The Care of the Workers, Our Priority
Committed with maintaining and reinforcing the optimal health and safety conditions at the work place and environments of wellbeing, during 2020 we pooled efforts to face the national healthcare crisis and to carry on working in our goals as a business company. Our focus was to look after the life in order to look after the work. GRI 103-1
The framework of the OSH process is the Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems, audited and evaluated on an annual basis by the ARL. Based on the results of the risks of our operation and the management results, we define strategies and action plans for the continuous improvement. GRI 103-1, 103-2, 103-3
Within the framework of the emergency, from Health and Safety at the Workplace we prioritized the care of the life of the workers, the contractors and their families. In this way, we started with the documentation, the implementation and the filing of the protocols at the national level in order to obtain the approval of the local authorities, allowing to resume activities in the works.
During the mandatory quarantine preventive activities such as the following were developed:
Activities to promote the mental health as well as the physical activity at home.
Design and implementation, together with the Marketing Office, of the plan of communications of the protocols.
Adaptation of workplaces at the home.
Medical occupational monitoring of the workers who were suspicious of contagion at some point, and identification of personnel with comorbidities.
Creation of a of un multidisciplinary healthcare team to tackle the pandemic, the team was formed by a nurse, occupational health doctor, epidemiologist and representatives of the top management.
Purchase and supply of the inputs needed for workers, contractors, visitors and clients in the projects and sales rooms.
Once the work centers were reopened, we applied selective isolation for the pregnant women, individuals with comorbidities, suspicious cases due to close contact or symptoms as well as confirmed cases. This group received constant medical support to guide them in the handling of each case, all within the framework of the guidelines of the Health and Social Protection and Labor Ministries. GRI 103-2
During April of 2020 all the biosafety protocols were documented for Amarilo’s work centers and the same were filed with the respective authorities. This work was done together with the Construction, Commercial and Human Talent areas in order to raise the awareness and to work in a preventive culture throughout the entire business.
Without doubt, it was an atypical year that involved challenges, because we had to prove how resilient we are; we adapted the work centers to ensure the compliance with the protocols through the reconfiguration of camps, projects, sales rooms and the corporate building, and we generated new channels of communication and attention of our customers nationwide, assuring always our attention principles.
We also involved all the stakeholders in the implementation of the protocols for the same to be applied by conviction of their benefits and the responsibility from each role. We managed to have all our workers to adhere in a quick and effective manner to the new work methods taking the protocols into account.
We promoted the internalization and the compliance with the protocols by our contractor enterprises, who contribute a large number of workers to the sites, involving them in talks, training, qualifications regarding biosafety performance, internal audits, among other.
All of the foregoing contributed to Amarilo’s securing the continuity of the business and to continue, in that way, being a pacesetter in the construction business.
COVID-19 cases during 2020:
Sales Rooms
Construction
Projects
Corporate
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The procedure for the management of cases was defined, which consisted on: detecting the case by means of the health conditions’ survey or direct report of the worker, application of the epidemiological enclosure and sending the worker to isolation, as well as the people that have been identified as suspicious of having been in contact with the zero case. In parallel, there is monitoring and support by Amarilo’s healthcare team, and there is assessment of the aspects of improvement of the biosafety protocols to establish actions such as communication campaigns, disinfection, cleaning of work zones and elements, among other.
Occupational Safety
and Health Committee
We have five OSH Joint Committees distributed throughout the national territory and in each city in which we operate. The Committee is formed by representatives of the business enterprise and of the workers, and are led by each Committee Chairman. Each Committee is independent and all financial and technical resources are allocated to it for it to be able to execute the annual work plan established by the committee itself together with the OSH area. Every year they are audited by the ARL to verify the discharging of the duties of each committee as well as of the work plan. GRI 403-1
The Committee is made up by 5 % of the workers, in total, 44 workers. Our Committees are located in Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Ricaurte and Villavicencio.
The accident rate fell by 21 % when compared with 2019; the actions that were implemented for the reduction thereof were the programs for the management of critical risks (heights, chemical, lifting of loads and mechanic). Such programs were defined under the structure of the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, prior to the diagnosis of each risk. We implemented the modules of indicators, quarterly evaluation of contractors, audits, investigation of labor-related accidents and implementation of the change of the software for the management of the OSH-MS, achieving, in this way, a more effective management system..
