Risk assessment by job role: the document the Inspección asks for first

Contents

• What is the risk assessment?
• Why "by job role"?
• What happens after the assessment?
• What do you risk if you do not have it?
• How Tranquilia generates it
• Frequently asked questions
• Official sources

What is the risk assessment?

It means looking at every task in every role and asking yourself: what can go wrong here, and how serious would it be? A warehouse has a risk of falls and of manual handling; a hairdresser's, of chemicals and awkward postures; an office, of screens and ergonomics. The assessment puts that in writing, rates each risk and decides what to do.

Art. 16 LPRL places it at the centre of prevention: without assessing, you do not know what measures you need, so everything else goes in blind.

Why "by job role"?

Because risks are not the same for everyone. RD 39/1997 (arts. 3 to 9) requires the assessment to take account of the conditions of each role and the characteristics of the person filling it. The risk faced by someone on the till all day is not the risk faced by someone operating a machine or driving a van.

Particular attention must be paid to particularly sensitive people, and to situations such as pregnancy, which may call for the role to be adapted.

What happens after the assessment?

Assessing is not the end: it is the beginning. Out of the assessment comes the planning of preventive activity: what measures you will apply, who carries them out, with what means and to what deadline. Assessing without planning leaves the job half done, and the law requires both.

The assessment is reviewed when conditions change, when new machinery comes in or after an accident or damage to health.

What do you risk if you do not have it?

Not having the risk assessment, or having an out-of-date one, is a serious infringement under the rules of the labour and social security field (orden social), and the Inspección de Trabajo y Seguridad Social checks it routinely. If the assessment is missing and an accident happens, the failing weighs much more heavily, because it shows you had not analysed a risk you could have foreseen.

We do not give an exact figure because the penalty is graded according to the seriousness and the risk created, but it is among the employment infringements with the widest financial range. Keeping it up to date is, above all, what protects your people.

How Tranquilia generates it

Tranquilia starts from the roles and tasks of your activity and proposes the assessment with the typical risks of each one already identified, for you to review and adjust to your reality. It stays linked to the prevention plan and to the planning of measures.

Frequently asked questions

Is a generic assessment downloaded from the internet any use?

As a starting point, perhaps; as a final document, no. The assessment has to reflect your real roles, your real tasks and your real premises. A generic template that does not match what you do does not comply and, faced with an accident, it shows.

How often is it reviewed?

When working conditions change, when new machinery or methods come in, or after damage to health. There is no single fixed deadline, but an assessment from years back that nobody has touched is usually out of date.

Can anyone carry out the assessment?

No. It requires someone with prevention training suited to the level of risk. In simple cases the employer can take it on if they have the qualification; in others, technical staff or a prevention service is needed.

Official sources

• BOE — Ley 31/1995 de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales, article 16.
• BOE — RD 39/1997, Reglamento de los Servicios de Prevención, articles 3 to 9.
• Instituto Nacional de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo (INSST).

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General information on legislation. It does not replace advice from a lawyer or an analysis of your particular case. If in doubt, check with your prevention service or with a professional.