The ORP recognition ceremony brings the ORP 2021 LEAN ORP Orpheus Night back in person

 

Recognition for work well done to achieve healthy organisations marked an awards ceremony that once again brought together Occupational Health and Safety specialists in a face-to-face event

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The evening of 16 September 2021 in Santiago de Compostela (Galicia. Spain) hosted the presentation of the ORP 2021 International ORP Award and the ORP 2021 recognitions during the ORPHEUS Night of the ORP 2021 LEAN ORP. This event, part of the Xacobeo 20/21 calendar, brilliantly recovered the presence and emotion of receiving an award for a job well done on a daily basis. The ceremony, of course, could be followed online through the virtual channels of the International ORP Foundation.

“We believe that it is necessary to reward in our field, in the field of business. It is necessary to recognise the daily and daily effort and we are aware that the people and organisations that receive the awards, especially for those who do it on behalf of their teams, it is the recognition of a group of workers who have made an effort to do something different, to make work better. For doing things well. A job well done has no borders,” said ORP director Pedro R. Mondelo during the inauguration of the Orpheus Night.

Mondelo, together with the president of the International ORP Foundation (FIORP), Hans Horst Konkolewsky, and the General Director of Labour Relations of the Department of Employment and Equality of the Xunta de Galicia, Elena Mancha, presented the eleven ORP 2021 recognitions and the ORP International Award.

The International ORP2021 Award, which had already been announced at the closing ceremony of the ORP Congress 2021 last July, was sent to the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH). The ORP jury valued the track record and the work of this institution to eliminate risk factors in the workplace by promoting the path to a healthy company were decisive for the jury’s decision.

The ICOH is an international non-governmental professional organisation that was founded in Milan during the 1906 Expo. This makes it the world’s oldest scientific association in this field.

It has more than 2,000 members in 93 countries and maintains a close working relationship with the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation. Several milestones have been presented by ICOH. The most recent, launched in collaboration with the ILO and WHO, is the global, regional and national burden of ischaemic heart disease and stroke attributable to exposure to long working hours in 194 countries.

The President of the institution, Jukka Takala, spoke from Tampere (Finland) to express his thanks for the award and, in Spanish, reminded the audience that: “We all have a clear objective: work without harm. More than ever we must look at the holistic problem of harm in the workplace. Occupational health and safety is a value, a fundamental right at work. Prevention and preparedness are investments.

 

ORP for professional merit

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The first of the recognitions for professional merit went to Cristóbal Prado, General Manager of the Chilean Safety Association (ACHS) for the impetus that, in his mandate, the association has given to the continuous improvement of the prevention management system in Chile. In his speech, Prado wanted to give recognition to Pedro Mondelo for his “ethical and professional contribution to the ACHS through the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the ORP Foundation and Easy Tech Global. They have really generated a very notable technical and strategic contribution that has helped to deepen risk prevention in Chile and to achieve very outstanding results”.

Cristóbal Prado Fernández, a commercial engineer, has been General Manager of the ACHS since 2011. The ACHS is a private, non-profit, Chilean, mutual corporation, associated with the Sociedad de Fomento Fabril (SOFOFA). It provides full coverage for occupational accident claims and develops risk prevention programmes in Chile.

It has more than 2,600,000 affiliated workers, more than 73,000 member employers throughout Chile and has the lowest average accident rate. This makes it the largest mutual insurance company in the South American country. It is also responsible for the Hospital del Trabajador in Santiago and an extensive network of hospitals, clinics and occupational accident centres.

The second recognition for professional merit was awarded to Narcís Berberana, Chief Strategist Officer at Agbar for the work carried out in promoting the well-being of people and his commitment to promoting healthy companies. In his speech, Berberana praised the work of ORP, an organisation with which he has collaborated since its beginnings, and reminded his team that they would always have his affection “because the only thing that can always be guaranteed is affection for people”.

Narcís Berberana began his career in the water management sector at Sorea in 2003. In 2005 he was appointed Corporate Manager of Aguas Andinas de Chile. In 2011, he assumed the position of Director of Environment and Operations at Agbar, where he has held various positions up to the one he holds today: Chief Strategist Officer.