Number of accidents 2020
Contractor
Temp
Amarilo
Total
Accidents
TFI Accident rate
Contractor
Temp
Amarilo
Total
Accidents
The most common and significant injuries are
32%
Bump orcontusion
16%
Wounds10%
Sprains andstrains
9%
Fractures9%
Traumasuperficial
Accident Rate According to Location
Construction sector rate: 6.39 %
Amarilo Rate: 3.50 %
Other rate of accident:
- Manufacturing industry 2020: 6.83 %
- Colombia: 2020: 6.39 %
- Spain (jan-nov) 2020: 5.09 %
- Chile (jan-oct) 2020: 2.99 %
- Hydrocarbon 2019: 2.71 %
The most representative causes of accidents identified are
Of the total accidents during 2020, the following is the distribution by most frequent injuries
Overexertion,
excessive effort
or false movement
Objects falling
People
falling
Stomps,
crashes or bumps
Entrapments
Exposition to or
contact with harmful
substances
- Audits of the implementation of programs or procedures associated to priority risks (heights, chemical, lifting of loads, mechanic), with the support of Colmena ARL in order to verify and promote the risk management throughout the activities done by direct personnel of Amarilo, temporary personnel or contractors.
- Field inspectiones focused on identifying unsafe conditions that increase the probability of ocurrence of accidents. With the support of the ARL the verification of the closing of findings and improvement of the conditions found is made.
- Development of the Order and Cleanliness Programin order to standardize the controls associated to locative issues that have a direct relationship with the causes "stomps, crashes or bumps, objects falling, people falling at the same level."
- OSH Committee, which deals with issues related to accidents, and prevention measures. In there, they define actions that have an impact on the management system, such as: update of safety standards, documents that support the operational control, roles and responsibilities that support the implementation and management at Amarilo's work centers.
Employees’ Absenteeism
GRI 403-3 During this year, two illnesses of a work related origin were diagnosed and qualified, and Amarilo’s incidence rate was of 200 times.
The highest percentage of lost days due to working accidents is that of the men, because the activities with a greater risk are usually performed by men. The accidents that occurred to the women are slight and are characterized for being of the locative type. No fatal accidents occurred this year. GRI 403-2
Employee absenteeism rate - Amarilo
Men
Women
Contractor Absenteeism rate
Men
Women
Temporary Employees' Absenteeism rate
Men
Women
General absenteeism rate due to COVID-19
Men
Women
Workers with a Greater Occupational Illness Risk
GRI 403-3 The positions with a greater likelihood to contract a labor related disease are those that discharge operational duties in the projects and correspond to builder masters, foremen, auxiliaries, and OSH inspector and auxiliary, due to their exposure to dangers of a physical (noise, lighting), chemical particulate (matter) and biomechanical type, and to a lesser extent the administrative personnel at the sites such as work site director and residents.
In the administrative processes in Sales Rooms and in the corporate building, the biomechanical hazard (repetitive movements, inadequate postures) is more significant due to the activities performed by them; this occurs from a greater exposure in the title legalization and administrative services’ areas.
During 2020, the greater health risk was linked to the biologic risk due to COVID-19 in all the work centers in which we have personnel working, for which the biosafety protocol described at the beginning of the chapter was taken into account.
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To Protect the Mental and Physical Health
During 2020 we wanted to remain united in spite of being apart; therefore, and in order to keep calm and to remain positive during the pandemic, we carried out several spaces of virtual interaction between the workers, among which the following stand out:
- Performance of workshops to facilitate the adaptation to the work from home and the handling of emotions in the current conjuncture.
- We promoted the physical activity and the healthy eating habits during the virtual interaction and work–Amarilo Vital.
- Amarilo Vital was developed in a virtual manner with new activities that were adjusted to the new work-from home-dynamics. For further information, please refer to the Human Talent section.
- Configuration of work places of personnel working from home through twelve spaces of virtual guidance and workshops for the workers to organize their work places with elements that they already had available.
- Support to workers with muscular discomforts. For this, we supported them in the configuration of their job places at home. We did this with 32 people.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements for bio-safe works issued by the Office of the Mayor of Bogotá for:
Cantabria Project
Boreal Project
Faro Project
The Office of the Mayor of Soacha for:
Ciudad Verde ProjectsThe Office of the Mayor of Chía for:
Sales Rooms in ChíaIn addition, in 2020 we achieved:
We committed to…
Implementing all epidemiological vigilance systems: biomechanical and biological.
This year was a challenging time in which we redirected efforts to see to the healthcare conjuncture. In this way, we were able to implement 100 % of the work plan of the Biologic Risk Program. This comprises the stages of diagnosis, documentation, communication, implementation and audit. The scope was for all the workers identified as personnel at risk.
In this way we obtained the recognition of safe sites, awarded by the offices of the mayors of Bogotá, Soacha and Chía, for providing safe spaces in order to prevent the propagation of the COVID-19. The respiratory risk program was scheduled for the next period and in the biomechanical one we had a progress of 75 % with the support of the ARL.
