The Balearic Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Ibassal) will check the thermal conditions at Son Sant Joan Airport, after the USO union reported high temperatures in several areas.
The Balearic Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Ibassal) announced on Thursday that it will measure temperatures at specific workstations at Palma Airport. This decision comes after the USO union filed a complaint against Aena with the Labour Inspectorate regarding the high temperatures that, they claim, affect private security workers at the aerodrome.
The director of Ibassal, Coloma Capó, met with the general secretary of the Private Security Workers Federation of USO, Miguel Sañudo, to discuss the situation. During the meeting, Capó confirmed that the institute's technicians will carry out measurements in the areas where the most extreme conditions have been reported.
According to USO, last weekend, two air conditioning units broke down, which forced the closure of two passenger filters and caused incidents in the functioning of the facilities. The union claims that temperatures in the affected areas have reached peaks of up to 33 degrees, with a relative humidity of 70%, which hinders work performance and justifies the complaint.
This Thursday's meeting is part of the monitoring that Ibassal conducts during the summer regarding working conditions in relation to the risk of high temperatures. The agency carries out scheduled visits to companies, verifies working conditions, and holds coordination meetings with both Aena and the trade unions.
In recent weeks, Ibassal has also met several times with representatives from UGT and CCOO to gain firsthand knowledge of incidents and concerns from workers and to guide preventive actions. Additionally, the Minister of Labour, Public Function and Social Dialogue, Catalina Cabrer, and the director of Ibassal, Coloma Capó, held a meeting with the director of Palma Airport to convey the staff's concerns and demand new protective measures against the heat, including the reopening of the canteen as a cooling space.
The Ibassal inspection will focus on the workstations where private security employees carry out their activities, especially in the passenger filter areas and control zones. The technicians will measure thermal conditions to determine if they exceed the limits established by occupational risk prevention regulations.
For the workers at Palma Airport, this action represents a step forward in improving their working conditions. The USO complaint has highlighted a problem that, according to the union, recurs every summer and affects not only the health of employees but also the quality of service provided to passengers.
Son Sant Joan Airport is one of the key infrastructures in the Balearics, with millions of passengers passing through each year. The high temperatures recorded in its facilities during the summer months have been a recurring complaint from workers, who demand effective measures to ensure a safe and healthy working environment.
The Ministry of Labour has expressed its commitment to resolving the conflict and has assured that it will remain in contact with all parties involved to seek short-term solutions. Meanwhile, Ibassal technicians have already begun planning inspection visits, which will take place in the coming days.
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