What is occupational safety and health?
Occupational safety and health ( OSH ) encompasses rights, responsibilities, technical knowledge, and organizational structures to prevent work-related harm. It includes workplace safety, industrial hygiene , ergonomics, applied psychosocial factors, and occupational medicine. It addresses both sudden accidents and long-term illnesses, fatigue, musculoskeletal disorders, and the effects on mental health.
A safe and healthy work environment is not defined solely by the absence of accidents. A company can accumulate exposures that have not yet resulted in harm or experience incidents that foreshadow potential problems. Mature management observes conditions and processes, listens to employees, and takes action before an injury occurs. In 2022, the ILO incorporated a safe and healthy work environment into its fundamental principles and rights at work.
Differences with prevention, safety and occupational health
- Occupational risk prevention (PRL). In Spanish legislation, this refers to the set of activities or measures implemented at all stages to prevent or reduce risks. It is the organized action through which occupational safety and health (OSH) is made effective.
- Workplace safety. A technical discipline aimed at eliminating or reducing the risk of accidents; it is only one part of occupational safety and health (OSH).
- Occupational health. A field that protects and promotes health and work capacity, from a health and public health perspective.
- OSH management system. Coordinated structure of policies, responsibilities, processes and controls to manage OSH.
The terms overlap in everyday use, but distinguishing them helps to avoid reducing protection to safety equipment, medical examinations, or documentation.
What does OSH include?
Occupational safety and health (OSH) covers workplace and equipment design, chemical, physical, and biological agents, ergonomics, psychosocial factors, work organization, travel, emergencies, and inter-company coordination. It also includes training, information, consultation, health surveillance, and protection of particularly vulnerable groups.
Their responsibilities are distributed, but not diluted. Management allocates resources and sets priorities; operational managers integrate controls into daily work; specialists advise and evaluate; purchasing and maintenance prevent the introduction of hazards; and employees participate, report incidents, and implement measures. The existence of a prevention service does not transfer the duty of protection outside the company.
How it is applied in practice
- To learn about activities, people, contracts, equipment, and planned changes.
- Identify hazards and assess risks that cannot be avoided.
- Prioritize elimination, substitution, technical and organizational controls before individual protection.
- Plan measures with responsible parties, resources, deadlines and indicators.
- Inform, train and consult the affected people.
- Prepare for emergencies, maintain controls, and monitor health according to risks.
- Investigate incidents and damages to correct causes, not to look for culprits.
- Review results and adapt prevention when conditions change.
Effective occupational safety and health (OSH) is integrated into design, contracting, purchasing, production, and maintenance. If it’s only addressed at the end, the options for eliminating the hazard are usually fewer and more costly.
Principles of priority
Preventive action begins with avoiding risks and assessing unavoidable ones. Then, risks are addressed at their source, work is adapted to the individual, technological advancements are considered, and hazardous elements are replaced with safer alternatives. Collective protection precedes individual protection, and instructions must be clear and consistent with the actual work.
These principles prevent superficial solutions. Providing a helmet does not compensate for a lack of fall protection; training on proper handling does not correct excessive loads; demanding attention does not replace a safety guard. The measure must correspond to the cause and remain effective throughout the activity, including cleaning, breakdowns, shift changes, and non-routine situations.
Practical example
A company is implementing an automated production line that reduces manual effort but creates entrapment zones and unblocking tasks. Before putting it into service, the occupational safety and health (OSH) team reviews the design with production, maintenance, and operators. Access points are modified, interlocked guards are installed, energy isolation is defined, and emergency stops are tested.
The evaluation includes normal production, cleaning, and maintenance. Training is conducted on the actual machine, and its execution is observed. During the first few weeks, incidents are recorded, and any issues that lead to bypassing safety guards are corrected. This example demonstrates that an ergonomic improvement can introduce new hazards and that occupational health and safety (OHS) must be considered throughout the entire change cycle.
Regulatory framework
Law 31/1995 recognizes the right to effective protection and establishes obligations regarding assessment, planning, information, training, emergency response, monitoring, and participation. Royal Decree 39/1997 develops preventive integration, assessment, planning, and organizational modalities. Specific Royal Decrees detail requirements for locations, equipment, personnel, and sectors.
At the international level, ILO Convention No. 155 establishes a framework for national policy and workplace action to prevent accidents and work-related injuries. The 2022 decision of the International Labour Conference enshrined a safe and healthy workplace as a fundamental principle and right. These instruments do not replace national legislation, but they provide a common language and guide policies and management systems.
