PEOPLE MANAGEMENT


The human team is the main asset of CNAT. Their collaboration, commitment and identification with the Organisation are the best guarantee for the safe operation of the plants and compliance with the corporate objectives. For this reason, the human resources policy seeks to foster a working environment that allows for professional and personal development, with special attention to the health and safety of its employees.


As of 31 December 2020, CNAT has a team of 815 professionals characterised by their experience and high qualifications: 52% of which have university degrees. CNAT’s workforce is mainly concentrated in Extremadura with 391 workers at the Almaraz plant (48%), in Castilla-La Mancha with 329 workers at the Trillo plant (40%) and in Madrid with 95 workers at the Central Offices (12%).


During the year there have been 10 new incorporations and in all cases an initial training programme has been carried out prior to the start of their job responsibilities. It is important to note that the CNAT workforce is assisted by around 750 workers from specialised service companies during normal operations, and between 1,000 and 1,200 additional workers join the plants during refuelling periods.


Since 2017 CNAT has been certified by AENOR INTERNACIONAL S.A.U. in accordance with the ISO-10.667-2:2011 standard on the provision of assessment services: Procedures and methods for the assessment of people in work and organisational environments.


At the beginning of the year, CNAT received the renewal of the efr Certificate (Family-Responsible Company) from the Másfamilia Foundation, accrediting the improvement of the company’s rating to Excellence A level. This certificate, which is awarded after an external audit, recognises good practices in organisations that integrate models for the reconciliation of work and family life. CNAT has held the EFR certificate since 2010 and has implemented different measures focused on reconciling work and family life, promoting flexibility, supporting equal opportunities and promoting diversity.


CNAT has also renewed its ISO 10.667 certification for procedures and methods for the assessment of people in work and organisational environments, which verifies a rigorous and exhaustive work methodology that is perfectly aligned with the requirements established in the reference standard.



Prevention of Occupational Risks


Based on the basic principle that all occupational accidents can and should be avoided, the health and safety of people and the integration of Prevention at all levels of the Organisation are a priority for CNAT. The commitment to the Health and Safety of people is a hallmark of CNAT and its ultimate objective is the achievement and maintenance of ZERO accidents. For this reason, since 2018 CNAT’s management has promoted a multi-year project to improve the preventive culture of the organisation, which we have called the A-ZERO Plan.


With this objective, during 2020 a series of lines of action have been promoted that involve all CNAT employees and with a very important focus on the collaborating companies that carry out their activity in the plants, among which the following should be highlighted:


• Standards and Expectations: Expectations related to the safety of people, Life Saving Rules and the process of unloading and physically locking equipment in the plants have been consolidated.


• Leadership and motivation: LEADERSHIP and motivation continue to be promoted in personal security, supported by the line of command and integrated into the organisation, with specific actions such as:


• Review and consolidation of the process of investigation, analysis and reporting of accidents and incidents in order to identify root causes, enhance organisational learning and, based on the resulting actions, prevent recurrence.


• Consolidation of a programme of Preventive Safety Observations (OPS) in which both CNAT and collaborating companies participate, which acts at the base of the accident pyramid, favours the detection of failure and helps to set the safety expectations we wish for the organisation.


• The programme of individual and collective recognition and achievements in prevention has been continued.


• Communication and Dissemination: With the aim of making the A-ZERO Plan visible and making clear the absolute priority of people’s safety at CNAT, we have continued with powerful, effective communication campaigns capable of reaching the entire organisation, and we have installed traffic lights and electronic panels that allow us to follow in real time the prevention objectives that CNAT has set itself.


• DERI (Risk Reduction and Elimination): with lines of action focused on minimising or eliminating the risks present in our facilities (chemical risk, electric arc, elimination of unsafe openings, improvements in lighting, etc.).


• Education and training: An ambitious programme has been developed to ensure the highest level of training in prevention for all workers in the plants.


• Additionally, within the different lines of action of the A-ZERO Plan, the actions of the Plan established to respond to the Area for Improvement (AFI) identified during the 2020 Almaraz NPP Peer Review in the area of Industrial Safety (IS) have been included in relation to the implementation of the plant expectations related to lifting and handling of loads, with the aim of obtaining a result of A - Satisfactory Progress, in the Follow-up of the Peer Review.


• Monitoring of the Plan: By maintaining a structure (Project Group) that allows for monitoring the Plan’s achievements, as well as establishing new lines or priorities in the Plan, strengthening existing or newly created bodies for management, discussion, analysis and dissemination, such as Health and Safety and Business Activity Coordination Committees, Prevention Committees and specific Working Groups.


• CNAT’s Prevention Service also has two Health Monitoring units that look after the state of health of the workers at the three work centres. In their medical check-ups, they apply the specific health surveillance protocols required for each job, according to the risk assessment carried out by Technical Prevention. These units also carry out health care, emergency and occupational accident care functions and maintain Level I accreditation for the care of irradiated and contaminated workers.


