Workplace accidents in Spain in 2025 and the first half of 2026: official figures, sectors and what changes for companies
Spain closed 2025 with 640,148 workplace accidents resulting in absence from work, 1.1% fewer than in 2024, and 613 fatal accidents during working hours, 9.7% fewer. The figures come from the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy’s statistical summary. The first half of 2026 breaks the trend: 303,853 accidents resulting in absence, up 1.8%, and 358 fatalities in total, with a 24.1% rise in fatalities among self-employed workers. In the year declared Spain’s Year of Occupational Safety and Health, the data shows where each company should look.
The 2025 figures
- 640,148 workplace accidents resulting in absence from work, 1.1% fewer than in 2024: 546,473 during working hours and 93,675 while commuting.
- 613 fatal accidents during working hours, down 9.7%, and 771 fatalities in total, including 158 while commuting.
- An incidence rate during working hours of 2,629.5 accidents resulting in absence per 100,000 covered workers.
- Construction had the highest incidence rate, 5,698.4, followed by mining and quarrying, 5,531.9, and water supply, sewerage and waste management, 5,250.7.
- Among fatalities during working hours, 265 were due to non-traumatic conditions (heart attacks and strokes), 104 to falls and 85 to entrapment, crushing and amputation events.
First half of 2026: the rebound
- 303,853 accidents resulting in absence, 1.8% more than in the same period of 2025: 259,647 during working hours and 44,206 while commuting.
- 358 fatalities in total: 290 during working hours and 68 while commuting.
- Fatalities among self-employed workers increased by 24.1%, from 29 to 36, although their 13,358 accidents resulting in absence decreased by 2.4%.
- The statistics do not break down heat as a cause; work organisation during heat episodes should follow the risk assessment and health surveillance.
What a workplace accident is and how it is reported
Under Spain’s General Social Security Law, a workplace accident is any bodily injury suffered by a worker on the occasion of or as a consequence of employed work, including commuting accidents. The employer must submit the accident report through Delt@ or, in Catalonia and the Basque Country, the applicable regional procedure, within five working days, investigate the causes and review the risk assessment. An accident at the workplace or during work-related travel that results in death or is serious or very serious, and any workplace accident affecting more than four workers, must also be reported to the labour authority within 24 hours.
What changes for companies
- Investigate every accident and incident, including minor ones and near misses, as a source for preventive planning.
- Measure with your own indicators: incidence, frequency and severity rates by site and job, compared with the sector.
- Address cardiovascular risks, the leading cause of death during working hours, and adapt work organisation during heat episodes based on the risk assessment and health surveillance.
- Review coordination with self-employed workers and contractors and analyse each group’s data separately.
- Prepare for a possible reform of the OHS law, while recognising that current law already requires all present risks to be assessed.
Accident rates and the Year of Occupational Safety and Health
2026 was declared Spain’s Year of Occupational Safety and Health and coincides with the draft reform of Law 31/1995 and the Labour Inspectorate’s Strategic Plan 2025-2027, focused on fatal accidents, musculoskeletal disorders, psychosocial risks and heat. The INSST and the Ministry of Labour publish monthly data; following it helps adjust planning.
How Sabentis helps
Sabentis manages the full accident cycle: recording and reporting, cause investigation, corrective measures in preventive planning, absenteeism management and indicators on the dashboard, to compare the company’s accident data with its sector and support earlier preventive action. We develop this in the real cost of a workplace accident and in near misses, and you can explore the safety, health and well-being modules.
Sources
- Ministry of Labour and Social Economy: statistical summary of workplace accidents 2025 and workplace accident statistics 2026 (Spanish).
- INSST: occupational accident reports.
- General Social Security Law, Article 156 (workplace accident).
