Legal gaps relating to labour safety and health in the maritime transport sector in Spain

Abstract

[Abstract] Nowadays the labour sector is experiencing an important increase in the application of risk prevention policies. Although these policies are very significant due to their repercussions in the health of workers, we noticed important legal gaps in maritime sector regulations. Frequently sea workers are legally abandoned, by exclusion or omission, at the moment of claiming for the improvement of their working environment and the reduction of the negative consequences derived from this negligence over their safety and health. In the present paper we try to shed some light on this topic by analysing and examining minutely the Spanish applicable risk prevention legislation for this sector. Moreover, the recommenda-tions of the International Maritime Organization are compared with the current application of the law. At the same time, we present some possible solutions to such problems from an objective point of view.