In his career and work, it should be noted that he places great value on communication. He is concerned with creating highly visual messages that facilitate dissemination and values collaboration at all levels as a vital need.
For example, the company to which he belongs is a global multinational expert in the water and waste sectors. It helps cities and industries to preserve and secure essential resources such as water. Among its challenges, one can point out that it has the challenge of making the generation of the social and environmental value of water profitable, and as an achievement, the management of wastewater data that allows information on the health of the population through water analysis should be highlighted.

The third recognition for professional merit ORP 2021 went to Dr. Tomás Camacho García, Technical Director of Clinical Analysis at VithasLab for his work in the dissemination of Occupational Health and Safety based on scientific evidence. Camacho said that “this award belongs solely and exclusively to the talent of all the colleagues who during all the years of activity of the ORP have dedicated themselves to the field to which I dedicate myself, chemical, physical, occupational and psychosocial toxicology and, of course, to my colleagues at VithasLab.

Dr. Camacho’s work highlights that workers, especially those who work night shifts, are affected to a greater extent by the release of free radicals of environmental origin, which also implies a greater risk of suffering from diseases derived from the harmful combination of both radicals. Scientific evidence allows us to look for specific solutions. The fight against the manifestation of ageing, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, arteriosclerosis, neurological diseases, skin irritation and inflammation begins with a thorough knowledge of the disease and what causes it, as well as the application of medical, pharmacological and, of course, self-care solutions.

VithasLab are general and specialised biodiagnostic centres with more than 30 years of experience covering various fields of biopathology. Every year they carry out more than 2.7 million tests, which are received from the more than 300 collaborating points that the laboratory has distributed throughout Spain. It serves more than 4,500,000 patients in its 19 hospitals and 25 specialised centres called Vithas Salud.

 

ORP to business management

 

Special recognition for merit in business management to Schlumberger for the integrity of its actions in favour of Prevention. Luz Stella Rodríguez, Vice President of Prevention and Occupational Risk Service at Colmena Seguros (Colombia) received the award and said: “For this company the most important thing is to preserve people’s health, which is the objective that led them to work tirelessly to significantly reduce accident rates and achieve a better standard of occupational health and safety system. It is an achievement of teamwork within the company.
Schlumberger Limited is the world’s largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger employs approximately 95,000 people of 140 nationalities and works in more than 85 countries. Its main offices are located in Houston, Paris, London, and The Hague. In Colombia, the company is at the forefront of service technology. Its achievements include excellent accident rate indicators that show its commitment to occupational health and safety.

 

Special recognition for merit in business management to REPSOL for its international involvement at all levels in promoting the health and safety of its employees, endorsed by certifications such as ISO 45001 and Empresa Saludable. Repsol, a Spanish multinational energy and petrochemical company founded in 1987, markets a wide range of products in 100 countries. It applies cutting-edge technology to obtain the best solutions in the energy industry and has more than 280 digital initiatives in place to improve efficiency, safety and optimisation of resources.

It has a diverse workforce representing 79 nationalities with almost 25,000 employees in 31 countries.

The award was received by Jacobo Aguado de Frutos, People and Organisation Management Manager at the Repsol Petróleo A Coruña Industrial Complex, and by María Jesús Arribas Antón, Safety and Environment Manager at the Repsol Petróleo A Coruña Industrial Complex.

Arribas expressed her gratitude for the recognition, on behalf of the international energy and petrochemicals company, and stressed that the company’s presence in the areas close to where the COVID-19 pandemic began meant that the organisation’s central medical services began to work on how to deal with the challenge and led to the activation of the crisis office and the deployment of health protocols and recommendations from the company’s governing areas. It was important because “Repsol is still an essential service for society, we were obliged to keep our plastics production plants running for the health industry, for the pharmaceutical industry, at a time when it was important: for the fuel manufacturing industry for the entire road transport industry at a time when we had to supply supermarkets because people also had to eat”.

