Workers' rights to safety and health at work

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The law creates the general framework to prevent workplace risks and promotes workers' safety and health through preventive measures and activities in companies.
2. It applies to employees, to civilian staff of public administrations and to worker-members of cooperatives. It does not apply to police, security, customs surveillance, civil protection and forensic work in certain cases, nor to domestic household service, although household employers must ensure safe conditions.
3. Workers have the right to effective protection, and the employer has the corresponding duty to guarantee their safety and health. The cost of preventive measures can never fall on workers.
4. The employer must avoid and assess risks, inform and train workers, prepare emergency measures, and allow workers to stop their activity and leave the workplace in case of serious and imminent risk.
5. The employer must guarantee periodic health monitoring of workers, generally with their consent, respecting the confidentiality of medical data, which cannot be used against the worker.
6. Prevention is organized through designated workers, an in-house prevention service or an accredited external service. Work accident mutual funds (Mutuas) can perform these functions for their member companies.
7. Workers participate through Prevention Representatives (Delegados de Prevención), chosen by and from their representatives, and through the Safety and Health Committee, mandatory in companies or workplaces with 50 or more workers.
8. Non-compliance leads to administrative, criminal and civil liability. Violations are classified as minor, serious or very serious, with graduated financial penalties, and the Labor Inspectorate can halt work involving serious and imminent risk.

Who it affects

• Employees: They have rights to protection, information, training, health monitoring and representation in prevention.
• Employers: They must assess risks, train and inform workers, organize prevention and face penalties if they fail to comply.
• Civilian staff of public administrations: The law also applies to administrative and statutory employment relationships.
• Worker-members of cooperatives: They are included in the scope of the law, with their own particularities.
• Manufacturers, importers and suppliers: They must ensure machinery, products and protective equipment are safe and inform about their correct use.

Words worth knowing

Riesgo grave e inminente (serious and imminent risk)

A risk that is rationally likely to materialize in the immediate future and could cause serious harm to health.

Servicio de prevención (prevention service)

The set of people and resources, inside or outside the company, dedicated to preventive activities.

Delegado de Prevención (Prevention Representative)

A workers' representative with specific duties in workplace risk prevention.

Equipo de protección individual (personal protective equipment)

Equipment worn or held by the worker to protect against workplace risks, such as helmets or gloves.

Evaluación de riesgos (risk assessment)

An initial and periodic analysis of workplace hazards to decide the necessary preventive measures.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries