Health, Safety and Sustainability Area
Health, Safety & Sustainability Area aims to promote a preventive and sustainable culture within the ICN2 community. It emphasizes a proactive and interdependent approach to safety and environmental awareness, where everyone is accountable for their own safety, the well-being of their colleagues and adopting sustainable practices. To achieve this goal, the following basic principles have been established:
- Develop and implement an environmental, health and safety program that allows the integration of safety and sustainability in all departments and divisions, working methods and decisions, with special emphasis on research lines in such a way that the entire ICN2 community assumes responsibility for safety and the planet.
- Comply with the current legislation and other voluntary commitments, promoting initiatives that go beyond legal requirements in health and safety, aligning our sustainability guidelines with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations 2030 Agenda and including the expectations and needs of our community.
- Foster a sustainable and preventive culture in the centre through periodic and permanent training, to involve each person and make them aware of the impact of their work on the environment and the safety of their colleagues, processes, and facilities as part of a continuous improvement.
- Require respect for the safety and environmental standards established by the centre for all ICN2 staff as well as external companies and collaborators making them part of the implemented sustainable and preventive culture.
- Perform efficient and responsible management of energy, water and waste consumption and generation by ICN2 activities promoting a sustainable culture to reduce the carbon footprint of the centre and its scientific and management activities.
- Make the ICN2 a reference centre in health, safety, and sustainable management from the perspective of continuous improvement and innovation.
During recent years, the HSS Area tackled the issue of mental health offering tools and resources to help our community develop their professional careers improving their emotional wellbeing. Therefore, through close collaboration with the HR department, in 2023 the HSS team launched an innovative psychological support programme including psychotherapist individual sessions to provide our staff with some resources for managing complex situations or resolving conflicts to promote a positive work environment increasing well-being and occupational health.
In addition, our harassment prevention protocol was updated according to current legislation including an innovative e-learning training launched in September 2023 with a massive participation receiving much recognition and positive feedback.
To continue improving work conditions, an occupational noise study in offices was carried out in April 2023 in Research Support facilities (chillers and UHV pumps) ensuring that noise levels are below standard references.
Regarding research safety, our lab safety programme included 159 corrective actions, and 6 risk assessments related to new locations in external centres (IREC, JEMCA-Sincrotrón ALBA) giving responses to 35 environmental, health or safety incidents/queries.
Safety training set a record with new 454 safety pieces of training completed and 98% compliance. In addition, specific training actions were performed i.e.: CPR and first aid kit use provided by Spanish Red Cross and Laser Safety.
As contributing to environmental response, during 2023 HSS Area assisted in the recycling of almost 5 tons of ICN2 waste materials (including furniture, e-waste and metals) and 6,5 tons of hazardous waste safely disposed.
On the other hand, during 2023 the ICN2 became a collaborative member of the sustainable labs network (SuRe Catalonia) to trigger change towards more sustainable research and a new Park&Charge facility for e-scooters has been installed at the main entrance to encourage safe and sustainable mobility.
Finally, at the end of 2023, ICN2 committed to develop a sustainability strategy to reduce ICN2’s carbon footprint and start building a sustainability culture among its community.
