What is an in-house prevention service?
An in-house occupational health and safety service, usually abbreviated as SPP in Spanish, is a way of organizing the specialized resources a company needs to prevent workplace risks. It constitutes a specific organizational unit, and its members dedicate their work within the company exclusively to prevention. This distinguishes it from simply assigning some functions to an individual who also performs other tasks within the organization.
Their role is to provide advice and support in the areas they are responsible for: risk assessment, planning, information, training, health surveillance where applicable, and other preventive measures. The company retains the duty of care and the responsibility to implement the measures. Having internal specialists does not transfer all decisions regarding production, purchasing, maintenance, or hiring to them.
When is it mandatory in Spain
Article 14 of Royal Decree 39/1997 establishes the obligation to create such a structure in companies with more than 500 employees and in companies with between 250 and 500 employees that carry out any activity included in Annex I of the regulations. These limits refer to the company as a whole; it is not advisable to automatically interpret each workplace as an independent organization or to confuse employees with all other individuals present at the workplace.
A decision by the labor authority may also be required in the cases stipulated in that article, taking into account the danger, frequency, or severity of the accidents. In this latter case, there is the option of contracting the activity with a specialized entity, in accordance with the regulations. Therefore, a specific administrative decision must be reviewed, along with its grounds, scope, and deadlines.
Specializations and resources needed
The in-house prevention service (SPP) must include at least two of the legally required preventive specialties or disciplines. The selection must be based on the risks and needs of the organization. It is not enough for two people to have the necessary qualifications: they must have sufficient time, experience, equipment, and access to information to perform the planned activities effectively.
Resources must be commensurate with the size and geographical distribution of the facilities and the complexity of the processes. A central team unable to visit remote facilities or address significant changes may prove insufficient. When the service incorporates health surveillance, it requires the appropriate resources and adherence to health regulations, in addition to protecting the confidentiality of health data.
What activities can you arrange?
Preventive activities not handled by the company’s own service must be contracted out to one or more external prevention services. The division of responsibilities must be clearly defined: specialties, locations, specific actions, coordination channels, and follow-up responsibilities. A common approach is to maintain certain technical disciplines within the company and contract out others, but the choice depends on the company’s needs and applicable requirements.
The coexistence of internal and external resources requires effective coordination. For example, the results of a hygiene assessment must reach those planning the measures and healthcare professionals when relevant, while respecting confidentiality. An externally commissioned report cannot be isolated from the decision-making, maintenance, or monitoring carried out by the internal team.
Integration into business management
Preventive management should be integrated into the routine functions at every level of the company. The in-house prevention service (SPP) advises, evaluates, and verifies within its scope; managers organize the work and implement the corresponding measures. Any purchase, process modification, or new contract should trigger preventive participation before the change is introduced.
It is helpful to establish when the service should be consulted, who approves resources, and how pending measures are resolved. Access to management and facilities facilitates timely intervention. Proximity to the business also requires professional rigor: familiarity with a process should not normalize deviations or turn production deadlines into a technical criterion for acceptability.
Practical example
An industrial company with 620 employees and several facilities needs to organize an in-house prevention service (SPP). After analyzing its risks, it forms an internal team with the technical expertise it chooses to provide and contracts the remaining activities with a specialized entity. It defines a schedule of visits, responsibilities for each facility, and a procedure for consulting on any machinery changes before they are put into service.
When introducing a new product line, the internal team participates in the evaluation and installation requirements. External specialists are involved in the coordinated actions. Management allocates budget and assigns responsibilities for the resulting measures. Effectiveness is verified by checking actual operating conditions and the completion of actions, not solely by counting reports or technical staff hours.
Documentation and monitoring
The service must prepare its annual report and plan and keep them available to the relevant labor and health authorities and the health and safety committee, as stipulated in the regulations. These documents should provide information on what has been accomplished, what remains to be done, and how resources will be adjusted. A useful plan identifies priorities, responsible parties, deadlines, and material needs.
It is also advisable to review the distribution of resources with external services, the coverage of all centers, and the response to changes. Repeated delays in evaluations or measures may reveal a lack of resources, integration problems, or pending decisions. The review of results should lead to concrete actions and not simply be a repetition of the same list of activities each year.
Differences and common mistakes
The joint prevention service shares resources among companies and has a specific framework; it is not simply a private prevention service that informally serves other companies. The designated worker constitutes another modality, with requirements regarding capacity and resources, but it is not in itself equivalent to a specialized unit of the company’s own service.
Common errors include applying thresholds without checking Annex I, confusing two specialties with comprehensive coverage, and assigning the entire responsibility for implementing the measures to the SPP (Occupational Health and Safety Service). The system should be reviewed when the workforce, activity, business structure, or distribution of centers changes. Its adequacy is demonstrated by actual workplace prevention, in addition to its formal establishment.
