25 years of the Royal Decree on safety and health in construction works

This year marks 25 years since the entry into force of Royal Decree 1627/1997, of October 24, which establishes minimum health and safety provisions in construction works.

First of all, the Royal Decree took into account that construction works involve subjects not common in other areas of construction that had been previously regulated. Thus, the standard dealt with the obligations of the promoter, the designer, the contractor and the subcontractor (the latter two being the employers in construction works) and self-employed workers, very common in construction works. In addition, the figures of the health and safety coordinator were introduced during the preparation of the work project and the health and safety coordinator during the execution of the work.

Secondly, this standard included in its scope of application any work, public or private, in which construction or civil engineering work was carried out.

Finally, it established specific mechanisms for the application of the Occupational Risk Prevention Law and the Regulation of Prevention Services, in a sector of activity as peculiar as that relating to construction works.

In these 25 years the accident rate in construction has been significantly reduced, however, work must continue to achieve a more effective application of the regulations, especially with regard to management of the minor works and the integration of the ORP in the project.

At Fraternidad-Muprespa we work to disseminate a culture of prevention with the aim of reducing the accident rate of our mutualists and for this reason we encourage you to get to know our web portal Previene which can be a great support to help you in the work of information and awareness of your workers with information, brochures, infographics, videos or manuals of good practices related to health and safety in the work.