What are the risks for an employer who does not comply with health and safety standards?

Health and safety rules apply to you as an employer and to all your employees, regardless of the type of contract or the type of work performed. Everyone is required to comply with them to minimize the risk of accidents of various kinds at work. An important aspect of occupational health and safety is improving working comfort and ensuring that employees are comfortable every day. Applying health and safety rules not only protects your health and that of your employees but can also help improve the efficiency and quality of work.

What does health and safety training involve?

An employer who has chosen a health and safety expert for his company must provide training before starting work with a future employee of his company.
The objective of the training is to identify the various types of dangers present in the workplace, teach workers to provide assistance in the event of an emergency and acquire knowledge of the regulations in force and the rules of safety and health in the workplace. Workers also learn to do their job safely for themselves and those around them.

It is the right of every worker who becomes aware of a possible violation of the rules to contact the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate (EAS), which has the task of carrying out an inspection to verify the situation in terms of safety protection. In the event that EAS finds that there has been a violation of the rules on your part against the employee, this is punishable by issuing administrative fines and setting compensation costs by the employee.

But is this the only place to go? Well, no…
The other option available to the employee is to contact the union which, after investigating the case and admitting the employee’s right, sends you a communication with information on the non-compliant behaviour.

Types of responsibility

The responsibilities that may be incurred due to non-compliance with health and safety standards are:
-Contractual responsibility: as the name suggests, it arises from the contract in which the content of the security in force is included. In this situation, the person who was in your employ can ask for compensation.
-Administrative liability
-Criminal liability: it can be invoked when, due to your carelessness, your employee suffers damage to health or injuries of various kinds.

Sanctions for non-compliance with health and safety rules

If you fail to comply with the aforementioned obligations and violate the law, this behaviour can have serious consequences like very high fines or months of imprisonment.

However, it is worth emphasising that, in addition to the fine, there is the possibility of a suspension of activity order, which is issued in case of repeated negligence and violations resulting in various forms of accidents. The final decision on this lies with the administrative authorities, who may or may not agree.