occupational risk prevention among

the workers and the people assisted and cared for, and their families and
friends.

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 The checklist for identifying occupational risks
in the home
‰ Distribution/Target Audience
ƒ Websites of the French Health Insurance System (Assurance Maladie) and of
the partners (INRS, EUROGIP, ANSP, IRCEM)
ƒ Home-help and home-care federations
ƒ Workers and private-individual employers
ƒ Training bodies and prevention network

‰ Availability
ƒ Put online in October 2010
• www.risquesprofessionnels.ameli.fr
• www.inrs.fr
• www.servicesalapersonne.gouv.fr

‰ In the pipeline
ƒ A multimedia version, with an approach to the common risk of living and of
working at home: for old people, with a view to preventing domestic
accidents related to everyday life, and for workers, with a view to preventing
occupational risks

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The checklist for identifying occupational risks
in the home

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 Booklet: the prevention of occupational risks in
100 questions
‰ Objective
ƒ Give practical assistance to the workers out in the field and to the
managerial staff for the purposes of:
ƒ Showing them where they stand with respect to their occupational
practices;
ƒ Helping them to take a critical look at their activity and at the occupational
risks encountered;
ƒ Improving the organisation of the work and of the workers.

‰ Method
ƒ Facilitating practical knowledge acquisition through a fun approach that
does not induce feelings of guilt and that is organised around 12 target
activities: questions and answers in the form of a quiz. Based on the answers
given, a profile is determined.
ƒ Proposing a set of good practices.

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Booklet: the prevention of occupational risks in
100 questions

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 Multimedia risk prevention tool

‰ Objectives
ƒ Federate all of the players involved and mobilised.
ƒ Facilitate access to information.
ƒ Develop an identity and community links.
ƒ Reinforce the culture of the trade.
ƒ Forge professional ties.

‰ Method
ƒ Information space giving practical information on the risks and practical
solutions to be implemented.
ƒ Community space: forum for discussions, events, news...
ƒ Play space: quiz, fun-learning game.

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 Multimedia risk prevention tool

‰ Distribution/Target audience
ƒ Home-help and home-care trade federations
ƒ Workers and private-individual employers
ƒ Training bodies and occupational safety & health network
ƒ Initial education

‰ Partners
ƒ CNAMTS/DRP, INRS, IRCEM, ANSP, Professional Branch,
“Champs Coordonnés”(coordinated pools of resources)

‰ Availability
ƒ Coming online in January 2012
www.ircem.com

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 The risks for your health 
Prepare yourself! 
Adopting the correct postures
Test your knowledge 
THIS IS THE 
Before taking to the road 
“GAMES MENU”
Choosing cleaning equipment
Cleaning up safely
DIRECT AND 
Washing clothes safely
SIMPLIFIED ACCESS 
TO CONTENTS Preparing meals safely
Washing people safely
Choosing equipment for preparing
meals 
Choosing equipment for washing
clothes 
The IRCEM bus
For further information 
Advice on making the home safe
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VIEW OF A TOWN

Social access

Through  this  second  entrance,  users  arrive 

IN  THE  CENTRE  OF  A  TOWN  in  which  they 
can  MOVE,  entering  the  dwellings  and 
structures  around  them,  and  talking  to  the 
other users.

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 HOMES OF PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS

Private individuals’ houses are addressed in 4 
different modules that are repeated in each of 
the houses, depending on the occupational 
activity in question.
• Modules 5 to 8 : 
choosing the work 
equipment
• Modules 9 to 13 :  doing the 
activity
• Modules 14 to 17 :  fitting out the 
home 
• Modules 18 à 22 : gestures
and
postures

HOUSEWORK 
CLOTHES WASHING
MEALS
HELPING THE PERSON TO WASH
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 The training schemes

‰ Compiling a skills inventory on 3 levels:

ƒ Level 1: home worker
ƒ Level 2: managerial staff
ƒ Level 3: structure head/director

‰ Setting up specific training under the auspices of INRS

‰ “Le Certificat de Prévention Secours” (The Prevention and First Aid Certificate)

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Thank you for your attention

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