Rules for business premises in Spain
Coordination of business activities (CAE)
Coordination of business activities (CAE) is the duty of companies and self-employed workers working at the same time on the same premises to cooperate on health and safety. The holder of the premises tells whoever comes in about its hazards and emergency arrangements (art. 24 LPRL and RD 171/2004).
Also known asCAE · coordinación de actividades empresariales · contractor coordination · RD 171/2004
What it is exactly
Ley 31/1995, the Spanish Occupational Risk Prevention Act (LPRL), requires cooperation when “workers from two or more companies carry out activities in the same workplace” (art. 24.1), including when one of them is self-employed (art. 24.5). Royal Decree 171/2004 spells it out: the duty to cooperate applies to every business present, “whether or not there are legal relationships between them” (art. 4.1), and they all tell each other about their hazards.
The holder of the workplace, meaning whoever can make the premises available to others and run them (art. 2.b), has three jobs:
- Inform whoever comes in about the hazards of the premises that may affect them, how to prevent them and what to do in an emergency, before they start and whenever those hazards change; in writing if they are serious or very serious (art. 7).
- Give instructions, but only if its own staff work at those premises (art. 8).
- Agree the means of coordination: the list in art. 11 is open (exchanging information, meetings, instructions, a coordinator…) and does not impose any particular tool.
An example: the technician who services the cold room walks into a restaurant kitchen with the griddle on and the floor freshly mopped. Before the job starts, the restaurant tells them where the danger lies (the floor, the fryer, the gas valve), which way to get out if the alarm goes off and where the extinguisher is; the technician mentions what they are bringing in, such as a cylinder of refrigerant.
Worth knowing
CAE is not a software platform or a certificate. RD 171/2004 does not require any app, nor a signed document every time: it only asks for writing when the hazards are serious or very serious. The most demanding case is art. 10: if you contract out work or a service that belongs to your ‘own activity’ and is carried out on your premises, before it starts you must require the contractor to provide its risk assessment and planning in writing. The regulation does not define what ‘own activity’ means.
It fits with your prevention plan and with the maintenance contractor who comes onto the premises; for an office, see the rules for offices.
Sources
Related terms
- Facility managementFacility management (FM, also facilities management) is the coordinated management of a building and the services that keep it running: maintenance, cleaning, security, utilities and space, so that the people working or staying inside can get on with their own job without thinking about the building.
- Authorised maintenance companyAn authorised maintenance company (empresa mantenedora) is one entitled to maintain regulated installations, such as fire protection (RIPCI) or heating, cooling and hot water (RITE). It files a declaration with the regional government, but the owner of the premises remains responsible for the maintenance being done.
- Occupational risk prevention planThe occupational risk prevention plan is the document through which a Spanish employer builds health and safety into how it is run: who does what, with which procedures and with what resources. Art. 16 of Ley 31/1995 requires it from the first employee, and it rests on the risk assessment and prevention planning.