 

Special recognition for merit in business management for the Nueva Pescanova Group for taking a holistic view of its organisation, detecting and committing to areas of improvement to achieve dimensions of commercial and business development in which the focus is on well-being at work and the sustainable use of resources. The award was collected by Alfonso Gordon, General Director of People of the group, who was accompanied by Carlo Alberto Berto, corporate director of risk prevention and integral prevention. It was the latter who emphasised that “it has been a source of pride to obtain the 5Z seal”. A certificate that distinguishes the Nueva Pescanova Group in the fishing sector worldwide.

The Nueva Pescanova Group is a multinational in the fishing sector, present throughout the entire value chain, from catching or farming to marketing. It employs approximately 17,000 people spread over four continents.

Special recognition for merit in business management 2021 to the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio de Bogotá for its project: ‘Containment and integral protection for the working population of the HUSI during the COVID-19 emergency’. Dr. Julio César Castellanos Ramírez, General Director of the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, came to Santiago de Compostela and recalled in his speech the importance of “building the loyalty of human talent because it involves identifying individual talents to generate a nest that allows them to develop that life project. The pandemic taught us a lot and one point to highlight is international cooperation”.

The San Ignacio University Hospital is an institution founded in 1942, accredited for excellence in health services by ICONTEC and as a University Hospital by the Ministries of Health and Social Protection and National Education.

It is also an academic environment for the training of students of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. It develops research with innovative and sustainable contributions to the health system and the community. It is inspired by the management of Integral Ecology seeking development in the pursuit of a healthier, more humane, more social progress.

 

Special recognition for merit in business management to: Fira de Barcelona for defining, developing and implementing a technical-sanitary action protocol that has allowed the development of the business activity itself in a safe environment COVID. The award was collected by Jordi Estruga, Guest Events Operations Director of Fira de Barcelona, who warned that the health risk can be compared to the terrorist risk in the events business and “is here to stay” and specifically thanked the technicians and specialists in occupational health and safety for their role in restoring activity in the world of events.

Recognition for merit in business management goes to the Instituto Galego de Seguridade e Saúde Laboral (ISSGA) for the implementation and continuous improvement in the prevention management system in Galicia. Received by Adela Quinzá-Torroja, Manager of the ISSGA, she shared the award with her colleagues from the institutes of the same name in Asturias, Cantabria and the Basque Country “because we know that together we are stronger and we do many things in common, so it is also for them”.

This institute is the technical body of the Xunta de Galicia’s occupational risk prevention policies and at the same time serves as an open space for contributions in SSL. One of its great values is the development of an action plan shared and agreed with the social agents of Galicia, who have active and qualified participation in the institute. It extends its action to all companies and all working staff, men and women, with respect to workplaces located in the Autonomous Community of Galicia, including public administrations and the staff in their service.

Special ORP recognition for merit in business management goes to Marina Barcelona 92 for its track record in ORP and for its involvement at all levels in promoting the health and safety of its own employees, contractors and foreign crews. The award was received by Laura Pérez, HSE Manager at Marina Barcelona 92, who highlighted the difficulty that the pandemic posed for family reconciliation “the return was hard and it was a challenge to regain the international client. We were very quick to set up a testing centre in the shipyard, we do around 2,000 PCRs a month. We were very quick in detecting cases and were able to detect and control the outbreaks we had. The protocol helped us to establish the bases to be able to move forward and continue with the activity”.

Marina Barcelona 92 is part of the ship repair and maintenance sector and has operational space in Barcelona covering more than 150,000m2, including 3 dry docks, berthing and transport options for the world’s largest superyachts.

 

Special recognition for merit in business management goes to the Venancio Salcines Foundation for its Desarrolla, Talento e Impulsa Scholarship programme. Venancio Salcines himself received the award recognising that the organisation “was and is all about people. The foundation was created to support the weakest and we have a food bank that does not receive other donations. We don’t want to forget anyone and we support people with values and principles and we sponsor sport, culture and students. But I also think of those who have not received our support and our first objective was to support women in trafficking and we were not able to help them because the difficulty of entering this world was very high.
The Venancio Salcines Foundation is a non-profit institution that works for the social, educational and cultural development of Galicia. Among its numerous activities, its social work programme to prevent situations of extreme poverty and social exclusion stands out.