The General Council of Industrial Relations and Labour Sciences Professionals (CGRILCT) has awarded the 2022 PREVER National Occupational Risk Prevention Award in the R&D category to the UNE Committee on "Occupational Health and Safety" - (CTN 81) - of the Spanish Association for Standardization. This award recognizes the work of this UNE Committee, which, over these forty years, has worked to implement and disseminate the Prevention of Occupational Risks, and to support public and private organizations in addressing the challenges related to improving working conditions in Spain.
The chairman of CTN-UNE 81, José Jorge del Castillo, and the head of Occupational Health and Safety at UNE, Francisco Luis Arribas, received this recognition from the president of the CGRILCT, Rafael Ruiz Calatrava. The ceremony to present this nationally and internationally recognized prize took place on 25 March in Puerto de Mazarrón (Murcia), during the 24th Technical Conference on Prevention and Social Responsibility, which was attended by national, regional and local officials, and by representatives from several Ibero-American countries.
CTN-UNE 81 consists of more than 50 members, appointed by government agencies, business and professional associations, mutual societies involved in managing Social Security, industry associations, trade unions, companies, research bodies, universities and professional associations. Since its creation, the Committee's Secretary has been the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (INSST), which also provides significant scientific, technical and professional support to the standardization work of this committee, which has so far approved 567 standards that are in force, and is working on more than 60 draft standards.
This committee has six subcommittees specializing in specific topics, and several working groups. It is present in the International Standards Organization (ISO), corresponding to the ISO 45000 family, "Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)", one of whose milestones is the certifiable standard ISO 45001:2018, "Occupational health and safety management systems — Requirements with guidance for use", which shares a high-level structure (HLS) with other important international standards, such as ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, which facilitates the certification process by companies and institutions.
