One of the most recent adventures of the OCA Global team has been that of our colleague Pablo Escribano (Environmental Manager), who had the opportunity to travel for the second time to Antarctica to carry out certification tasks.
The reason for this trip was the renewal audit of the Environmental Management System certificate according to ISO 14001:2015 of the only Army base we have certified outside Spain: the Spanish Antarctic Base Gabriel de Castilla.
The scope of this certificate is "Maintenance activities of fixed installations, equipment and vehicles. Support activities for scientific research in the areas of logistics, communication and security"; and we believe that this second part of support to scientific research is especially relevant, since we have had the opportunity to accompany scientists in their projects in Antarctica.
To understand the importance of the Army's presence in these investigations, we must take into account that there are 13 military personnel supporting some 17-20 scientists at the base. These military personnel are specialized in mountains and have a high level of preparation that allows them to divide responsibilities in an optimal way.
One of the most relevant tasks carried out at the Spanish Antarctic Base was the verification of compliance with the Protocolo al Tratado Antártico sobre Protección del Medio Ambiente, la Convención para la Conservación de las Focas Antárticas (CCFA) y la Convención para la Conservación de los Recursos Vivos Marinos Antárticos (CCRVMA); todo ello conformando el Sistema del Tratado Antártico.
But to get to all this, our responsible sent to Antarctica had to make a long journey to get there: airplanes, zodiacs, PCRs, quarantines.... We'll tell you about it soon!