Manage the prevention of occupational risks in a factory It is not filling out documents. It is building a system that protects people and, at the same time, demonstrates to the Labor Inspection that your company is in control.
In 2026, with the reform of Law 31/1995 underway, the requirements become stricter: preventive management will have to be effective and demonstrable. This guide explains how to organize it.
1. The prevention plan: the basis of everything
El Occupational Risk Prevention Plan It is the document that defines how your company integrates security into its management. It is not optional: it has been required by law since 1995 for any company with workers.
In a factory, this plan must include the organizational structure (who is responsible for what), the production processes with their associated risks and the action procedures. Without this updated document, any inspection will be a problem.
2. Risk assessment: the real diagnosis of your plant
La risk assessment It is the heart of the system. It consists of identifying what can go wrong in each job, with what probability and what consequences it would have.
In industrial environments, the most frequent risks are:
Mechanical risks: entrapments, cuts, blows with machinery
Ergonomic risks: forced postures, manual handling of loads, repetitive movements
Physical risks: noise, extreme temperature, vibrations
Chemical risks: exposure to dangerous substances in production processes
Falls at the same and different levels: one of the most common accidents in the plant
The evaluation is not a document that is done once and filed. It must be reviewed every time a process changes, new machinery is added or an accident occurs.
3. Choose the appropriate preventive modality
Every company must choose how it manages prevention. The options are:
Own Prevention Service (SPP): mandatory for companies with more than 500 workers (or 250 in particularly dangerous activities). Starting in 2027, the threshold drops to 300 with the new law.
External Prevention Service (SPA): external hiring. The most common option in industrial SMEs, but it requires an internal interlocutor to do the actual monitoring.
Joint Prevention Service: for business groups or companies in the same sector.
Designated worker: In small companies, a trained employee assumes preventive functions.
The most common mistake: delegate everything to the SPA and assume that the problem is solved. The SPA prepares documents, but The daily management of plant safety is your responsibility.
4. Planning of preventive activity
Once the risks have been identified, the actions must be planned. corrective and preventive measures with responsible person, deadline and cost. Without planning, risk assessment is a dead letter.
Annual planning must include mandatory training, periodic equipment inspections, emergency drills, medical examinations and PPE review. All with documentary record.
5. Health monitoring and continuous training
La health surveillance (medical examinations) is mandatory and must be adapted to the specific risks of each position. It is not a generic annual procedure: each worker has to be evaluated based on their real exposure.
La ORP training It is also mandatory. In the factory, this involves initial training upon joining, specific training by position and periodic retraining. A worker not properly trained is a legal and human risk.
6. Registration and traceability: what the Inspection requires
Effective ORP management requires documentary evidence. Labor inspectors don't just ask what you do — they ask you to prove it.
The minimum records that you must always have updated are:
Current and signed prevention plan
Risk assessments by job
Planning of preventive activity for the current year
Training records signed by each worker
Records of drills and equipment inspections
Accident reports and incident investigation
Health surveillance certificates
The usual factory problem: this documentation exists, but it is scattered in folders, emails and Excel sheets. When an inspection comes, finding it on time is a race against the clock.
7. From reactive management to prevention in real time
The traditional ORP model is reactivo: you act after the accident, you correct after the inspection, you form after the incident. It is the model that most factories still use.
The model that is gaining ground in the industry is proactive and continuous: detect risk before it materializes. This is what artificial vision applied to industrial safety allows.
Platforms like Safe They monitor PPE compliance in real time, detect risk behaviors and generate automatic alerts before the accident occurs. And each detection is recorded with an image and timestamp — exactly what you need to demonstrate to the Inspection that your system works.
ORP management in a factory is not about having your papers in order. It's about ensuring that no one gets hurt. Technology already allows both things to happen at the same time.