Enabling the Labor Inspection to monitor measures against Covid-19

The Official State Gazette published on July 8, the Royal Decree-Law 26/2020, of July 7, on economic reactivation measures to address the impact of COVID-19 in the areas of transport and housing. The twelfth final provision of this Royal Decree-Law modifies article 31 of the Royal Decree-Law 21/2020, of June 9, on urgent prevention, containment and coordination measures to address the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

In addition, said Royal Decree includes in the scope of application of the Labor Inspection (ITSS) the power to monitor compliance with the obligations that were required in terms of hygiene in the workplace and that was excluded from its normal execution as they deal with matters related to public health and not to social order. Therefore, with this new authorization of the Inspection

Therefore, as we read in the Technical Note issued by the Inspection, the purpose of the ITSS actions is described below, which will first be the monitoring of compliance with the obligations established in article 7.1. paragraphs a, b, c, d of the Royal Decree-Law 21/2020 of June 9:

• Adopt ventilation, cleaning and disinfection measures appropriate to the characteristics and intensity of use of the work centers, in accordance with the protocols established in each case.
• Make soap and water, or hydroalcoholic gels or disinfectants with virucidal activity, authorized and registered by the Ministry of Health, available to workers for hand cleaning.
• Adapt working conditions, including the arrangement of workstations and the organization of shifts, as well as the use of common places in such a way as to guarantee the maintenance of a minimum interpersonal safety distance of 1.5 meters between workers. When this is not possible, workers must be provided with protective equipment appropriate to the level of risk.
• Adopt measures to avoid the massive coincidence of people, both workers and clients or users, in the work centers during the time slots of expected greatest influx. Although in this case the ITSS authorization occurs only when such measures affect workers.

Another important aspect that the note emphasizes is that the responsible party will always be the employer.

This new authorization is temporary, it will last until the Government declares in a motivated manner and in accordance with the available scientific evidence, following a report from the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies, the end of the health crisis situation caused by Covid-19.

From Fraternidad-Muprespa, we put all our resources and more than forty Prevention Consultants at the disposal of our associated companies to advise them and help them comply with the highest safety and health standards, including the measures to end this pandemic. We have developed a new section on our portal Previene, where you can find all the measures and good practices that you can implement in your company and thus stop this virus. Because you already know...

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