Port accessThe Bilbao Port Authority proposes to create a workplace that protects, promotes and supports workers’ physical, mental and socio-cultural well-being. For the purpose, it has started the Occupational Health Promotion project, Portu Osasuntsua, composed of different activities, programmes, campaigns and strategies.
A strategic objective of this Port Authority is to guarantee the safety and health of its workers. In this sense, it set up an Integrated Quality, Hazard Prevention and Environmental Management System in 2000, which includes planning, supervision and the continuous improvement of its activities. All of this is done with transparency, in collaboration with its workers, clients, suppliers and other interested stakeholders, and certified under UNE-EN-ISO 9001, OSHAS 18001, UNE-EN-ISO 14001 and EMAS as per their latest versions.
To guarantee sustainability, the implementation of a cross-cutting management model covering occupational health and safety procedures is necessary, as well as other processes likely to have direct or indirect impact on workers’ health, safety, well-being and on the workplace itself. Hence, it must include health promotion to achieve improved health and quality of life for the working population and a greater performance and productivity for companies. In this, the health professionals from the prevention units play a fundamental role in integrated health management as the natural facilitators and leaders in proactive measures that benefit both the workers and the company.
To flesh out this Management System, the Bilbao Port Authority has obtained the AENOR Healthful Company certificate accrediting that it promotes and protects its workers’ health, welfare and safety, along with the sustainability of the working environment.
Thus, the managing entity of Bilbao Port has become the first Port Authority to obtain this certificate. Moreover, the company holds the diploma acknowledging its good practices in promoting occupational health from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Hygiene as the first company in the Regional Autonomy of the Basque Country and the fourth in the country simultaneously holding the AENOR certificate and the INHST diploma.
The satisfaction of client and user demands and expectations, the acknowledgement of the right to health protection in the workplace and the control of environmental impact represent the central thrust of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies, a sphere where it stands at the forefront.
Portu Osasuntsua. Four Work Areas
The Bilbao Port Authority proposes to create a workplace that protects, promotes and supports physical, mental and socio-cultural welfare. For the purpose, it started the project of health and welfare promotion at work called Portu Osasuntsua. The project comprises different activities, campaigns, programmes and strategies designed to achieve a healthful workplace and based on general health strategies or purporting to resolve deficiencies discovered in the organisation or to improve aspects pointed out by the workers themselves.
All these activities are reflected in four occupational thrusts based on the WHO definition:
