---
title: "Prevention and protection actions"
url: "https://docs.4hse.com/prevention-and-protection"
description: "What a prevention action is in 4HSE, the five types, and the cycle that takes it from definition to certificate."
---

# Prevention and protection actions

A **prevention and protection action** is a safety obligation that 4HSE tracks over time: a course to deliver, a medical examination to schedule, equipment to maintain, PPE to hand out, a procedure to review.

All actions work the same way, whatever the obligation. This area describes that common mechanism and holds the procedures that apply to every type. Each type then has its own area, which explains what is specific to it.

## The five types

[Section titled “The five types”](#the-five-types)

Type

What it tracks

**Training**

courses workers must attend and their renewals

**Health surveillance**

medical examinations prescribed to workers

**Maintenance**

scheduled servicing of equipment and environments

**Personal protection**

PPE assigned to workers and its delivery

**Procedures**

company procedures that need periodic review

## Two levels: the action and the session

[Section titled “Two levels: the action and the session”](#two-levels-the-action-and-the-session)

Every type is organised on two levels, and the distinction governs everything else.

-   The **action** defines the _need_: this course exists, these workers must attend it, it is valid for three years.
-   The **session** is a single _execution_ of that need on a date: this edition of the course, held on 12 March, with these people enrolled.

Each type names these two levels differently — a training action is a _Course_ and its session an _Edition_, a maintenance action is a _Plan_ and its session an _Order_. The full correspondence is in [Terminology by action type](/prevention-and-protection/terminology-by-action-type).

## The cycle

[Section titled “The cycle”](#the-cycle)

The same sequence applies to all five types:

1.  **Define** the action and its validity
2.  **Add the recipients** — the people, or the equipment, subject to it
3.  **Link the resources** that make it necessary, so the obligation is traceable to a risk
4.  **Schedule a session** on a date
5.  **Enrol** the recipients in that session
6.  **Record the outcome** once it has taken place
7.  **Issue a certificate**, which is the proof of compliance and sets the next expiry

Not every step is mandatory. An obligation already fulfilled in the past can be recorded directly as a certificate, without scheduling anything: see [Register past compliance](/prevention-and-protection/register-past-compliance).

## Where compliance becomes visible

[Section titled “Where compliance becomes visible”](#where-compliance-becomes-visible)

The certificate carries an expiry date. From that date 4HSE derives the status of the recipient — valid, expiring, expired — and feeds the scheduler and the notifications. This is why issuing the certificate matters: until it exists, the obligation is open.

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