[Occupational medicine and communication: which role for print media?]. / Medicina del lavoro e comunicazione: l'uso dei media.

The diffusion of recent regulations on work safety has captured mass-media's interest on work accidents. The present work aims to highlight the role of print media in building a social representation of work safety, by performing a qualitative analysis of articles published between 2009 and 2010 in three of the main national newspapers. Results showed that print media are accurate in reporting news, but they do not serve as source of education in work safety's issues. Information is mainly focused around catastrophic events, with headlines inducing negative emotions. Very few articles contain a critical discussion of methods and operational proposals tested around the Country. A possible transformation of media's role in promoting work safety is discussed.

[Communication-based strategies to improve workers' health and safety: the role of the Responsible for Prevention and Protection Service (RSPP) and the Occupational Health Physician (OHP)]. / Le strategie relazionali ai fini della tutela dei lavoratori: il ruolo del Responsabile del Servizio Prevenzione e Protezione (RSPP) e del Medico Competente (MC).

Communication has a crucial role in enhancing workers' safety behaviours. In order to guarantee workers' safety and health, both the RSPP and the occupational health physician (OHP) need to be involved in frequent and personal relationships with other members in the organization. In the first part of the present work, the network of safety-related relationships within work environment is highlighted with respect to the specific regulations established by D.Lgs 81/2008. In the second part, the most effective behavioural approaches aimed to improve workers' safety behaviours are briefly presented. Particular emphasis is put on communication-based interventions which enhance leader-members exchanges. Incorporating these approaches into a comprehensive safety management system can be a key-tool to improve the effectiveness of both RSPP and OHP.