|
Workers are entitled to work in safe, hygienic and healthy conditions ensured by the employer, who is obliged to organise occupational safety, hygiene and health activities designed to prevent occupational risks and promote workers' health.
Such measures are taken on the basis of the following prevention principles:
-
the planning and organisation of occupational risk prevention
-
the elimination of risk and accident factors
-
occupational risk assessment and monitoring
-
information, training, consultation and participation of workers and their representatives and the promotion and monitoring of workers'
health
The law stipulates that employers must ensure that employees are provided with appropriate working conditions in terms of safety, hygiene and health.
Employers must apply the measures necessary, bearing the following prevention principles in mind:
- when designing installations, premises and processes they must identify likely risks and eliminate or limit their
effects
- include the assessment of occupational safety and health risks in the enterprise's activities and adopt the necessary preventive
measures
- ensure that exposure to chemical, biological and physical agents in the workplace does not constitute a risk to workers'
health
- organise work so as to eliminate the negative effects of monotonous routine
work
- ensure that employees' health is checked in accordance with the risks they are exposed to in the
workplace
- ensure that each employee receives appropriate training to allow them to perform their tasks safely and to react in the event of
accidents, etc.
Workers' representatives on occupational safety, hygiene and health matters are elected by the workers by direct secret ballot. Their number varies according to the number of employees in the enterprise, ranging from one representative for enterprises with up to 61 employees to seven for enterprises with over 1,500 employees.
Accidents at work
An accident at work is deemed to be an event, taken to mean a sudden unforeseen occurrence, suffered by an employee in the workplace during working hours. Employers are responsible for insuring their employees against accidents. Employees and their families are entitled to compensation for injuries arising out of accidents at work.
Compensation for accidents at work includes benefits in kind (medical care, hospital treatment etc.) and in cash (compensation for total or partial temporary disability; compensation in cash or a life pension in the event of permanent disability; compensation payable to the family of the person concerned; a death grant and funeral expenses; etc.).
Occupational illnesses
Occupational illnesses are covered by the rules relating to accidents at work. Occupational illnesses are included on a list drawn up and published in the Diário da República [Official Gazette].
Compensation may be awarded for bodily injuries, functional disabilities or illnesses not included on the list, provided it can be proven that they are an inevitable and direct consequence of the activity performed and are not part of normal wear and tear.
Entitlement to compensation for an occupational illness occurs when the following conditions prevail cumulatively:
- the employee is affected by an occupational illness and has been exposed to the risk by the nature of the industry, activity, conditions, atmosphere or techniques of normal work. The Centro Nacional de Protecção contra os Riscos Profissionais [National Centre for Protection against Occupational Risks] is exclusively responsible for assessing, grading and providing remedies for occupational illnesses diagnosed.
Useful information
- Código do Trabalho [Labour Code], Law No 99/2003 of 27 August
- IDICT - Instituto de Desenvolvimento e Inspecção das Condições de Trabalho [Institute for the Development and Inspection of Working Conditions]
Praça de Alvalade, 1
1749-073 Lisbon
Tel: 217 924
500
Fax: 217 924 597
Text last edited on: 12/2004
Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2007
Reproduction is authorised.
|
Share
Print
The Weather: