The Principality provides two services for occupational risk prevention

The Governing Council of the Principality of Asturias approved Decree 67/2026, of October 5, which approves the Regulations for the organization and operation of the Occupational Risk Prevention Services of the Administration of the Principality of Asturias and public educational centers. The provision is published in the Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias (BOPA) no. 199, of October 14, 2026, within section I, General Provisions, and will enter into force twenty days after its publication. The text comes as a joint proposal from the Ministry of Presidency, Demographic Challenge, Equality and Tourism and the Ministry of Education.

The new regulation replaces Decree 33/1999, of June 18, which is hereby repealed, and responds to the need to adapt the prevention structure to the growth of regional public services since then. The decree was signed in Montevideo (Uruguay) on October 5, 2026, by the President of the Principality, Adrián Barbón Rodríguez, and by the Minister of Presidency, Demographic Challenge, Equality and Tourism, Gimena Llamedo González, following the agreement of the Governing Council on that same date and the opinion of the Consultative Council of the Principality of Asturias.

Two services with separate scopes

The regulation establishes two Prevention Services, both with the organic level of a service:

• The Occupational Risk Prevention Service of the Administration of the Principality of Asturias, qualified as a joint service for the Administration and its dependent organisms and public entities, attached to the Ministry competent in matters of public employment.
• The Occupational Risk Prevention Service for Educational Centers, qualified as its own service, attached to the Ministry competent in matters of education.

Each service is organized into an Occupational Medicine Area and a Work Safety and Hygiene Area, with specialties in occupational medicine, work safety and industrial hygiene, and ergonomics and applied psychosociology. Direction and coordination shall correspond to the service heads, and personnel will have special accreditation issued by the attached Ministry.

Constitution deadlines and prevention plans

The additional provisions of the decree stagger the implementation:

• Six months from the entry into force to constitute the Prevention Service for public educational centers; until then, the Administration’s service will continue to advise the centers.
• One year to approve the Occupational Risk Prevention Plan for the Administration, its organisms and joint entities, and that of the public educational centers.
• Six months for the Governing Council to adapt the list of job positions for the Ministries of Presidency and Education.

Until the new plans are approved, the Prevention Plan approved by the Resolution of May 21, 2015, of the Ministry of Finance and Public Sector shall remain in effect. The decree also modifies Decree 50/2025, of April 29, regarding the organic structure of the Ministry of Education, to incorporate the new service into the General Directorate of Teaching Personnel.

Training, representation, and response times

Preventive training shall be mandatory, and its cost shall in no case be borne by public employees. The Prevention Services shall collaborate with the Asturian Institute of Public Administration “Adolfo Posada” (IAAP) and the Asturian Institute for the Prevention of Occupational Risks, in accordance with the Principality of Asturias Law 4/2004, of November 30.

Regarding representation and coordination, specific deadlines are established:

• Fifteen business days to provide prevention delegates with the requested information on risk assessment and preventive measures.
• Twenty business days for bodies and workplaces to respond to requests from the Prevention Services; once this period has elapsed, the matter may be referred to the General Inspectorate of Services.
• An annual report of activities, which shall be sent in the first quarter of the following year to the Monitoring Commission of each plan and to the competent Ministries, which will then submit it to the Governing Council.

Exclusions from the scope of action

The regulation expressly excludes three groups from its scope: personnel from health centers and establishments dependent on the Health Service of the Principality of Asturias; personnel from public bodies and entities that are not incorporated into a commonwealth serving the Administration; and the particularities of civil protection operational services and forensic expertise in cases of serious risk, catastrophe, and public calamity.

The regulation has a direct impact on all regional public employees and on the teaching staff and other personnel of non-university public educational centers, who will now have their own prevention service and a specific plan. The separation of scopes seeks to correct the lack of resources of the single service in effect since 1999 and to address specific risks such as psychosocial, ergonomic, and exposure to chemical, physical, and biological agents.

Source: Official Gazette of the Principality of Asturias, no. 199 of October 14, 2026, section I (General Provisions), page 1 (official reference: 2026-08380).