- The Government of Spain has established several “serious violations” in the prevention of occupational risks related to the pandemic. He has explained his intention to punish negligence such as “not ensuring a distance of 1.5 meters between workers” or “not providing protective equipment”. However, he has made it clear that fines are not going to be a general trend in the Basque Country.
The Spanish Government has warned that companies which do not guarantee to maintain a safe distance between their workers of at least 1.5 metres or, where this is not possible, which do not provide protection material to their employees, could incur "fines of up to EUR 40,985". This is one of the "serious" infringements in the field of prevention of occupational risks of the last Economic Decree, which empowers the Labour Inspectorate for investigation and grants it the authorisation to "set records" in cases where the infringement is committed.
Sources from the Spanish Ministry of Labour have pointed out that under no circumstances will the intervention of the Inspectorate result in a fine. Officials “study each situation” and in some cases a “request” is made, that is, the company is asked to “correct the behavior” within a certain period if it is observed that the company “has not acted with bad intent”. Moreover, they have pointed out that, in the minimum cases that determine that the situation is worthy of a fine, "they will be more than one degree" and will be applied "depending on the circumstances of each situation". The largest fines, of just over EUR 40,000, would only be imposed in the "most serious cases".