Still a lot of work to do on health and safety practice in Spain

Statistics demonstrate that the number of accidents at work in Spain is higher than in other European countries. This is probably due to a low performance of the health and safety management systems in Spanish enterprises. The legal framework establishes quite a rigid structure for the organisation of the preventive activities in the enterprise and includes the obligation of an external audit for certain health and safety management models. Anyway, a wrong interpretation of the organisational structures set in Spain has led to an externalisation of the health and safety activities in the enterprise. The resources for the enforcement of the law and the control of the health and safety performance are insufficient. The aim of this work is to study the main aspects related with health and safety management, to try to explain the visible failures in efficiency. The results obtained may help to find alternatives and reinforce the positive aspects to improve the performance in Spain.