Port accessThis certification recognises that the entity applies a management system promoting and protecting workers’ safety, health and wellbeing and work environment sustainability.
The culmination of a programme commenced in 2014 which has already obtained several awards.
The Port Authority of Bilbao has been awarded the Healthy Company Certificate from the Spanish Standardisation and Certification Association (AENOR). This recognises that the Port Authority has implemented a management system that promotes and protects the health, wellbeing and safety of its employees, and also the sustainability of the work environment.
Thus, the Port Authority of Bilbao has become the first Port Authority to obtain this certificate. In addition, the company has already obtained the Spanish Institute for Health and Safety in the Workplace (INSHT in Spanish) diploma in recognition of its good practices for promoting health in the workplace. It is the first company in the Basque Country, to receive this award, and the fourth in Spain to hold both the AENOR certificate and the INSHT diploma at the same time.
Before awarding the certificate, AENOR audited that the Port Authority of Bilbao complied with the AENOR model for Healthy Company requisites. This is based on internationally recognised principles as well as the ongoing improvement Plan-Do-Check-Act process (PDCA). Health is understood as a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing.
The main advantage of this model is that it enables the management of the health, safety and well-being of all workers and the sustainability of the work environment. Besides, it contributes to increasing company productivity, competitiveness and sustainability.
On behalf of the entity Asier Atutxa, the Port Authority Chairman, received the certificate from Luz Emparanza, the AENOR manager in the Basque Country.
Since AENOR granted its first Healthy Company certificates in 2003, 45 companies of different sizes and from different activity sectors have obtained the award.
The Port Authority and Portu Osasuntsua
The work the Port Authority has carried out to achieve the AENOR accreditation began in 2014 with the implementation of thePortu Osasuntsua (Healthy Port in Basque) programme whose aim is to achieve a work space to protect, promote and support the total physical, social and cultural wellbeing of this entity that employs 270 persons.
The project counts on the total involvement of all the persons making up the Port Authority,and is based on the close collaboration between the Prevention, and Human Resources Departments.
Portu Osasuntsua – which is also part of the recent participation in the Active Patient Programme of the Autonomous Basque Government Department of Health – comprises several different actions, campaigns, programmes and strategies aimed at covering deficiencies that have already been discovered in the organisation, or to improve situations
the employees themselves request. All these activities are set out in four work routes: the workplace’s physical environment; its psychosocial environment; company participation in the community (social-corporative responsibility); and personal health resources in the work space.
In recent years, the Port Authority has received several acknowledgements such as the three-star Sello Gosasun award – the highest honour this programme confers, and which is promoted by Innobasque, the Basque Agency for Innovation. In addition, The II Empresa Saludable (Healthy Company) Awards, the most prestigious in Spain in this field, and organised by PSYA, ORH-Human Resources Observatory and e-saludable, awarded the Port Authority a special mention for the “Best Programme for Health Control”.
Furthermore, at the First Congress of the Spanish Network of Healthy Companies: a 360º vision of employees’ health organised by the Spanish Institute for Health and Safety in the Workplace (INSHT in Spanish), the Port Authority of Bilbao became the first company in the Basque Country to receivethis diploma in recognition of its good practices for promoting health in the workplace.
After obtaining the AENOR Certificate, the Port Authority’s aim is to continue its commitment to promoting health among its workers and incorporating innovating projects, but at the same time, to encourage other companies in the sector to implement similar programmes.
About AENOR
AENOR, through its conformity certification and evaluation, contributes to improving the quality and competitiveness of companies, their products and services.
AENOR is the leading certification entity in Spain, since its certificates are the most valued, and stands among the 10 main certification organisations in the world. At present, some 70,000 work centres hold one of its certificates, which support organisations in fields such as Quality, Environmental Management, Innovation, Work Safety and Social Responsibility.
AENOR is a global entity carrying out activities of certification, training, inspection, analysis, validation and verification of emission reduction projects, accompanying companies in their expansion in more than 70 countries. It has 20 offices in Spain.
