on of
common sense”
The prime minister himself wrote the pro-
logue of the report, explaining that compa-
nies in his country were swamped by red
tape, confusion, and fear of being fned
even for minor accidents. According to the
prime minister, the proposals contributed
common sense and his Government was
fully backing them. For example, one of
the recommendations was to simplify court
claims procedures, simplify the assessment
of risks for low-risk activities (offces, shops,
etc.) and require the maximum level of qua-
lity of prevention consultants who should
be approved by a professional association.
The Government, with characteristic British
celerity, is already taking measures to im-
plement the recommendations contained in
the above-mentioned report.
We are aware that common sense is often
the least common of the senses. It should,
however, be applied to the actions of wor-
kers and companies in relation safety and
health. Nevertheless, red tape is usually an
impediment, generating confusion in com-
panies and fear of being sued for minor ac-
cidents regardless of the preventive measu-
res that they have implemented.
Over the past few years, companies have
been competing in a race to appear in
the ranking of the most responsible com-
panies. As our colleague Julio Senador
mentioned recently in this section of the
newsletter, “We must not only appear to
be responsible, we must be responsible”.
When it comes to prevention management,
we must not be tempted to have an ego-
centric vision, but must strive to have an
all-encompassing vision, considering the
current and future situation of our company
since, as Aristotle said in his Metaphysics:
“The whole is greater than the sum of its
parts”.
FCC has been working along these lines,
that is, of appearing to be and actually be-
ing responsible, and in this respect, appro-
val of the Occupational Risk Prevention
Policy by the Board of Directors is certainly
a step in this direction. Applicable to the
entire company, the policy’s key tenets are:
•
Constant improvement of working con-
ditions and reduction of the accident
rate.
•
The entire organization’s compliance
commitment.
•
Involvement of all stakeholders, inclu-
ding clients and suppliers.
The Prevention Department, specializing
in each of the Company’s different busi-
ness areas, was founded recently. It will
be in charge of managing all FCC activi-
ties wherever they are carried out, and will
contribute without any doubt to projec-
ting a responsible vision of risk prevention
among our stakeholders.
I sincerely believe that we would all agree
on: “Good Health and Safety, Good for
Everyone”.