• Due to the pandemic in which we are still immersed, during 2020 Health Surveillance has had to reschedule most of the activities and workshops that are carried out on a regular basis within the scope of Health Promotion in CNAT, even so, it has been possible to carry out the campaigns of Colon Cancer Screening (faecal occult blood), Prevention of eye health through non-mydriatic retinography and personalised Nutritional Assessment in the Central Offices.


• On the other hand, all the documentation necessary for COVID-19 has been produced: guides, protocols, procedures, plans, posters, information notes, informative videos, interviews in the magazine MUNDO CNAT, specific meetings, detailed monitoring of the workers affected, an immunological study of the workforce and mass screening of workers with antigen tests, once these have been made available.


• There has also been active collaboration with the relevant regional Councils in each work centre and with the Health Centres in the areas of influence of the facilities throughout the pandemic, applying at all times the guidelines, documents and recommendations issued by the Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare.


Training


The qualification of the people working for Almaraz-Trillo Nuclear Power Plants is one of the priority areas of interest, for which reason CNAT has permanent resources dedicated to the planning and development of annual training plans at each work centre, both for initial training and for retraining and training in management skills.


In 2020, 512 initial training and retraining courses were held, involving 161,459 hours of training for 4,496 workers, including future plant operators (22 young students undergoing training). Within the training programmes, 47% of the training was devoted to worker retraining and 53% to initial training.


During the year, 813 CNAT employees (99.8% of the total) took part in training actions, totalling 61,072 hours of training, with an average of 75.1 hours of training per employee. The training programmes for future plant operators, prior to their incorporation into the workforce, involved 28,232 hours of training during the year.


With regard to the process of controlling the qualification of contractor company personnel, CNAT has continued to promote the improvement of their training, facilitating their attendance at the training actions planned for staff personnel, and carrying out specific training actions for these workers. In 2020, 72,155 hours of training were given to 3,661 workers from contractor companies.




GENERAL DISTRIBUTION. 2020 TRAINING PROGRAM (HOURS)


Internal communications


Covid-19 had a profound impact on CNAT’s internal communication during 2020, which had to adapt suddenly to the new circumstances and the consequences of the pandemic in order to meet the demands for information and avoid the isolation caused by the widespread use of remote working.


CNAT had to keep internal communication channels open and more active than ever. Initially, the focus of communication had to be on adapting available tools, creating new ones and using digital channels as tools for listening and dialogue, informing about new measures being implemented in the areas of teleworking, safety and health prevention.


An internal communication programme was set up with the dual objective of conveying a message of closeness, strengthening integration and reinforcing the channels for disseminating information about Covid-19. The goal was for all CNAT employees to feel part of the organisation at that time, through contact with their managers and colleagues.


Technological supports such as Teams, which facilitates online communications, video chats or virtual cafés, have served to keep the conversation between teams alive and have allowed us to work remotely and be more connected than ever. One of the most widely used tools has been video, which has gone from being an infrequent format to being practically essential, because it has maintained the link between employees and because it has made visible and reinforced the close and natural leadership of the management team.




RELATIONS WITH SOCIETY


CNAT continues to maintain fluid and dynamic relations with the institutions that have competences in the area in which the plants operate, holding informative meetings every six months (two at each plant), organising meetings with the mayors of the surrounding areas to bilaterally study the relations between the plants and each municipality and the possible channels of collaboration, participating in the Information Committees convened by MITERD, as well as in institutional meetings with provincial and autonomous community organisations.


In the pandemic year 2020, the six-monthly reporting to the mayors of the surrounding municipalities and to the media has been provided by telematic means. This information details all the data concerning the results of the operation and provides updates on future plans and projects. Also, and always in compliance with the measures established by the health authorities to prevent contagion by COVID 19, 163 meetings have been held with the mayors of the areas surrounding the two plants. Likewise, this year the company has participated in the Almaraz Information Commission organised in virtual format by the official bodies responsible for nuclear energy, providing the information required at all times.


The commitment of the Almaraz and Trillo Nuclear Power Plants to their neighbouring communities is reflected in the collaboration agreements that have been renewed in the areas of economic and social development, the environment and educational projects. Likewise, CNAT has renewed the collaboration agreements with the most representative news agencies and press associations in the vicinity of the plants, by means of which the training and specialisation of students in the last year of Information Sciences in the field of nuclear electricity is favoured.

Visits to the Information Centres have been reduced during 2020 due to the health crisis caused by COVID-19 and it was only possible to attend to visits during the first months of the year prior to the activation of the state of alarm, with a total of 1,194 visitors between the two centres (678 at Almaraz and 516 at Trillo), which is much lower than the usual average.


Between the two centres, more than one million people have visited the Almaraz and Trillo facilities since they began operating in 1977 and 1981 respectively.


In addition, both the website (www.cnat.es) and the blog www.energiaymas.es offer information of interest on the activity of the plants and their surroundings, contributing to the dissemination of information concerning the nuclear world.


To ensure continuous improvement in the quality of products and associated services, CNAT makes sure that its suppliers are familiar with and participate in the company’s work processes and protocols. The contracting volume in 2020 was 269.4 M€. Of the total number of suppliers identified with contract awards, 92.24% (408 out of 446) are Spanish suppliers.