Obligation for all Companies to implement an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan

Mandatory requirement for companies to have an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan (ORP)

The law requires companies to establish and/or engage a management system for occupational risk prevention [Law 31/1995, arts. 30 and 31] in order to guarantee the safety and health of employees, covering the four preventive specialities: workplace safety, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, and ergonomics and applied psychosociology.

As every year, from the Employment Advisory department we remind companies of the obligation to have an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan (PRL) in place.

The Occupational Risk Prevention Law and its implementing regulations establish the obligation for every company, regardless of its size or activity, to implement a preventive organisation and a preventive activity planning system with the primary objective of ensuring an adequate level of protection for employees’ health against occupational risks.

Proper and comprehensive prevention management includes the following lines of action:

1. The Company’s Prevention Plan.
2. The Risk Assessment of the workplace.
3. The Preventive Activity Planning of the Company.
4. The Training and information of employees.
5. The Health Surveillance (medical examinations) of employees.
6. Emergency Measures within the company.
7. The Registration and Monitoring of Workplace Accidents and Occupational Diseases.

In this regard, and in order to comply with occupational risk prevention obligations, all companies must prepare and retain an occupational risk prevention plan. This document, in addition to the company’s general information (identification data, structure, etc.), must reflect the types of occupational risks that exist both within the company and in relation to each employee’s position.

Once the existing risks have been identified, planning must be carried out to correct and minimise them. Therefore, if a company identifies any potential contingency, the prevention plan must foresee such a situation and propose solutions to the issue (for example, by providing PPE – personal protective equipment – to employees, together with an explanation of its use and why and how it should be used).

Employees must also be trained and informed about the risks associated with their roles. To this end, it is advisable to keep a certificate confirming that all employees have received sufficient and appropriate training for the activity they perform, both at the time of hiring and whenever changes occur in their duties. It is important that, if the company’s activity may involve risks (for example, construction), training and information sessions are repeated annually.

The obligation to guarantee the safety and health of employees in the performance of their work also includes so-called psychosocial risks (for example, excessive workload, an unfavourable working environment, etc.). These risks, arising from the way work is organised, may lead to stress, fatigue or depression for employees. Therefore, companies are also required to assess and prevent these psychosocial risks within their prevention plans.

In addition to the prevention plan (including risk assessment and preventive activity planning), companies are obliged to monitor the health status of employees. This is carried out through occupational medical examinations, in order to determine whether the duties performed within the company pose any health risk to employees. Occupational medical examinations are, in principle and except in specific cases, voluntary. Therefore, if any employee refuses to undergo such examinations, a document recording their refusal must be signed.

In this regard, it should also be noted that companies are required to keep records of workplace accidents and occupational diseases that have resulted in employees being unable to work for more than one working day.

Finally, it should be remembered that occupational risk prevention must cover all company workplaces. In the event of opening a new workplace, it must be added to the Company’s Prevention Plan sufficiently in advance. The same obligation of inclusion applies in cases of remote work or teleworking carried out at the employee’s home. Risk assessments will only apply to the area designated for service provision and will not extend to the rest of the home or chosen location for remote work. Therefore, when assessing the risks associated with remote work, the same ergonomic and psychosocial risks applicable to on-site positions must be considered, including working conditions linked to organisation (breaks, the right to digital disconnection, etc.).

There are numerous organisations that can provide the necessary information and documentation to eliminate or reduce the occupational risks to which employees are exposed, collaborating in labour regulatory compliance derived from Law 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention, while adapting their actions to the nature of the risks existing in each company.

Therefore, if a company has not yet implemented an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan or is not up to date with current prevention requirements, from Employment Advisory we once again stress the obligation to have such a plan in place as soon as possible. It should be noted that the sanctions relating to occupational risk prevention established under the Law on Infractions and Penalties in the Social Order are among the highest within the labour field.

Should you require any clarification regarding the above, please do not hesitate to contact our team.