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 purposes [Law 31/1995, sections 30 and 31] in order to guarantee the safety and health of employees. This system must cover the four preventive specialities: workplace safety, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, and ergonomics and applied psychosociology.

As every year, the Employment Advisory Department would like to remind you of the obligation to have an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan (PRP) in place within the company.

The Occupational Risk Prevention Act and its implementing regulations establish the obligation for every company, regardless of its size or activity, to set up an organisation and planning of preventive activities, with the fundamental aim of ensuring an adequate level of protection of employees’ health against occupational risks.

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

1. The Company’s Occupational Risk Prevention Plan.
2. The Risk Assessment of each job position.
3. The Planning of the Company’s Preventive Activity.
4. Training and information provided to employees.
5. Health surveillance (medical examinations) of employees.
6. Emergency measures within the company.
7. Recording and monitoring of occupational accidents and occupational diseases.

Accordingly, in order to comply with occupational risk prevention obligations, all companies must prepare and keep an occupational risk prevention plan. This document, in addition to including the company’s general details (identification data, structure, etc.), must reflect the type of occupational risks existing both at company level and in relation to each employee’s job position.

Once the existing risks have been identified, a plan must be drawn up to correct and minimise them. Thus, where a company identifies any potential contingency, the prevention plan must anticipate such situation and propose solutions to address it (for example, by providing employees with PPE – personal protective equipment – together with an explanation of its use - how and why it is used). 

Employees must also be trained and informed about the risks existing in their job positions. For this purpose, it is advisable to keep a certificate evidencing that all employees have received sufficient and adequate training for the activity they carry out, both at the time of hiring and whenever changes occur in their duties. It is important that, where the company’s activity may entail risks (for example, construction), such training and information be repeated on an annual basis.

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 result in stress, fatigue or depression for the employee. Companies are therefore also required to assess and prevent these psychosocial risks within their prevention plan.

In addition to the prevention plan (including risk assessment and planning of preventive activities), companies are required to monitor the health status of employees. This is carried out through medical examinations, in order to determine whether the functions to be performed within the company pose a health risk to employees. Medical examinations are, in principle and subject to certain exceptions, voluntary; therefore, if any employee refuses to undergo them, a document recording such refusal must be signed.

In this regard, it should also be noted that companies are obliged to keep a record of occupational accidents and occupational diseases that have resulted in an employee’s incapacity for work for more than one working day.

Finally, it is recalled that occupational risk prevention must cover all workplaces of a company. In the event that a new workplace is opened, it must be included in the company’s Occupational Risk Prevention Plan sufficiently in advance. The same obligation applies in the case of remote work or teleworking from the employee’s home. The risk assessment shall be limited exclusively to the area designated for the provision of services and shall not extend to the rest of the dwelling or the place chosen for remote work. Therefore, when assessing the risks of this remote working modality, the same ergonomic and psychosocial risk factors as those applicable to on-site job positions must be taken into account, including working conditions related to work organisation (breaks, the right to digital disconnection, etc.).

There are multiple bodies that can provide the information and documentation necessary to eliminate or reduce the occupational risks to which employees are exposed, and which cooperate in ensuring compliance with the legal obligations arising from Law 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention, adapting their actions to the nature of the risks existing in each company.

Therefore, in the event that the company has not yet implemented an Occupational Risk Prevention Plan, or is not fully up to date with current occupational risk prevention requirements, the Employment Advisory Department once again emphasises the obligation to have such a plan in place as soon as possible. It should be noted that the penalties established in this area under the Act on Infringements and Penalties in the Social Order are among the highest within the labour law framework.

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