Your safety rights at work, from risk assessment to stopping work

Key rules

• Risk evaluation: Your employer must evaluate the risks of your job and plan how to prevent them.
• Training: Safety training and protective equipment are free for you, and training happens during working hours.
• Health checks: Health checks are paid by the employer and voluntary, except in the limited cases where they can be compulsory.
• Stopping work: In serious and imminent danger you can stop work and leave, and you cannot be harmed for it unless you acted in bad faith or with serious negligence.

What your employer must do

Your employer must protect you from risks at work. This applies to every employee in Spain, including those in small firms. In practice, your employer must:

• Evaluate the risks of every job and plan preventive activity, including a prevention plan.
• Give you information and training on the risks of your job. This is free and happens during working hours.
• Supply the protective equipment your job needs.
• Organise a prevention service. It can be the company's own, an external one or a shared one.
• Take emergency measures.
• Consult you or your representatives on safety.

Requirements differ by sector and firm size, so a small office and a building site will not look the same.

What you can ask for

You can ask in writing for the risk evaluation of your job and for the prevention plan. You can also ask for training and equipment. Keep a copy of any request. The checklist below gives the full list.

Health checks

Your employer must offer periodic health checks suited to the risks of your job. The employer pays, and the checks happen during working time.

The checks are voluntary, so you must consent. There are three exceptions, where a check can be compulsory:

• It is essential to assess the effects of working conditions on you.
• It is needed to verify that your condition does not endanger you or others.
• A legal rule requires it for a particularly hazardous activity.

Even then, your employer must choose the least intrusive tests. Representatives must be consulted before checks are made compulsory.

Your medical details stay confidential. Your employer receives only the conclusion on whether you are fit for the job.

Who represents you on safety

Delegados de prevención are workers' representatives for safety. They are chosen by and among the workers' representatives.

• With 6 to 30 workers, there is one delegate, who is the personnel delegate.
• With 31 to 49 workers, there is one delegate, chosen by the personnel delegates.
• With 50 to 100 workers, there are 2 delegates.
• With 101 to 500, there are 3.
• With 501 to 1,000, there are 4.
• With 1,001 to 2,000, there are 5.
• With 2,001 to 3,000, there are 6.
• With 3,001 to 4,000, there are 7.
• Over 4,000, there are 8.

Firms with 50 or more workers must also have a comité de seguridad y salud. It has equal numbers of delegates and employer representatives. A collective agreement may improve this scale, so check yours.

Stopping work in serious danger

If you face a serious and imminent risk to your life or health, your employer must inform you and let you stop work and leave the workplace. The employer must also provide measures to remove the danger.

If your superior cannot be reached, you can stop on your own initiative. Workers' representatives can also agree together to stop work. In that case a majority of the delegados de prevención decides, and the employer and the labour inspectorate are informed.

You cannot be harmed for using this right, unless you acted in bad faith or with serious negligence. The labour inspectorate or a court may later assess whether the danger really was serious and imminent. Use this right only for real, serious danger.

Checklist

• Ask for information and training on the risks of your job, free and during working hours.

• Check that you have been given the protective equipment your job needs, at no cost to you.

• Ask for the periodic health check suited to your job's risks, and decide whether to consent.

• Find out who your delegate for prevention is and who the employer's prevention service is (own, external or shared).

• Check that emergency measures exist and that workers or their representatives are consulted on safety.

• Tell your superior at once if you face serious and imminent danger, and stop work and leave the workplace if needed.

What to watch out for

• Stopping work can be reviewed afterwards: If you stop work and it later turns out the danger was not serious and imminent, you could lose your protection if you acted in bad faith or with serious negligence. The Labour Inspectorate or a court can assess this afterwards. Tell your superior and your delegate for prevention what the danger is, and stop only when your life or health is really at risk.

• Compulsory health checks in some cases: Health checks are voluntary, but they can be compulsory in a hazardous job or when needed to check you do not endanger others. Refusing then could cause problems at work. Ask which exception applies and whether your representatives were consulted. Your employer only gets the fitness conclusion, not your medical details.

• Unevaluated risks and missing training: If your employer has not evaluated the risks of your job or trained you, you face avoidable danger at work. Ask in writing for the evaluation, training and equipment, and raise it with your delegate for prevention.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to take the health check my employer offers?

No, health checks are voluntary and need your consent, but there are exceptions. A check can be compulsory if it is essential to assess the effects of working conditions, if it is needed to verify you do not endanger yourself or others, or if a legal rule requires it for a particularly hazardous activity. Even then, the employer must choose the least intrusive tests and only receives the conclusion on your fitness, not your medical details.

Who represents workers on safety matters in a small company?

In a firm with 6 to 30 workers, the personnel delegate is your delegate for prevention. With 31 to 49 workers there is one delegate chosen by the personnel delegates. From 50 workers the firm also needs a safety and health committee with equal numbers of delegates and employer representatives.

How many prevention delegates does a larger company have?

A firm with 50 to 100 workers has 2 delegates for prevention. The number then rises to 3 for 101 to 500, 4 for 501 to 1,000, 5 for 1,001 to 2,000, 6 for 2,001 to 3,000, 7 for 3,001 to 4,000 and 8 above 4,000. A collective agreement may give you more.

Can I be punished for leaving my workplace because of serious danger?

No, you cannot suffer harm for stopping work in serious and imminent danger, unless you acted in bad faith or with serious negligence. If your superior is unavailable you can stop on your own initiative. Workers' representatives can also agree together to stop work, with a majority of the prevention delegates deciding.