Regulations for Prevention Services

What is the Prevention Services Regulation?

Law 31/1995 delegated a significant portion of its organizational obligations to regulatory development. Royal Decree 39/1997 was the first and most important of these developments: it establishes how risk should be assessed, how prevention should be planned, what options employers have for organizing their preventive resources, what requirements external prevention services and auditing bodies must meet, and what training is needed at each level of technician. In practice, it is the operating manual for the Spanish prevention system.

The regulations have been amended several times. Royal Decree 780/1998 introduced changes to the organization of resources; Royal Decree 604/2006 strengthened the integration of prevention, regulated the prevention plan and the presence of preventive resources, and clarified the audits; Royal Decree 337/2010 modified the criteria for preventive organization and the accreditation of external services; and subsequent regulations have adjusted training in prevention and other aspects. The consolidated text should always be consulted.

The regulation is applied together with the orders that develop it, in particular those relating to the accreditation of external prevention services and the quality criteria of the health activity of prevention services.

Essential structure and content

• Chapter I, General Provisions (Articles 1 and 2). Integration of preventive activity in the company and content of the occupational risk prevention plan.
• Chapter II, Risk Assessment and Planning (Articles 3 to 9). Definition and purpose of the assessment, procedure, review, documentation, and need, content and monitoring of the planning of preventive activity.
• Chapter III, organization of preventive resources (articles 10 to 22 bis). Modalities: personal assumption by the employer, designated workers, own or joint prevention service and external prevention service; requirements of each, activities of annex I, agreements, collaboration with the health system and presence of preventive resources.
• Chapter IV, accreditation of specialized entities (articles 23 to 28). Requirements, accreditation procedure, maintenance of conditions and registration.
• Chapter V, Audits (Articles 29 to 33 bis). Obligated companies, concept, content, methodology, report, requirements of auditing entities and voluntary audits.
• Chapter VI, functions and qualification levels (articles 34 to 37). Basic, intermediate and higher level functions, with the specializations of occupational safety, industrial hygiene, ergonomics and applied psychosociology and occupational medicine.
• Chapter VII, collaboration with the health system, and annexes. Annex I of activities of special danger; annexes III to VI on training content; annex VII on risks to maternity; annex VIII on work prohibited to pregnant or breastfeeding workers.

Modalities of preventive organization

• Personal assumption by the employer. Possible in companies with up to ten workers (or up to 25 in a single center), when the employer usually carries out their activity at the center, no activities of Annex I are carried out and they have the corresponding capacity; health surveillance is always arranged.
• Designated workers. One or more workers with sufficient capacity, resources and time for activities not covered by another modality.
• Own prevention service. Mandatory in companies with more than 500 workers, or between 250 and 500 with activities in Annex I, or when decided by the labor authority; it must have at least two specialties and be subject to audit.
• Joint prevention service. Shared by companies of the same group, sector or industrial park, with the requirements of article 21.
• External prevention service. Accredited entity that assumes the activities not covered by the company through a written agreement with regulated minimum content.

Organizational application: how to use the regulations

1. Determine the applicable preventive organization modality according to staffing, activities in Annex I and internal capacity, and document the choice after consulting with the representatives.
2. Prepare the prevention plan with the content of article 2 and approve it by management.
3. Assess the risks using the procedure and criteria in Articles 3 to 7 and review the assessment when required by Article 6.
4. Plan preventive activity with deadlines, responsible parties and resources and carry out continuous monitoring (articles 8 and 9).
5. Formalize the agreement with the external prevention service with the minimum content of article 20 and require the annual report and program.
6. Submit the system to audit when the company is required to do so (Article 29) and plan the correction of deficiencies.
7. Ensure that preventive functions are carried out by people with the required level of qualification and designate preventive resources with the minimum basic level training where appropriate.

Preventive management software allows for the reflection of the organizational modality, the agreements, the specialties covered, the planning and the audits with the traceability that the regulation presupposes.

Limits and common mistakes

1. Choosing the organizational model based on cost rather than on legal criteria regarding staffing, hazards, and capacity.
2. Signing agreements with external prevention services without the minimum content or without defining which activities are the responsibility of the company.
3. Confusing the employer’s assumption of responsibility with the absence of preventive organization.
4. Omit the audit when there is an in-house prevention service or non-contracted activities.
5. Assigning intermediate or higher level functions to people without the corresponding qualifications.
6. Use the original 1997 text without the 2006 and 2010 modifications, which altered essential articles.

This sheet describes the structure of the standard for informational purposes; its application to each company must be verified in the current consolidated text.

Regulatory framework in Spain

• Royal Decree 39/1997, of January 17, Regulation of Prevention Services . Consolidated text with all current amendments.
• Law 31/1995, articles 16, 30 to 32 bis . Evaluation and planning, organization of preventive resources, audits and preventive resources.
• Royal Decree 604/2006, of May 19. Amendment of the regulations on integration, prevention plan, preventive resources and audits.
• Royal Decree 337/2010, of March 19. Modification of the modalities of preventive organization and the accreditation of external services.
• Royal Legislative Decree 5/2000, Law on Infringements and Sanctions in the Social Order, articles 12 and 13. Infringements for non-compliance with organizational and audit obligations.

Directive 89/391/EEC, Article 7, establishes that the employer shall designate workers or resort to external services for protection and prevention activities, a principle that the regulation develops in Spain.