CCOO’s general secretary in the region, Paco de la Rosa, has called for sensitivity, complicity, responsibility and closeness from employers regarding occupational hazard prevention, while lamenting that Castilla-La Mancha remains the second most accident-prone region in Spain. De la Rosa made these remarks on Monday in Ciudad Real alongside CCOO’s provincial secretary, José Manuel Muñoz, and the union’s secretary of Social Dialogue, Institutional Affairs and Occupational Health, Raquel Payo, during an event organised by the union in the region for International Day for Safety and Health at Work on 28 April.
Around 100 prevention delegates from the province attended the first event in the capital, while about 2,000 others were expected to attend events organised in other parts of the region. De la Rosa emphasised that «we cannot allow an average of three people to die in workplace accidents every month in this region», adding that «there has been little sensitivity towards prevention in companies».
He recalled that if the law was complied with, «it would be effective in preventing more than 99% of accidents,» and that today, «we have to rely on good luck». «I know that employer associations don’t like it, but if we don’t say it, there will be no better occasion. Democracy is a consolidated reality, but it has not yet fully reached companies,» he said, adding that the Workers’ Statute itself grants organisational and work capacity to the employer.
«I want this anniversary celebration to be essentially about demanding from employers sensitivity, complicity, closeness and responsibility,» he emphasised, adding that he believes that «sometimes the behaviour is irresponsible, and that irresponsibility ends up costing many lives».
He clarified that he is not «criminalising employers» but that «they are neglecting their responsibility,» and called for an increase in effective investment in occupational hazard prevention to be able to have more provincial and territorial delegates and thus «prevent and raise awareness of health in the workplace.»
For her part, Payo said she was «tired» of requesting union representation in companies. «We know that companies with trade union representation are safer and healthier, with fewer illnesses and accidents,» she said, stressing that the figure of the delegates is «fundamental.»
She also remembered the victims. «In 2022, 37 people died in workplace accidents in the region, a drama that in its entirety reaches over 30,000 accidents throughout 2022, making it so that every day, 80 people suffer accidents in Castilla-La Mancha, a scandalous figure,» she said, indicating that accident-proneness in the region is «the worst socio-labour and socio-economic factor,» with «dramatic» figures that point to where work needs to be done.
«One of the main pillars on which we want to work is the remembrance of victims and those illnesses that are less commonly seen or under-reported in the region,» she said, calling for safer and healthier conditions. «A clear responsibility enshrined in the Prevention Law is the responsibility of employers, making it clear that they are the guarantors of safety, and on 28 April, we will demand that this guarantee be fulfilled,» she highlighted.
Payo stressed that they will focus on ensuring that risk assessments take into account the gender perspective as «men and women are not equal when faced with risk». «Risk assessments should be evaluated differently,» she added.
She also highlighted that «43% of the problems related to people’s mental health originate in the workplace. With preventive management of psychosocial risks, we could avoid them,» she added.
She added that «the integration of health in the workplace» must be implemented throughout the entire production career. «There is no real implementation, and on this 28 April, we will demand that effective integration be put in place,» she added.
For his part, Muñoz stressed the importance of «remembering the victims and their families, and the work of prevention delegates in all workplaces». «We can prevent all workplace accidents that occur every day, so it is time to continue training our delegates, which is why today’s workshops are focused on training them in-depth in the world of occupational hazard prevention so that we can avoid tragedies,» he concluded.
