The new Tres Cantos development was the stage where the Community of Madrid chose to present its Third Master Plan on Occupational Risk Prevention, which will be funded with a 136-million-euro investment. The presentation featured the installation of an on-site training room.

The event was attended by the head of the Department of Labour, Women's Affairs and Immigration, Paloma Adrados, together with Mayor José Folgado of Tres Cantos, the manager of the FCC office, Carlos García León, and President José Escribano of the Labour Foundation, in addition to representatives from sections of UGT and CC.OO., the two major Spanish trade unions.

After a tour of the site, where more than 300 operators and 14 cranes were already at work building the first 1,000 homes of the 6,900 planned, the mayor reminded those present, "Prevention is profitable not only from the standpoint of worker health, but also from the standpoint of the employer and from the standpoint of progress".

The head of the Labour Department closed the event by thanking Mayor Folgado for his cooperation and thanking FCC for providing the space. "Information and sensitization are the basic pillars on which the Third Plan aims to build a solid culture of prevention", declared Adrados.

Because of the construction sector's special characteristics, mobile training units are set up on site. Inside, each training unit holds all the equipment and technology needed to give eight-hour training courses, where workers learn to identify risks and apply preventive measures to minimize or eliminate the risks they have identified.

Professional Construction Card

In addition, this course is equivalent to the first cycle of training needed to qualify for a Professional Construction Card (PCC), a document issued by the Labour Foundation. A PCC accredits a worker's prevention training, job category and experience. Since 2007 more than 40,000 employees have earned their PCC; it will be compulsory to do so as of 31 December 2011. Of the 40,000, 5,000 participated in the Ongoing Classroom courses.