On 8 November, Spain's Occupational Risk Prevention Act (LPRL) turns 31. Congratulations are in order! In three decades it has changed the way companies and workers understand safety at work.
I think one of its most practical ideas fits into a single sentence:
The company provides the right PPE and the worker uses it correctly.
They are two halves of the same responsibility. The law sets them out separately (the employer's obligation in Article 17 and the worker's in Article 29), but in practice they go together. And for those of us who make PPE, those two halves meet at one very specific point: the label.
If you are a health and safety officer: that's where checking begins
On a high-visibility garment, the label must show the essentials:
- The EN ISO 20471 standard, which certifies high visibility.
- The garment's class, which indicates the level of visibility it provides.
- The size and its reference measurements.
- The care instructions.
All of this must match the needs identified in the job's risk assessment. A garment that is certified but of a lower class than required is not the right garment.
If you are the one wearing it: there's the key to using it well
The label is not a formality: it is your garment's short manual. On it you will find:
- How to use it and how to store it.
- How to wash it.
- The maximum number of wash cycles it can withstand, as indicated by the manufacturer.
- Which measurements correspond to each size.
A high-visibility garment that has been washed incorrectly, is not your size or has exceeded its wash cycles loses part of what makes it useful: being seen.
A law that is still in force
A law from 1995 that today still demands the same as yesterday:
Choose well and use well.
References: Spanish Law 31/1995 of 8 November on Occupational Risk Prevention (Articles 17 and 29); standard EN ISO 20471:2013/A1:2016, high-visibility clothing.
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