The Community of Madrid recognises Aqualia's good practices in prevention and control management of Covid

The Regional Institute for Health and Safety at Work (IRSST) of the Community of Madrid has awarded Aqualia a special mention in the fourth edition of the "Recognitions in Occupational Risk Prevention of the Community of Madrid", which in 2021 have rewarded the "Good Practices for the prevention and control of Covid-19 in companies". Santiago Lafuente, Spain Director of Aqualia, received the award from Alfredo Timermans, Deputy Minister of Employment of the Community of Madrid, at a ceremony held this morning at the Real Casa Correos, headquarters of the Presidency of the Community of Madrid.

With this award, the Community of Madrid recognises Aqualia's health and safety management for the prevention and control of Covid-19 in the company's nine work centres in the CAM, in which a total of 387 people work, as well as in another eight centres managed under other company names or joint ventures.

Since the beginning of the health crisis, Aqualia's main objective was to establish a line of action throughout the company to limit and minimise the impact of this contingency on Aqualia's employees. As Santiago Lafuente emphasised, "as the manager of an essential public service, the company has made it a priority to protect its workers and maintain the continuity of the activity, guaranteeing the water supply and sanitation in all the municipalities where we provide services".

Aqualia has been recognised in the Awards, in the category of entities with a workforce of more than 50 workers. In the same classification, the first prize went to Peugeot Citroën, while FCC Medio Ambiente received another special mention.

Safety, health and wellbeing, pillars of Aqualia's Preventive Culture

Aqualia is committed to the wellbeing of the people who make up its workforce and promotes a specific Strategic People and Culture Plan, which uses internal dialogue as a tool for creating synergies. Along these lines, in 2021, the company launched the Preventive Effort Award, which this year has been extended with awards for Good Practices in Health and Wellbeing, which, in different categories, highlight and contribute to improving the health and safety of all the company's staff.

On the other hand, Aqualia develops numerous initiatives in favour of the wellbeing of the people who make up its workforce. Recently, following a process of listening to its teams, the company renewed the clothing of its network, sewerage, readers, and plant operators. The new clothing incorporates suggestions made by the staff, adapting the design for both men and women. The new workwear improves body perspiration and protection, while at the same time they are more sustainable, long-lasting, and resistant, and comply with Covid requirements regarding washing temperature.

Throughout the year, the company carries out other actions aimed at improving the health of employees, such as inviting them to charity sports races, the Employee Assistance Programme (PAE), which offers free psychological care for staff members and their families, webinars, and workshops to promote a culture of prevention, etc.

One of Aqualia's most important milestones to strengthen contact with the workforce during the most critical periods of the pandemic was the launch of the Be Aqualia App, a channel that has a specific "Health and Wellbeing" space, through which employees can report incidents or dangers in the workplace, carry out stretching and warm-up exercises to take care of their physical health and access emotional self-testing tools such as the Psicomet test, among other features.

Through the development of this type of initiative, Aqualia contributes to the promotion of a safe and risk-free working environment for all workers (SDG 8) and the care of their mental health and wellbeing (SDG 3).