TEMA 9. LA PREVENCIÓ DE RISCS LABORALS.

Norms and Objectives

• The prevention of occupational hazards is regulated by Law 31/1995, dated November 8, along with its development provisions and any other legal or conventional standards containing preventative measures in the workplace.
• Law 31/1995 aims to improve working conditions, promote the safety and health of workers, establish suitable preventative measures, and define ways to evaluate risks in workplaces.

Legal Provisions and Application

• The labor provisions within Law 31/1995 provide indispensable minimum rights that can be improved and developed through collective agreements.
• Law 31/1995 is applicable in labor relations governed by the Workers' Statute and in administrative or statutory relations of personnel serving public administrations.
• Law 31/1995 doesn't apply to activities when specific characteristics impede it within public functions, including police, security, customs control, civil protection, forensics in high-risk situations, public disasters, armed forces, and military activities of the Civil Guard.

Definitions

• Work-derived damages, under the Occupational Risk Prevention Law, consist of any health alteration related to, caused, or aggravated by working conditions.
• Prevention involves a set of activities or measures, adopted or planned in all business activity phases, to prevent or reduce risks from work.
• Occupational risk is the possibility of a worker suffering a specific injury resulting from work.
• The severity of an occupational risk requires a joint assessment of the degree of impact on the worker and the probability and severity of potential damage.
• Severe and imminent occupational risk refers to a situation that could reasonably materialize in the immediate future and cause serious harm to worker health.
• Work equipment is defined as any machine, apparatus, tool, or installation used in work.
• A working condition is any work characteristic that might significantly influence the generation of safety and health risks for workers.
• Individual protection equipment is any equipment a worker wears or holds to protect against workplace threats to safety and health, including complements or accessories intended for the purpose.

Policy, Competencies, and Oversight

• Occupational risk prevention policy aims to improve working conditions to elevate worker safety and health protection levels.
• Public administrations with labor competencies must promote safety, offer legal advice, promote prevention, provide technical assistance, monitor and control compliance, and impose sanctions for violations of occupational risk prevention regulations.
• The Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo does not monitor compliance with occupational risk prevention regulations.
• Law 31/1995 designates the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate as the entity responsible for monitoring and controlling compliance with occupational risk prevention regulations.
• A core principle of occupational risk prevention policy is worker and employer participation, through representative organizations, in management planning, programming, organization, and control for improving work conditions and worker safety and health protection.

Employer Responsibilities

• Article 14 of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law mandates investigation when physical or psychological health damage happens, and ensures the employer guarantees worker safety and health in all work-related aspects.
• The principles of preventive action, as per Article 15 of Law 31/1995, must be applied by the employer.
• Depending on company size, nature, and activity risks, simplified occupational risk prevention plans can be implemented.
• The principle of substituting dangerous elements with those posing little to no danger is a principle of preventive action.
• According to Article 16, when health damage occurs to workers, the employer must investigate to detect the causes.
• Article 17 holds that employers must provide suitable individual protection equipment, ensure proper use, and ensure effective use when necessary.
• As per Article 18, employers must adopt measures to ensure workers get necessary information about risks, protection, prevention, and adopted measures.
• The employer must disclose information to worker representatives, if any, and directly inform each worker about specific job risks and applicable prevention measures.
• The employer must guarantee theoretical and practical training in occupational risk prevention for all personnel.
• When personnel face serious and imminent risk from their work, employers must promptly inform affected personnel, adopt measures to immediately halt work, and arrange what is needed to avoid consequential harm.
• According to Article 22, worker health data cannot be used discriminatorily, employers must guarantee regular worker health surveillance based on job risks, and surveillance measures must respect rights to privacy and confidentiality.
• Health surveillance should be prolonged beyond the end of employment when inherent job risks necessitate it.
• Law 31/1995 requires employers to prepare and keep on file the prevention plan, risk assessment for each specific job, and worker health status documents.

Specific Rights and Obligations

• Pregnant women are entitled to paid leave from work to undergo prenatal exams and childbirth preparation techniques, with prior notice and justification to the employer that doing so is necessary during work hours.
• Coordination of business activities requires cooperation among personnel from two or more companies in the same work center to apply occupational risk prevention regulations.
• Article 25 directs employers to guarantee specific protection given to personnel particularly sensitive to workplace hazards due to personal attributes or known health status.
• An examination of work risks should be carried out any time the current risks can be aggravated or augmented at and during work.

Resources, Delegates, and Committees

• The presence of preventive resources is necessary when activities/processes are dangerous or present special risks, when risks are aggravated/modified by simultaneous/successive operations, or when required by the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate.
• Personnel obligations regarding occupational risk prevention include ensuring safety and health at work and adopting necessary preventive measures.
• Chapter V of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law states that participation rights are exercised with adaptations addressing diverse activities and organizational structures.
• Informing labor authorities about work accidents is omitted from the duties/responsibilities of delegates.
• Prevention delegates can visit work posts for oversight/control of work conditions, be informed about worker health damages, and access information/documentation related to work and worker conditions.
• The joint, collegiate safety and health committee allows regular consultations on company actions regarding occupational risk prevention.
• Companies/work sites with fifty+ workers must form a safety and health committee composed of prevention delegates and the employer (or representatives) in equal number; the committee must meet quarterly.
• A prevention service is a consolidated group of human resources that carry out preventive action to ensure the optimal security of the collective.
• Worker accident and occupational illness mutual insurance companies must conduct their functions according to what's established by law, as per Article 32.
• Prevention delegates are the specified representatives/delegates chosen for work risk-deterrence.
• Eight prevention delegates are necessary in the Autonomous Administration of the Balearic Islands with 5000+ workers.
• The Occupational Safety Committees have the power to participate in the development, implemention, and evaluation of any risk evaluation plan and the implementation of said policy.
• Article 37 states prevention delegates must keep professional secrets by retaining information they access when acting in a company/institution.
• The manufacturers, importers and suppliers machine equipment can and will have any equipment that could be of risk to the collective.

Workplace Conditions and Equipment

• Royal Decree 486/1997 outlines minimum safety and health requirements in workplaces.
• Emergency doors must open outwards.
• Passages and evacuation routes must stay free of obstructions, and electrical installations regularly checked.
• Workplaces are required to have the following conditions: structure, order, signals, utilities installations, environmental installations.
• The design and structural characteristics of the workplace has to allow for safety against potential dangers.
• Exposure to to any type of agent will be be dictated by code/laws.
• External services assist workers in urgent or dangerous work.
• Physical and visual strain can be lessened by utilizing data displays.
• It's neccessary that illumination of the workplace have adequate lighting. </existing_notes>