The Legal Framework Governing Occupational Health Prevention and Safety in the Workplace Environment in Algeria

Abstract

Occupational health prevention and workplace safety constitute some of the most important safeguards established by law to protect workers from the various hazards they may encounter while performing their duties. Although work is a means of production and of achieving social and economic stability, it may simultaneously constitute a source of occupational risks affecting workers' health as well as their physical and psychological well-being, particularly in light of the development of production methods and the increasing diversity of machinery and materials used within institutions.

The Algerian legislator has attached particular importance to the field of occupational health prevention, workplace safety, and occupational medicine through the enactment of Law No. 88-07 concerning Occupational Health Prevention, Safety, and Occupational Medicine, in addition to complementary regulatory texts, most notably Executive Decree No. 91-05 concerning the general protection rules applicable to health preservation and safety in the workplace, and Executive Decree No. 93-120 concerning the organization of occupational medicine. These legal texts establish a set of obligations incumbent upon the employer, including the provision of occupational health and safety conditions in the workplace, the submission of workers to medical supervision, and compliance with inspections conducted by the Labour Inspectorate.