Occupational Risk Prevention in Times of Crisis in Spain

Safety representative delegates appeared in Spain after the approval of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law in 1995. This legislation required the appointment of safety representatives in companies with over 30 workers. The Second National Meeting of Prevention Delegates organized by Confederations of Unions of Spain (Comisiones Obreras) was held on October 15, 2009. This meeting was attended by approximately 2,000 union officials and safety representatives. A questionnaire which incorporated an update on the status, activities, and perceptions of the delegates, was distributed among the attendees. Moreover, it included a question about the impact of the Spanish economic crisis on risk prevention activities. A total of 912 questionnaires were filled out by safety representatives. Most were men (68%), between 40 and 49 years (42%), working in the autonomous community of Madrid (44%), 64% worked in the service sector, in businesses with staffs of over 100 workers (73%). A significant proportion of the delegates (40%) had held their positions for more than five years. The opinion of the majority of delegates did not reflect a significant decrease in either the quantity or quality of the preventive activity in companies compared to the previous year. Most respondents (80%) believed that almost all prevention activities reflected in the questionnaire occurred in 2009 with similar or greater frequency and quality than in 2008. The training of workers regrading to quantity, health monitoring and quality, were the activities most affected by the crisis, although this worsening was recognized by only 26% of respondents.