What is the ISSGA?
The ISSGA is an autonomous body organically attached to the Galician Regional Government’s department responsible for labor matters, with its own legal personality and independent assets. It was created by Law 14/2007, of October 30, and its name was subsequently updated by Law 3/2018.
It is not a company, a professional association, or a private research center. It is a public law entity that performs technical support functions for the prevention system within the territory of Galicia, without the power to inspect workplaces or impose sanctions.
Its headquarters are located in Santiago de Compostela, and it has four territorial centers, one in each Galician province: A Coruña, Lugo, Ourense and Pontevedra, which allows it to provide technical assistance in a decentralized manner throughout the territory.
Role within the Spanish prevention system
Spain organizes the implementation of its occupational risk prevention policy in a decentralized manner. While the National Institute for Safety and Health at Work (INSST) acts as the national scientific and technical body, the powers to implement this preventive policy have been transferred to the autonomous communities, which carry them out through their own institutes such as the ISSGA.
This structure means that a single issue, such as an inspection campaign to reduce workplace accidents in the construction sector, can simultaneously involve the National Institute for Safety and Health at the national technical level, the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate at the level of compliance monitoring, and the Galician Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (ISSGA) at the level of technical assistance and training within Galicia. None of the three technical bodies, including ISSGA, replaces the Labor Inspectorate in its enforcement role.
Scope of action
The ISSGA extends its activity to all companies and all employees at workplaces located in Galicia, including public administrations, cooperatives, and the self-employed. Its scope is therefore territorial, not sectoral: it serves any economic activity carried out in the autonomous community.
Functions and main lines of work
- Information and dissemination of technical content on occupational safety and health aimed at companies and workers in Galicia.
- Preventive training , through our own training programs and activities.
- Technical advice to companies, prevention services and workers.
- Analysis of workplace accidents in Galicia and study of their causes.
- Investigation of work accidents and occupational diseases occurring in the Galician territory.
- Collaboration with labor authorities and the Labor Inspectorate for the design of policies to reduce workplace accidents.
Contribution to safety and health at work
The ISSGA provides the Galician occupational health and safety system with a localized channel that the national INSST cannot offer with the same level of local detail. Its network of regional centers allows technical advice and training to be delivered to companies in all four provinces, and its analysis of workplace accidents in Galicia offers a risk assessment tailored to the region’s specific economic structure.
Its contribution is primarily technical and informative, not regulatory: the ISSGA does not issue regulations or set exposure limits, functions that correspond to the General State Administration through the INSST and the applicable state and European regulations.
Relationship with the ORP International Foundation
Unlike most of the organizations that make up the institutional advisory committee of the ORP International Foundation, which operates at the national level, the ISSGA represents a specific regional government: the Xunta de Galicia (Galician Regional Government). Its presence on this committee places a regional institution alongside national and international organizations, without extending its activities beyond the Galician territory for which it was created.
Practical application
For a company with workplaces in Galicia, the ISSGA is the local resource for resolving specific technical questions, requesting preventative training, or consulting accident analysis for the sector in Galicia. For a prevention technician, its regional centers provide a direct point of contact without always having to go through the central government.
It is important to bear in mind that, in the event of a formal requirement for regulatory compliance or a sanctioning procedure, the competent interlocutor remains the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate, not the ISSGA.
