Am I required to comply with the Occupational Risk Prevention Law?

All companies that have hired at least one employee or salaried worker must comply with the occupational risk prevention requirements laid down by the Occupational Risk Prevention Law (Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales), regardless of the company’s total number of workers and of the services it provides.

These obligations fall on the employer, who must either carry them out personally or delegate them to a private occupational risk prevention company.

Occupational risk prevention is essential to reducing workplace accidents and  the incidence of occupational diseases.

Prevention has a dual dimension: on the one hand, it is a right of workers and, on the other, an obligation of all parties, namely the company and those of us who work. Accordingly, any company or employer with one or more workers is required to ensure the safety of its employees and, at the same time, to comply with the Occupational Risk Prevention Law.

When should occupational risk prevention be implemented?

To determine when a self-employed worker or a company must implement occupational risk prevention (PRL), a distinction must be drawn between:

– Company/Self-Employed Worker Without Employees: in this case, we do NOT need an organizational structure responsible for PRL, a risk assessment, or a risk prevention plan.

– Company/Self-Employed Worker Without Employees but Subject to the Rules on Coordination of Business Activities.  In this case, information must be provided on the risks that their activities or equipment pose to the workers of the other companies with which they collaborate.

– Company/Self-Employed Worker With Employees. In this case, we DO need to implement PRL; companies and self-employed workers therefore take on the employer’s obligations under the legislation governing the labor market. In companies with up to ten workers, the employer may take charge of organizing prevention, provided that the employer habitually carries out his or her activity at the workplace and has the necessary competence, depending on the company’s risks.

How should occupational risk prevention be implemented?

For companies and self-employed workers with employees, or that are subject to the rules on coordination of business activities, the usual approach is to engage a company specializing in the implementation of occupational risk prevention programs. This is a highly advisable option to avoid taking on an excessive workload that could end up slowing you down or even diverting you from your commercial and production objectives.

However, for the employer to be able to manage PRL within the company under the preventive arrangement of Assumption by the Employer (Asunción por el Empresario), the company must have fewer than 10 workers or, where there is a single workplace, a maximum of 25 workers, and the company’s activities must not be included in Annex I of Royal Decree 39/97, which include the following:

1. Work involving exposure to ionizing radiation in controlled areas under Royal Decree 53/1992, of January 24, on health protection against ionizing radiation.

2. Work involving exposure to substances or mixtures causing acute toxicity of categories 1, 2, and 3, and in particular to agents that are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction of categories 1A and 1B, under Regulation (EC) No. 1272/2008 of December 16, 2008, on classification, labeling, and packaging of substances and mixtures.

3. Activities involving high-risk chemicals that are subject to Royal Decree 886/1988, of July 15, as amended, on the prevention of major accidents in certain industrial activities.

4. Work involving exposure to biological agents of groups 3 and 4, under Directive 90/679/EEC, as amended, on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work.

5. Activities involving the manufacture, handling, and use of explosives, including pyrotechnic articles and other objects or devices containing explosives.

6. Work typical of open-pit and underground mining, and drilling on land or on offshore platforms.

7. Underwater diving activities.

8. Activities in construction, excavation, earthmoving, and tunneling works involving a risk of falling from height or being buried.

9. Activities in the iron and steel industry and in shipbuilding.

10. Production of compressed, liquefied, or dissolved gases, or significant use thereof.

11. Work generating high concentrations of silica dust.

12. Work involving high-voltage electrical risks.

In addition, an employer wishing to assume prevention personally must have the training and qualifications in prevention matters required in light of the risks inherent in the company’s activity.

The employer may designate one or more workers to take charge of the company’s risk prevention program, and they must have the competence corresponding to the duties to be performed. They should, at a minimum, have training to perform basic-level functions, although, depending on the circumstances (company size, activity, risks, characteristics of the prevention plan, etc.), it may be advisable for the designated worker to be qualified to perform the functions of a prevention technician (intermediate or advanced level).

Occupational risk prevention in the COVID-19 crisis

The COVID-19 coronavirus has led self-employed workers and SMEs to step up occupational risk prevention measures upon the return to economic activity in order to prevent infections among staff and customers themselves. It is the company’s responsibility to carry out a risk assessment and to implement the measures of the resulting Contingency Plan, including providing the workforce with the necessary personal protective equipment and informing them of the full set of occupational health and safety measures.

In a public health crisis such as the COVID-19 crisis, relying on an occupational risk prevention service is a priority in order to plan the return to economic activity and to avoid possible penalties for non-compliance with the protection rules established by the Ministry of Health.