VW Group-owned SEAT says that medical services provision at its Martorell factory in Spain is benefiting its workers and helping to reduce days lost due to work accidents.
It says the number of days lost due to work accidents has gone down by 48% thanks to prevention and improved medical services for its 15,000 Martorell employees.
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The 24-hour Health Care and Rehabilitation Centre (CARS) at the plant carries out some 17,000 traumatology consultations a year. It says this is one of the most in-demand services and that workers receive personalised treatment in the workplace without waiting lists. In just one year 1,400 X-rays were made.
SEAT says the length of medical leave due to work accidents has fallen by 48%. ‘Whether an employee suffers an injury at work or during their leisure time, the medical personnel diagnoses their condition and prescribes treatment, and in some cases includes rehabilitation’, the company says. In the past year close to 27,000 physiotherapy sessions were carried out, which is an average of 84 per day. All this work, in addition to prevention, reduces diagnosis and patient recovery time, SEAT says.
There is also a dedicated medical unit for women. In one year, more than 3,400 ultrasounds were performed, close to 320 mammograms and 10 cases of early stage cancer were detected, SEAT says. The brand adds that some 85% of the women attended at CARS ‘had never had this kind of medical examination before’. “In a company where 21% of the workforce is female, our obligation is also to protect women’s health,” says Dr. Patricia Such, the head of the Occupational Health and Safety unit at SEAT.
There are also 20 cameras in a biomechanical lab – which is used to evaluate the health of muscles and joints after an accident, as well as to calculate the muscular effort required of certain jobs.
SEAT has ten medical centres in operation in its different production sites and inside the workshops, as well as CARS, to attend the entire workforce. Close to 15,000 preventive medical treatments are carried out per year, and in case of emergencies, two ambulances are permanently on call 24/7, 365 days a year.
