Law 29783 on Occupational Safety and Health (Peru)

What is Law 29783

Until 2011, occupational safety and health in Peru was primarily regulated by sector-specific regulations and Supreme Decree 009-2005-TR. Law 29783 unified the framework with a single legal standard applicable to all economic and service sectors, employers and employees under the private sector labor regime, public sector workers and officials, the Armed Forces and National Police, and the self-employed. Its stated objective is to promote a culture of occupational risk prevention based on employers’ duty of prevention, state oversight, and the participation of workers and their unions.

The law adopts a management system approach inspired by ILO guidelines: policy, organization, planning and implementation, evaluation, and action for continual improvement. The employer must implement the system with worker participation, adopt a hierarchical prevention system (elimination, control at the source, minimization through procedures, scheduling of replacements, and, lastly, personal protective equipment), and document the policy, internal regulations, hazard identification and risk assessment (HIRA), risk map, planning, and annual program.

Law 30222 of 2014 modified several articles to make certain obligations more flexible, including the frequency of occupational medical examinations (every two years, with exceptions for high-risk activities) and the criminal offense of violating safety and health conditions, and Supreme Decree 005-2012-TR develops the law with details of the records, the committee, training and accident investigation.

Main obligations of the employer

• Management system. Implement an occupational health and safety management system in accordance with the principles of the law, with a written policy, objectives, planning, control and continuous improvement.
• IPERC and risk map. Identify hazards, assess risks and determine controls by position, updating the assessment at least once a year and in response to changes; prepare and display the risk map with the participation of the workers.
• Committee or supervisor. Companies with twenty or more workers establish a joint occupational safety and health committee; those with fewer than twenty appoint a supervisor elected by the workers.
• Internal regulations. Companies with twenty or more employees draw up an internal occupational safety and health regulation and give it to each employee.
• Training. At least four training sessions per year on safety and health, in addition to induction upon entry, during job changes, and regarding new technologies.
• Mandatory records. Records of accidents, dangerous incidents and occupational diseases, medical examinations, agent monitoring, inspections, statistics, safety equipment, induction and training, and audits.
• Medical examinations. Occupational medical examinations at the employer’s expense, with the frequency established by Law 30222 and the regulations of the Ministry of Health.
• Notification and investigation. Notification to the Ministry of Labor of fatal accidents and dangerous incidents and investigation of all accidents and illnesses to determine causes and measures.

Workers’ rights and responsibilities

• Participation. Right to be consulted, to elect representatives on the committee, to receive information and training, and to interrupt the activity in the face of serious and imminent danger without reprisals.
• Protection. Protection against acts of hostility and a guarantee that safety measures do not entail any cost for the worker.
• Administrative liability. Minor, serious and very serious infractions sanctioned by SUNAFIL in accordance with Law 28806 and its regulations.
• Civil and criminal liability. Compensation for damages arising from the breach of the duty of prevention and the criminal offense of article 168-A of the Penal Code, modified by Law 30222, when the life, health or integrity of workers is endangered.
• Supplementary insurance. High-risk activities require Supplementary Occupational Risk Insurance (SCTR) in accordance with Law 26790 and its regulations.

Organizational application: how to comply with Law 29783

1. Approve the occupational health and safety policy and allocate resources and responsibilities at all levels of the organization.
2. Prepare the IPERC (hazard identification, risk assessment and determination of controls) by position with the participation of the workers, determine controls according to the hierarchy of the law and display the risk map.
3. Establish the joint committee or appoint the supervisor, with minutes, documented elections, and periodic meetings.
4. Approve the internal regulations for occupational safety and health, deliver them to each worker and keep them updated.
5. Plan and execute the annual program: training (minimum four per year), inspections, monitoring, drills and medical examinations.
6. Maintain mandatory records with the retention required by the regulations and report and investigate accidents and dangerous incidents.
7. Conduct system audits at the established intervals and review the system with senior management.

Preventive management software allows you to maintain the IPERC, the risk map, mandatory records, training, medical examinations and committee minutes in a single system, with the evidence required by SUNAFIL in its inspections.

Limits and common mistakes

1. Treating the law as a documentary obligation and not as a management system with real worker participation.
2. Prepare a generic IPERC without analyzing the actual jobs or updating it in response to changes or accidents.
3. To form the committee without valid elections, without minutes, or without effective operation.
4. Failure to complete the four annual training sessions or to properly register them.
5. Failure to report fatal accidents and dangerous incidents within the legal time limits.
6. Omitting coordination with contractors and extending obligations to third parties working at the center.

Official texts can be consulted on the Peruvian State Platform and the Peruvian Legal Information System; this sheet is for informational purposes.

Regulatory and reference framework

• Law 29783, Law on Occupational Safety and Health . Official text on the Peruvian State Platform.
• Law 30222. Law that modifies Law 29783.
• Supreme Decree 005-2012-TR . Regulations of the Law on Safety and Health at Work.
• Law 29783, text in the SPIJ . Peruvian Legal Information System of the Ministry of Justice.
• National Superintendency of Labor Inspection (SUNAFIL) . Agency in charge of monitoring compliance.

The regulations have been modified by subsequent supreme decrees, including Supreme Decree 006-2014-TR and Supreme Decree 001-2021-TR; the current text should be consulted in the official sources.

For an overview of how these duties fit into the wider safety management framework, see our guide to OSH regulations in Peru, with practical questions, documentation and official sources.