The preventive resource (recurso preventivo) is a person the employer keeps present at the workplace to check that preventive activities are carried out. It is not a way of organising prevention (that is the prevention service): it is a presence, compulsory only in certain situations (Law 31/1995, article 32 bis.1).
The three cases in which it is compulsory
- a) Overlapping operations. When risks may get worse or change because different operations are done at the same time or one after another, and it is necessary to check that work methods are applied properly.
- b) Hazardous activities or activities with special risks, those listed in the regulations.
- c) When the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate requires it, if the working conditions it finds justify it.
What counts as a hazardous activity (Royal Decree 39/1997, article 22 bis.1.b)
- Work with especially serious risks of falling from height.
- Work with a risk of burial or collapse.
- Activities with machines that have no EC declaration of conformity, when the worker's protection is not sufficiently guaranteed.
- Work in confined spaces.
- Work with a risk of drowning by immersion (except diving work covered by its own rules).
The risk assessment is what must identify this work and the risks made worse by overlapping operations, and the preventive planning is what sets how the presence will be organised (article 22 bis.2).
Source: Ley 31/1995, de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales (Spanish Occupational Risk Prevention Act, consolidated text, in Spanish), article 32 bis.1 · Real Decreto 39/1997, Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención (Prevention Services Regulations, consolidated text, in Spanish), article 22 bis.1