What are working conditions?
The concept of working conditions is the cornerstone of occupational risk prevention because it defines its scope: everything that can significantly influence the safety and health of workers falls within its scope. Law 31/1995 defines it broadly and deliberately openly, so that it is not limited to machine safety or environmental pollutants, but also encompasses work organization, working hours, shifts, pace, workload, task content, relationships, and management style—in other words, psychosocial factors.
This breadth has legal consequences: the risk assessment must cover all working conditions, not just the material ones; the employer’s duty of protection extends to the organization; worker safety representatives have the right to be consulted on any change that affects working conditions; and the Labor Inspectorate can require the modification of organizational conditions when they generate risks, with the support of Technical Criterion 104/2021 in the psychosocial field.
In trade union and collective bargaining terminology, working conditions have a broader meaning that includes salary, working hours, job classification, and job security; the Workers’ Statute uses this definition when regulating substantial modifications to working conditions (Article 41). In occupational health and safety, the term is limited to characteristics that influence safety and health, although both dimensions overlap in matters such as working hours and workload.
Components of working conditions
- Safety conditions. Premises, facilities, work equipment, tools, products, traffic routes, storage, electrical installations, fire protection and work spaces; regulated by regulations such as Royal Decree 486/1997 on workplaces and Royal Decree 1215/1997 on equipment.
- Environmental conditions. Physical agents (noise, vibrations, radiation, temperature, lighting), chemical and biological agents, with their intensities, concentrations and exposure times, and the procedures for using these agents.
- Workload. Physical demands (postures, efforts, handling of loads, repetitive movements ) and mental demands (attention, pace, complexity, responsibility) of the task, the object of ergonomics.
- Work organization. Working hours, schedules, shifts, breaks, pace, task content, autonomy, participation, relationships, support, leadership, communication, stability and work-life balance, which make up the psychosocial factors.
- Other characteristics. Delivery method (in-person, remote, on assignment), participation of companies, subcontracting, type of contract and training, insofar as they influence the magnitude of the risks.
Relationship with evaluation and improvement
- Risk assessment. It analyzes existing working conditions and the characteristics of the people occupying the positions, and is reviewed when conditions change (Royal Decree 39/1997, articles 4 and 6).
- Preventive planning. It translates the assessment into measures that modify working conditions: technical, organizational, training and protection.
- Consultation and participation. Article 33 of Law 31/1995 requires consulting workers in advance regarding the planning and organization of work and the introduction of new technologies related to safety and health.
- Health surveillance. Detects the effects of working conditions on health and provides feedback for the assessment.
- Surveys and observatories. The INSST National Survey of Working Conditions and the Eurofound European Survey of Working Conditions measure their evolution and guide public policies.
Organizational application: how to manage working conditions
- Inventory the working conditions of each position in its four dimensions (safety, environment, workload, organization) as a basis for risk assessment.
- Evaluate all dimensions, including organizational and psychosocial, using appropriate methods and with the participation of workers.
- Establish a change management procedure that activates the review of the assessment and consultation with representatives regarding modifications to facilities, equipment, products, processes or organization.
- Plan measures that act on the conditions at origin, in accordance with the principles of article 15 of Law 31/1995, rather than on the person.
- Monitor conditions through periodic inspections, environmental measurements, and observation of the actual organization of work.
- Integrate health surveillance information, incidents, and complaints as signs of poor conditions.
- Document the conditions assessed and their changes to maintain traceability of the assessment.
Preventive management software allows you to keep the inventory of conditions updated by position and center, link it to the evaluation and planning, record changes and alert of the need to re-evaluate.
Limits and common mistakes
- Limiting the evaluation to material conditions and omitting work organization and psychosocial factors.
- Modifying facilities, equipment, processes, or shifts without reviewing the assessment or consulting the representatives.
- Evaluate theoretical conditions described in procedures instead of the actual conditions observed on the job.
- Confusing the concept of prevention with the broad concept of work and addressing safety and health issues outside the preventive framework.
- Not considering the characteristics of the people who occupy the positions (special sensitivity, training, experience).
- Act on the person (PPE, instructions) when it is possible to modify the working condition at origin.
Working conditions evolve with technology and organization; evaluation must remain dynamic.
Practical example
Situation: A customer service company moves its staff to a new open-plan office and changes the schedules to split shifts.
- Change of conditions. New premises (lighting, noise, air conditioning, space per workstation), new furniture and equipment, and a new organization of working time.
- Consultation and evaluation. Prior consultation with worker safety representatives on the design and shifts; review of the risk assessment in safety, environment (noise and lighting measurement), ergonomics (stations with screens) and psychosocial factors (shifts, pace, interruptions).
- Measures. Acoustic panels and concentration zones, lighting adjustment, adjustable furniture, review of split shifts with criteria for work-life balance and rest, and training on the new environment.
- Follow-up. Perception survey at three months, absenteeism indicators and psychosocial re-evaluation at one year.
Regulatory framework in Spain
- Law 31/1995, articles 4.7, 14, 15, 16 and 33. Definition of working conditions, duty of protection, preventive principles, evaluation and consultation.
- Royal Decree 39/1997, articles 3 to 7. Risk assessment and its review in the event of changes in working conditions.
- Royal Decree 486/1997, of April 14. Minimum health and safety requirements in the workplace.
- Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, Workers’ Statute, articles 19 and 41. Right to effective protection in safety and health and substantial modification of working conditions.
- Directive 89/391/EEC, Article 6. General obligations of the employer, including adapting work to the individual and planning prevention by integrating the organization of work and working conditions.
The INSST National Survey of Working Conditions and the Eurofound European Survey of Working Conditions are the reference statistical sources; in Colombia, Decree 1072 of 2015 defines health and working conditions as elements of the diagnosis of the SG-SST.
