In March 2023, the Council of Ministers approved the Spanish Occupational Safety and Health Strategy 2023-2027, and among the objectives set was OBJECTIVE No. 2:
“Manage the changes arising from new forms of work organization, demographic evolution, and climate change from a preventive perspective.”
Following this objective, several lines of action were defined, and among them today we will focus on:
Strategy No. 1: “Analysis of the regulatory framework to adapt it to new forms of work and to demographic and climate change.”
ADAPTING THE NEW OHS MEASURES
This strategy agreed that Royal Decree 486/1997 of April 14 on workplaces, and Royal Decree 488/1997 of April 14 on equipment with display screens, had to be reviewed in light of the updating of the corresponding directives, incorporating the modifications necessary to adapt them to new work environments and technological development.
The result of Strategy No. 1 has been the development and approval of R.D. 4/2023 of May 11. These provisions relate to the effects of climate change and occupational risk prevention during episodes of high temperatures.
Employers were already obliged to guarantee the safety and health of their workers against inclement weather, an obligation defined in:
“Section 5 of ANNEX III, Environmental conditions of workplaces, of Royal Decree 486/1997.”
But the actions to be taken were not clear, and it is this lack of specificity that RD 4/2023 aims to resolve through the First final provision. Environmental conditions in outdoor work, which states:
- When carrying out outdoor work and work in workplaces that, because of the activity performed, cannot be enclosed, appropriate measures must be taken to protect workers against any risk related to adverse weather phenomena, including extreme temperatures.
- The measures referred to in the previous paragraph shall derive from the occupational risk assessment, which shall take into consideration, in addition to the aforementioned phenomena, the characteristics of the task being performed and the personal characteristics or known biological condition of the worker. In application of the provisions of this provision and of Article 23 of Royal Decree 1561/1995 of September 21 on special working hours, the preventive measures shall include the prohibition of performing certain tasks during the hours of the day when adverse weather phenomena occur, in cases where proper protection of the worker cannot be guaranteed in any other way.
- In the event that the State Meteorological Agency or, where applicable, the corresponding regional body in the case of autonomous communities that have such a service, issues a warning of adverse weather phenomena at orange or red level, and the above preventive measures do not guarantee the protection of workers, it shall be mandatory to adapt working conditions, including reducing or modifying the hours of the scheduled working day.
- This additional provision shall apply to all workplaces, including those in Article 1.2.”
OHS MEASURES AGAINST HEAT
With the amendment introduced by this new Royal Decree, the measures to be adopted are better defined and Prevention Services take on a greater role, as they must specify particular preventive measures in the heat risk assessment.
These measures will be based on two fundamental pillars: first, the prohibition of carrying out certain tasks during the hours of the day when weather phenomena occur and are harmful to the safety and health of the worker.
Second, the MANDATORY adaptation of working conditions, including the possibility of reducing or modifying the hours of the scheduled working day, as soon as the authorities issue warnings of orange or red level phenomena.
In short, how employers must act toward workers who may be exposed to high temperatures through their work is now perfectly defined, and there is no excuse for not establishing preventive measures to ensure workers’ safety and health.