Risk Prevention – Health and Safety at Work in Costa Rica

By zone_admin | 23 de May de 2022 | Blog

According to the World Health Organization, Occupational Health and Safety management is a multidisciplinary activity that promotes the protection of health, physical, mental and social well-being of workers. Costa Rica is a country that has been characterized by its achievements in terms of Health and Social Security, with which over time it has managed to guarantee the working population better working conditions. To achieve constant improvement, every employer must adopt the necessary measures for hygiene and safety at work in their company. For its part, the State is in charge of establishing the minimum standards of Health and Safety at Work, as well as supervising and controlling their compliance. The legislation on Health and Safety at Work in Costa Rica is extensive and begins with general regulations of the Political Constitution or the Labor Code, to regulate precise situations through Decrees and Guidelines issued and constantly updated by the Ministry of Health. With the aim of enforcing the applicable legislation on Occupational Health, the Occupational Health Council is created as a technical entity attached to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, which performs various functions such as:
  1. Promote the best Occupational Health conditions in all work centers in the country.
  2. Carry out studies and research in the field of their competence.
  3. Promote the necessary regulations to guarantee optimal Occupational Health conditions in all workplaces.
  4. Promote by all possible means, the training of technical people, specialized in the various branches of Occupational Health and the training of employers and workers in Occupational Health.
  5. Carry out the dissemination of all conventions with the ILO, laws, decrees, regulations, guidelines, technical legal criteria, technical standards, guides, manuals and methods of prevention of work risk and technical systems of prevention of work risk.
  6. Prepare manuals, catalogs and lists of safety devices and personal protection equipment for workers, for the different activities.
  7. Prepare bills and regulations on their organic specialty, as well as issue essential criteria on the laws that are processed regarding occupational health.
  8. Propose to the Executive Power the list of equipment and personal protection items for workers, which can be imported and brought into the country with exemption from taxes, fees and surcharges.
  9. Carry out or coordinate national or local occupational health campaigns, on their own initiative or in collaboration with public or private entities; Carry out all kinds of statistical and economic studies related to the matter of its competence.
For their part, companies, depending on the number of workers, must register an Occupational Health Commission and an Occupational Health Office, with which they come to collaborate in the prevention of work risks. Through the development and implementation of occupational health programs, safety plans and preventive medicine plans. Work centers must register the Occupational Health Commissions when they permanently employ ten or more workers; and these must be made up of an equal number of representatives from the employer and from workers. The purpose of the Occupational Health Commissions is to investigate the causes of occupational hazards, recommend prevention measures, monitor compliance with Occupational Health provisions, promote training in this area for employers and workers, form emergency and fire brigades. and coordinate the purchase of equipment. As for the Occupational Health offices, they must be formed when they permanently occupy more than fifty workers. Some of its functions are:
  1. Manage the occupational health of people in the workplace, based on a prevention approach, with comprehensive management of hygiene, safety and psychological risks and emerging and re-emerging risks, depending on the nature of each company.
  2. Intervene on the risk factors of work activity, through a diagnosis to address through an intervention strategy.
  3. Keep a statistical record of accidents and illnesses as a result of work.
  4. Submit to the Council a report on cases of accidents or illnesses.
  5. Carry out occupational health prevention and promotion activities through training and raising awareness among workers.
In 2015, through Executive Decree No. 39321-MTSS, the National Occupational Health Policy of Costa Rica is promulgated, which defines the national guidelines that guide state action in matters of Health and Safety at Work. The objective of the policy is to establish the general guidelines for the improvement of working conditions and environment and a culture of prevention in labor harmony, which promotes a healthy style and quality of life for working people. Consolidate the National Occupational Health System. Review and update the regulatory framework in Occupational Health and develop strategies that allow the promotion of health, prevention, protection, labor adaptation of workers and healthy workplaces.