What is the College
The College of Occupational Health and Safety Professionals of the Province of Buenos Aires is a professional college with mandatory registration, created by Provincial Law 15.105, enacted on December 3, 2018. According to its own creation law, it operates with the character, rights and obligations of non-state public legal entities, which distinguishes it from both a public administration body and a professional association with voluntary affiliation.
Its scope is exclusively provincial: it governs the professional practice of occupational health and safety within the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, not throughout the country. Its legal headquarters are located in the city of La Plata.
Purpose and scope of action
The purpose of the College is to govern and regulate the registration of occupational health and safety professionals practicing in the Province of Buenos Aires, and to ensure the proper practice of this profession within its territory. It is the institution that, within this provincial scope, grants professional registration and exercises disciplinary control over its holders.
Functions and main lines of work
Law 15.105 assigns to the College, among others, the following functions.
- Governance and control of registration. It manages the registry of professionals authorized to practice occupational health and safety in the province.
- Legalization and certification of opinions and reports. It gives formal validity to the technical documents issued by its registered members.
- Disciplinary power. It exercises the power to impose sanctions on its members for breaches of their professional and ethical obligations.
- Collaboration with public authorities. Cooperates with provincial public authorities on matters related to occupational safety and health.
- Drafting of statutes and code of ethics. It dictates its own rules of internal organization and professional conduct, with an ethics committee that receives formal complaints.
Contribution to safety and health at work
The College’s contribution is that of a professional association with the authority to register professionals: it guarantees that anyone practicing occupational health and safety in the Province of Buenos Aires holds the required registration granted by this institution, and it formally validates the technical reports issued by these professionals. Mandatory membership means that practicing the profession without a current registration is not authorized within this territory, a distinction that sets this College apart from a voluntary professional association: the latter can bring together professionals, train them, and represent them, but it neither grants nor revokes legal authorization to practice.
The College does not replace the prevention service of each company or the provincial enforcement authority in matters of occupational safety and hygiene: its function is registration, deontological control and professional discipline, not direct supervision of working conditions in workplaces.
Relationship with the ORP International Foundation
The College of Occupational Health and Safety Professionals of the Province of Buenos Aires is part of the institutional advisory committee of the International ORP Foundation with a profile of a professional college with mandatory registration: it governs and controls the practice of that profession in the Argentine provincial sphere by virtue of Law 15.105. Within that committee, it is an institution with professional control power that other members do not have.
Practical application
For an occupational health and safety technician who wants to practice in the Province of Buenos Aires, registration with this professional association is a requirement, not just one option among others. For a company that hires the services of an occupational health and safety professional in that province, verifying their current registration is the way to confirm that the professional is authorized to work and that their reports have the institutional backing of the association.
