The Health and Safety Study is one of the essential documents for a construction project in terms of occupational risk prevention. It is a legally required document, and in this article we will discuss who must prepare it, when it is required, and the characteristics and requirements it must meet.
As a general rule, any document belonging to an occupational risk prevention management system is subject to criticism. It is often said that occupational risk prevention is burdened with bureaucracy and that there is an excess of documentation. In any case, what is certainly true is that it is in your interest to know the circumstances in which this important document must be prepared.
Is it mandatory to prepare a Health and Safety Study?
As with the Health and Safety Plan, as we already explained in our article devoted to it, this is a document regulated by Royal Decree 1627/97, which establishes minimum health and safety requirements for construction works.
In that Royal Decree, Section 1 of Article 4 states that the Health and Safety Study is mandatory for all projects that meet any of the following conditions:
- Those whose contract execution budget is equal to or greater than 75,000,000 pesetas, equivalent to €450,759.08.
- Where the estimated duration is more than 30 working days and, at some point, more than 20 workers are employed simultaneously.
- Where the total number of working days for all persons working on the site is more than 500.
- Where it involves a project of tunnels, galleries, underground conduits, or dams.
Given these conditions, it is very likely that a project will fall under one of these scenarios that give rise to the legal requirement to prepare a Health and Safety Study. In any case, for the remaining projects, there is an obligation to prepare a Basic Health and Safety Study, which we will discuss on another occasion.
Who must prepare it?
According to the aforementioned Royal Decree, the Health and Safety Study must be prepared by “the competent technician appointed by the developer”.
If the project legally requires a Health and Safety Coordinator during the project design phase, that person will be responsible for preparing the Health and Safety Study. In the specific article on Health and Safety Coordinators, you can review the circumstances in which a Health and Safety Coordinator must be appointed. Although in these cases, the Health and Safety Coordinator may “have it prepared” by a third party, it will always remain under their responsibility.
In any case, it is the project developer who is obliged to ensure that the Health and Safety Study is prepared. Therefore, as indicated in the guide to RD 1627/97, prepared by the INSST, the developer may commission, if deemed appropriate, the drafting of a Health and Safety Study even when only the Basic Study is required.
Requirements and contents of the Health and Safety Study
The regulation sets this out clearly. The Health and Safety Study must contain, at a minimum, the following documents, and on our page dedicated to the Health and Safety Study drafting service you will find further details on the contents of each section.
- Descriptive report
- Special conditions specifications
- Drawings
- Measurements
- Budget
It is important to highlight that the Health and Safety Study “must form part of the work execution project or, where applicable, the works project”. This is established by the Royal Decree. Likewise, the Health and Safety Study will include “the forecasts and useful information to carry out, in due course, under the appropriate health and safety conditions”.
In light of everything mentioned in this article, it should be clear that, regardless of whether we agree with the amount of prevention-related documentation generated on a project, it is very important to comply with legal requirements. Unnecessary non-compliance may result in significant penalties.
On the other hand, we should take advantage of the mandatory nature and existence of all these documents to evidence and record certain health and safety guidelines that will facilitate their dissemination throughout all phases of the project. In a health and safety management system, documentation and record-keeping should serve as support and reference to reinforce the system’s objective. That objective is none other than reducing the likelihood of harm to people’s health.
If you need to prepare a Health and Safety Study or a Basic Health and Safety Study for your construction project, please do not hesitate to contact GespreObra. We have years of experience preparing this type of document and others related to occupational risk prevention in construction, industry, and mining.
