SERTEGO CATALUNYA, whose facility is located in Barberà del Vallès, provides waste management services to industrial producers. For this purpose, it has a fleet of trucks for the collection of different types of waste (tanks, self-priming, boxes, collectors, hooks, etc.), a plant for the transfer and conditioning of hazardous and non-hazardous waste, as well as a team of more than 50 people who dedicate their work daily to achieve the objective of continuous growth that will make us one of the main companies of reference in the management of industrial waste in Catalonia.
All of us in the team at Barberà are very satisfied with the evolution of our activity, which began in a decisive manner only 4 years ago. However, the strong growth in said activity has been accompanied by a higher frequency in occupational accidents, which, although not serious, require the adoption of alternative measures to those we have been adopting up to now, according to both the workers and the management of the facility.
The accident rate has negative effects on people’s health, economic damage to our business unit and has an unfavourable impact on the group’ s morale. All this poses a risk to maintaining the milestones we’ve achieved to date and is a hindrance to achieving the ambitious goals we’ve set for the future.
We have detected that a high percentage of the accident rate is caused by overexertion and muscular disorders. Our recent “ideas for improvement competition” has selected the proposal to introduce a stretching routine drawn up by a specialised professional at the beginning and during the working day, adapted to each type of work, whether it’s plant, driving or office work personnel.
The aim is to physically prepare our body to face daily tasks and to help focus our attention on the action we are carrying out. All of this is complementary to compliance with the policies established by the prevention and safety plans.
For instance, a sorting worker who is equipped with all his PPE and complies with all the prevention instructions concerning the handling of loads, but who starts his day at 8 a.m. in cold winter weather, must prepare his body beforehand by warming up and stretching his muscles. Especially those who have a major role to play in his/her work.
The same is true for the plant personnel. And, in the case of office staff, one of the main objectives is to prevent posture-related ailments, either due to body position or the length of time spent in a seated position.
In addition, workshops were held for several weeks with drivers outside normal working hours, with the aim of developing mindfulness techniques to focus attention on driving and learn to manage emotions.
