On December 22, Autopista del Sol presented the first edition of the Ausol Safety and Health Awards 2021. This program will be held annually to encourage the involvement of Ausol professionals in Safety, Health, and Well-being.
The objective of these awards is to increase the level of safety in our assets, as well as to find implementable good practices that contribute to the prevention and promotion of road safety. The competition launched in late November concluded in December 2021. This award was open to any Autopista del Sol employee, individually or in teams of up to 3 people, participants could submit up to 2 solutions that contributed to reducing occupational risk in Autopista activities. These solutions could be, among others, newly created procedures or the improvement of existing ones, equipment refinement, innovative ideas, identification of new risks, etc., with the aim of providing novel and effective preventive good practices to improve safety and health conditions at work.
This recognition arises from the Ausol Safety and Health Leadership team defining and establishing objectives for 2021, a call for the “Ausol Safety and Health Awards” was made to encourage the involvement of Concessionaire professionals in Safety, Health, and Well-being, as well as to recognize their commitment. The ideas received were presented directly to the Ausol Safety and Health Leadership Team, who validated and reviewed all the proposals received and their viability. The criteria followed for the evaluation of the different ideas received were:
- Impact: potential risk reduction.
- Simplicity: ease of implementation.
- Resources: economy of resources necessary for its implementation.
- Transferability: potential for implementation in various departments.
- Level of development: degree of development of the proposal.
Andrés Alonso de Linaje Margarit, Responsible for Occupational Risk Prevention and Road Safety, thanked the participants for their involvement and highlighted the importance of this program “we want to thank you for the continuous work you demonstrate daily by acquiring and promoting a preventive culture in our company in accordance with the daily tasks performed at Autopista del Sol,” commented Andrés.
The winners of this first edition were: Ángela García Ferrín and Alicia Aguilar Rojas, from the Toll Control department, who presented a proposal for the use of virtual laser signals through projectors to increase worker safety and improve road safety.
The award ceremony was held at the concessionaire’s offices and the finalists were Manuel Tamayo Zambrana and Neila Garrido Vila.
Ángela García explained the importance of receiving this award and commented that “Every little idea counts” and encourages all her colleagues to join this initiative “Commit to safety!”. In addition, Alicia Aguilar affirms that “it is not only gratifying to receive an award like this but also to feel that all employees have a lot to contribute and that we are a vital part of the machinery of the concession. Thanks to everyone’s ideas, we try to improve every day and put all our effort into contributing to making the experience on our highway the best possible. In addition, Andrés Alonso, Responsible for Occupational Risk Prevention and Road Safety, explains that “this award is a reflection of how things are done in this concession, we are a great family that rows together”.
It is vital for concessions to promote this type of initiative to guarantee and preserve the safety and health of professionals and users, being one of the main objectives as a company. Juan Marchini, CEO of Ausol, recalls that “Safety and Health is everyone’s business. Innovative, reliable, effective, and safe solutions are achieved together; and, ultimately, continuous improvement of our safety conditions at work.”
We would like to congratulate all the participants and the winners.