ACS
Actividades de Construcción y Servicios

Safety and risk prevention

The ACS Group's efforts are focused on the prevention of labor risks and the results are more than satisfactory according to the data on accidents that occurred. They represent one more step in the ongoing interest to continue being one of the companies in the sector who pays the most attention to safety.

The ACS Group is guided by its prevention policy, which is based on the following principles:

• Compliance with current legislation on labor risks prevention and other requirements voluntarily observed.
• Integration of labor risk prevention in the initiatives of the Group and at all levels, implemented through correct planning and practices.
• Adoption of any measures necessary to ensure the protection and well-being of staff.
• Development of human potential through appropriate training and information regarding labor risk prevention, by fostering initiatives and participation in order to achieve ongoing improvement of the system.
• Ensuring the correct control and quality of the monitoring of the staff's health.
• Qualification of staff and application of technological innovations.

As a complement to the labor risk prevention management systems in each activity area, numerous labor risk prevention campaigns have been conducted, the purpose of which is to make the employees aware of these risks, reduce accidents and improve working conditions.

Orientation towards the creation of a "preventive culture" was evidenced in 2005 by the offering of 2,153 general and specific labor risk prevention courses for 35,000 on-site workers.

As a result of these initiatives, the Group continues to obtain job-related accident rates that are significantly lower than the sector average, as seen in the following chart.

Evolution of safety statistics	Construction		Industrial Services		Services		ACS Group
	2004	2005	2004	2005	2004	2005	2004	2005
Frequency rate (1)	36	36	40	41	62	50	50	45
Severity rate (2)	1.04	0.95	0.81	1.00	1.12	0.94	1.00	0.96
Incidence rate (3)	62	66	72	74	112	76	89	74

⁽¹⁾ Represents the number of accidents that have occurred during the working day per one million hours worked.
⁽²⁾ Represents the number of working days lost due to accidents per 1000 hours worked.
⁽³⁾ Represents the number of accidents in relation to which sick leave was requested per 1000 employees.


Some ACS Group activities require special attention, Construction being one of the main challenges in terms of safety and the prevention of labour risks. In 2005 an extensive prevention campaign was implemented in order to reduce accidents and was founded on the following initiatives:

• Intensify labor risk prevention training to heads, supervisors and on-site employees
• Increase communication through the production line, of the prevention method included in the safety plans in order to improve their implementation on-site.
• Apply specific measures to prevent the occurrence of the most frequent accidents, i.e. falls from a high location, being run over or being trapped by machinery.

In acknowledgement of the initiatives undertaken in the management and promotion of safety, the ACS Group received Honourable Mention from the XXXVII edition of the DIPLOOS awards, granted by the Accident Prevention Association (APA).

Also, in 2005 Dragados became a member of the Spanish Association of Labor Risk Prevention Services (AESPLA), thereby sharing experiences in the field of labor risk prevention with some of the most important companies operating in Spain.

The ACS Group actively participates in the most important conferences, symposiums and organized events in general on labor risks prevention taking place in Spain and abroad, contributing its experience in this area.