Occupational Risk Prevention Audit

What is it?

Occupational Risk Prevention Audits are established and defined by the Law on Prevention of Risks in the Workplace – Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales LPRL 31/1995 – and by the Regulation of Prevention Services – Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención según el Real Decreto 39/1997. 

As stipulated in the aforementioned legislation, the audits must be carried out in companies that conduct preventive activities regardless of the fact that they have their own, third party, or joint prevention services. If the company is included in annex I, the audit must be carried out every two years; if it does not belong to this annex, it will be carried out every four years.

Occupational Risk Prevention Audits help detecting any breaches on the applicable regulations and redefining the deficiencies detected. According to Royal Decree 39/1997, audits must be carried out through a systematic, documented, and objective analysis, and must be always carried out by external personnel – not related to the company – who have all the necessary technical competences as well as the legal authority required according to the scope of the audit.

The audit is a management tool that seeks to reflect the true image of the company's Occupational Risk Prevention System, assessing its effectiveness and detecting deficiencies that may lead to non-compliance with current regulations, and providing an efficient decision-making process aimed at its refinement and improvement. Therefore, the audit will perform a systematic, documented, and objective analysis of the prevention system.

The first audit of the company's prevention system must be carried out within twelve months after the planning of the preventive activity is available. After the first one, it must be performed every four years, except when carrying out activities included in annex I of this Royal Decree, in which case it should be performed on a two-year basis.

The results of the audit should be reflected in a report that the audited company must keep at the disposal of the competent labour authority and workers' representatives.

The process must be carried out by natural or legal persons who have sufficient knowledge on the matters and technical aspects that are the object of the audit – as well as the appropriate means to do so. In addition, the natural or legal persons who perform the audit of the prevention system on a company must not maintain with said company commercial, financial or any kind of relationship other than that of their own performance as auditors – otherwise it may affect their independence or influence the outcome of their activities.