• This Tuesday SENA sets up a new space for worker competitiveness and ecosystems and habitat care in the Ministry of Environment and Housing.
• It is the Sectoral Working Group on Environmental Management. It is integrated by entrepreneurs and workers from all economic sectors.
• The aim is that enterprises comply with environmental standards, as an economic profitability strategy.

Bogotá, D.C., 26 May 2006. - The environmental issue is now a good strategy for economic profitability in enterprises and the competitiveness of workers.

Complying with these environmental standards is good business because apart from contributing to preserve the planet it allows enterprises which develop efficient systems of environmental preservation to access the corresponding quality seal (issued by specialised bodies) and obtain economic advantages, such as a reduction in tariffs or the entrance to globalised markets.

To that end, SENA, the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Land Development, Autonomous Corporations, and DAMAs will set up this Tuesday the Working Group on Environmental Management, where entrepreneurs, workers, governmental organisations and university and training institutions will define the quality standards a worker should have to be competent in a certain occupation or trade.

The labour competency standards that are established by the working group will serve as an input for universities and entities that provide education on environmental issues to update their curricula.

This working group will also identify what environmental standards enterprises must comply with to control harmful and polluting emissions that affect the ecosystem and also the work performance and health of workers.

In addition, the sectoral working group will contribute to improve the environmental quality of the enterprise. It will help to reduce professional risks in productive organisations, facilitate the compliance with the environmental standardisation of economic sectors, stimulate compliance with decontamination goals and improve the direct indicators of environmental sustainability of Regional Autonomous Corporations, among other issues.

Additionally, the sectoral working group will be in charge of defining policies and strategies aiming at increasing workers' performance level and improving the competitive indexes of productive organisations.

In the same way, the Sectoral Working Group on Environmental Management will establish human resources' training needs with regards to this economic activities, as well as the training programmes that are "tailor-made" to the needs of enterprises in that sector.

It will also serve to start producing studies on the diagnosis and prospective of oil refining and transport, particularly regarding the number of enterprises engaged in this labour activity, its supply and demand, the human resources linked to these enterprises, the profile of its workers, the existing occupations in the productive organisations of the sector, the level of preparation of the staff and the occupations in enterprises engaged in such activity. Additionally it will aid to the training programmes offered by SENA, universities, educational institutions of training for work and training centres or premises of enterprises, trade unions and associations.

The Working Group, which will start their activities next Tuesday 30 May at 4 pm at the Auditorium of the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Land Development (Calle 37 No 8-40), will be integrated by representatives from enterprises of all activities and economic sectors in the country, production trade unions, entrepreneurs, workers, education institutions that train in the environmental area, research and technological development centres and governmental organisations that define policies and take direct action regarding environmental management.

With this one, there are 63 sectoral working groups set up by SENA, belonging to an equal number of economic activities.

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