Angel Vidal, the founder and director of PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA, says that in order to create a viable health and safety system he first needed to challenge bad habits, including his own. He initially encountered resistance but, in less than three years, new habits were formed. PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA created its own health and safety documents, giving its document templates a distinctive, bespoke appearance. Effective documentation was vital, contributing to internal cohesion and communication. External training for both managers and staff was essential. All employees at PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA received training to qualify them to perform basic OSH functions. Training enabled both management and the workers to assess the main risks within the company and to plan measures to prevent accidents happening. Thanks to this approach PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA achieved OHSAS 18001 certification in three years and won an EU-OSHA award in 2010/11. Driving OSH within the company requires managers to be motivated, and Angel explains that, for him, the motivation is not hard to acquire: ‘I have worked with some of the people in my company for more than 25 years and I never want to have to grieve with their families and with my other workers over some tragedy at work which I could in any way have foreseen and avoided.’ PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA believes that, by following this risk prevention model, micro and small enterprises can create new habits and set an example of good practice for other companies – helping them transform from an ugly duckling to a health and safety swan. PROTÓN ELECTRÓNICA has a zero accident rate. The firm’s absenteeism rate is close to zero. Occasional flu is the main reason for lost staff days. This project was awarded with the Good Practice Award 2013 of The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA).

Level of Education: Continuing vocational education and training

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