Health and safety obligations for employers in Portugal

Do you have 1 employee? Then you already have occupational health and safety (OHS) obligations in Portugal: an organised service, medical exams, training and accident insurance. There is no minimum company size and no exception for "harmless" office work.

The good news: for most small companies, compliance comes down to hiring an authorised external OHS provider, keeping exams up to date and holding the right insurance. This guide is for you, the employer. It covers the 7 obligations, which service model applies to your case and what happens when something fails. The legal basis is the Labour Code (Arts. 281 to 284) and, above all, Law 102/2009.

The 7 obligations, as a checklist

The table sums up what the law demands from any company, from an office to a building site:

Add the internal emergency structure: first aid, firefighting and evacuation must be organised inside the company, even if everything else is outsourced (Art. 75). And the costs are always yours: the law forbids passing any OHS cost on to the worker, exams included (Art. 15(12)).

Which service model do you need: internal, shared or external?

The law allows three ways to organise the service (Art. 74 of Law 102/2009). The choice is not free, it depends on size and risk:

Internal service, mandatory for large companies and high risk. You must set up your own service if an establishment has at least 400 workers, if a group of establishments within 50 km adds up to 400, or if at least 30 workers are exposed to high-risk activities (Art. 78). High risk is the list in Art. 79: construction work with risk of falls from height or burial, extractive industries, explosives and pyrotechnics, medium and high voltage work, ionising radiation, carcinogenic agents, silica, among others.

External service, the normal route for small companies. An authorised provider handles safety, health or both, under a written contract (Art. 83). Check the authorisation before signing: hiring a non-authorised provider is a very serious offence for both sides, you and the provider (Art. 84(6) and (7)). Outsourcing does not remove your liability: legal responsibility for OHS remains yours (Art. 74(6)). If you adopt an external service, you must also appoint one of your own workers, with basic training, to follow the prevention activities (Art. 77).

Do it yourself: micro companies only, safety only, authorisation required. In a company with at most 9 employees and no high-risk activity, the employer (or a designated worker) may handle the safety activities, if they have adequate training and are usually present at the establishment (Art. 81). This requires authorisation from the labour authority; with no reply within 45 days, it is considered granted. Acting without authorisation is a very serious offence. Health stays out: exams always require an occupational doctor, and micro companies without high-risk activities may use the National Health Service (Art. 76).

When hiring, remember the OHS service is part of the onboarding circuit: besides reporting the hire to social security before the contract starts, the new employee needs an admission exam and information about the job's risks (Art. 19(2)). Choosing the contract type? See the guide on the permanent contract.

Health exams and the fitness certificate

The exam calendar is fixed (Art. 108 of Law 102/2009):

• Admission: before the person starts working. If the hiring is urgent, it can happen within the following 15 days.
• Periodic: every 2 years. Annual for workers under 18 and for workers over 50.
• Occasional: when changes may affect health (new machines, new role) and when someone returns after an absence of more than 30 days due to illness or accident, for example after a long sick leave.

Each exam produces a fitness certificate (ficha de aptidão), which the occupational doctor fills in immediately and sends to the head of human resources; the worker acknowledges and signs it (Art. 110). The certificate says fit or unfit, never the diagnosis, which is protected by medical secrecy. If the result is "unfit", the doctor must indicate other duties the worker can perform.

Two useful exemptions from the admission exam (Art. 108(6)): when the worker comes from a business transfer and keeps the same job, and in contracts of up to 45 days for identical work, if there is a valid exam from the previous 2 years.

Accident insurance and the 24-hour report to ACT

Work accident insurance is not optional: the employer must transfer the liability for compensation to an insurer (Art. 79(1) of Law 98/2009). It covers every employee, full or part time, permanent or fixed term.

The trap is called underinsurance: declaring a salary below the real one. In that case the insurer only pays based on the declared pay, and the company pays the difference in compensation, pensions and hospital costs out of its own pocket, in proportion (Art. 79(4) and (5)). Regular bonuses and commissions count towards real pay, so update the policy when you give raises.

If a fatal accident happens, or one showing a serious physical injury, report it to the labour inspectorate, ACT, within the following 24 hours, with the worker's identification, a description of the facts and the working time records for the previous 30 days (Art. 111 of Law 102/2009). This report is the company's duty and does not replace notifying the insurer.

One extra caution downstream: if you later consider dismissing a worker for poor adaptation after their performance dropped, the law forbids invoking inadaptation when the cause was a lack of health and safety conditions attributable to the employer. The topic is covered in the guide how to dismiss an employee.

Yearly consultation, information and training

Three obligations that are cheap to meet and expensive to fail:

• Written consultation, at least once a year (Art. 18): ask the workers' representatives, or the workers themselves if there are none, for their opinion on the risk assessment, prevention measures, the training programme and the service model adopted. They have 15 days to reply; with no reply, the consultation is considered satisfied. Keep everything in a dedicated record, on paper or digital. Skipping the consultation is a very serious offence.
• Up-to-date information (Art. 19): the job's risks, protection measures, emergency procedures. Mandatory on admission, on a change of duties, with new equipment or new technology.
• Training suited to the job (Art. 20): all workers, with extra training for those with OHS duties and for the first aid, firefighting and evacuation officers, who must exist "in sufficient number".

A note on freelancers: the self-employed are treated as their own employer for these rules and handle their own OHS (Art. 15(13)). If contractors work side by side with your team, the companies involved must cooperate on prevention, and the company whose premises host the work ensures everyone's safety (Art. 16). On their status, see social security for the self-employed.

What failing costs

OHS offences follow the general tiers of the Labour Code (Arts. 548 to 566, by reference from Art. 115 of Law 102/2009). In short:

• Very serious: not organising the OHS service, breaching the general prevention duties of Art. 15, skipping the yearly consultation or the information duties, using a non-authorised external provider, having no emergency structure.
• Serious: failures in health exams, training, the fitness certificate, or the 24-hour accident report to ACT.

The exact fine depends on turnover and degree of fault; after an accident, civil liability is added (Art. 15(15)) and, in the worst cases, criminal liability. ACT can inspect without prior notice; the fine amounts per tier are in the guide on filing a complaint with ACT. And if one of your workers culpably breaks safety rules, that is a matter for the disciplinary procedure (Art. 17(5) of Law 102/2009).

Are you the employee? What you can demand

This guide is written for the company's side, but its obligations are your rights:

• You never pay for OHS: exams, training, protective equipment, all at the employer's expense (Art. 15(12)).
• Serious and imminent danger: you may leave your workstation without being penalised for it (Art. 17(2)).
• Exams up to date: if you never had an admission exam, or your last periodic exam was more than 2 years ago, the company is in breach.
• Work accident: you are entitled to compensation through the company's insurer; if the company has no insurance, it must pay itself, and you can file a complaint with ACT, which is free and can be anonymous.

This guide explains the general occupational health and safety regime (Law 102/2009). Sector-specific legislation (construction, chemicals, radiation) adds its own requirements. For high-risk activities, consider support from a certified safety officer.