# Occupational Health in Portugal: Exams, Deadlines, Fines [Back to Blog](/en/blog/) ![Mandatory occupational health in Portugal](/blog/medicina-trabalho-obrigatoria-portugal-lei/cover.jpg) You have had an employee at the company for three years. They have never had an occupational health exam. Not on hiring, not periodically. As far as they are concerned, everything is fine. As far as the manager is concerned, it is one more thing that “is not urgent”. Until there is an accident. Or until the ACT asks for the medical fitness certificate and it simply does not exist. Occupational health is not a nice-to-have. It is mandatory for every company in Portugal, even with a single worker. Law 102/2009 sets out exactly what you have to do, how often, and what happens if you do not. Let us get into it. ## What the law says Law 102/2009 of 10 September is the main statute. It establishes the legal framework for promoting occupational safety and health. The Labour Code reinforces it in Articles 281 to 284. The base rule is this: all employers, public or private, regardless of headcount, are required to provide occupational health services. It makes no difference whether you have 1 worker or 500. It makes no difference what sector you are in. The obligation is the same. In practice, most SMEs contract an external occupational safety and health (OSH) service. It is the most common option and generally cheaper than running an in-house service. The provider must be authorised by the ACT and by the Directorate-General of Health (DGS). Contracting an unauthorised company is itself an infringement. ## The mandatory exams Article 108 of Law 102/2009 defines three types of mandatory health exam. The pre-employment exam must be carried out before the person starts work or, where the hiring is urgent, within the following 15 days. It assesses whether the person is fit for the duties they will perform. Everyone joining the company needs this exam. No exceptions. Periodic exams are the routine of health surveillance. The general rule is as follows: for workers under 18 and those over 50, the exam is annual. For everyone else, every 2 years. The occupational physician can change this frequency, increasing it where there is higher risk or an illness requiring closer monitoring. Occasional exams are mandatory in two situations: where there are substantial changes in working conditions that could affect health (a new role, new equipment, new risks), and when a worker returns after an absence of more than 30 days due to illness or accident. #### Watch out Exams must take place during working hours. If, for a justified reason, they are scheduled outside working hours, the worker must be compensated as provided by law. ## The medical fitness certificate After each exam, the occupational physician completes a medical fitness certificate and sends it to the company’s HR contact. This certificate is a legal document with specific rules. The certificate must state whether the worker is fit, conditionally fit (with specific restrictions, such as “must not lift loads above X kg”), temporarily unfit, or permanently unfit. The certificate cannot contain detailed clinical information. No diagnoses, no test results, no health data without direct relevance to the work. Medical confidentiality is preserved. The worker must be made aware of the certificate, sign it and date it. Without that signature, the document is not formally complete. #### GDPR Clinical information is protected by the General Data Protection Regulation. The company only has access to the medical fitness certificate, never to detailed medical data. Improperly sharing that data is a serious infringement. ## What happens if you do not comply Failing to organise occupational safety and health services is treated as a very serious administrative offence. Not serious. Very serious. For an SME with turnover below €500,000, fines for a very serious administrative offence range from €2,040 to €4,080 for negligence, and from €4,590 to €9,690 for intent (20 to 40 UC and 45 to 95 UC, Article 554 of the Labour Code). But the fines are only the start. If there is a workplace accident and it is shown that the worker had no valid medical fitness certificate, or never had a pre-employment exam, the company can face litigation, civil liability and, in extreme cases, criminal liability. And a detail many people miss: workplace accident insurance covers compensation, but never covers administrative fines. Those come straight out of the company’s pocket. ## How to organise it in practice The first step is to contract an authorised external OSH service. Verify the authorisation on the ACT or DGS website before signing a contract. Then make sure every new employee has the pre-employment exam before they start (or within 15 days at the latest). Keep a calendar with the periodic exam dates for each person. And make sure every medical fitness certificate is signed and filed. If an employee returns after sick leave of more than 30 days, schedule the occasional exam before putting them back to work. All of this has to be documented and accessible. The ACT can ask to see medical fitness certificates, exam records, and how the OSH service is organised. ## Common mistakes to avoid Having no OSH service contracted is surprisingly common in micro-enterprises. Many believe the obligation only applies to larger companies. It applies to all of them, from the first worker. Forgetting the pre-employment exam is another frequent error. The employee starts work and life moves on. By the time someone remembers, months have passed. Not tracking periodic exam deadlines is a recipe for non-compliance. If you do not have a system that warns you when an exam is about to expire, you will miss one. Having medical fitness certificates without the worker’s signature is a formal problem the ACT spots easily. Without a signature, the certificate is not valid. Contracting an unauthorised OSH provider is an infringement in itself. Always verify the authorisation before signing. #### Keep legal obligations under control TeamYo centralises leave, time tracking and employee documentation. Less paper, fewer surprises. [Request a free account](/en/contact/?lead_source=blog_product&requested_locale=en) ## Frequently asked questions **Is occupational health mandatory for all companies?** Yes. Law 102/2009 requires all employers, even with a single worker, to provide occupational safety and health services. **How often must the exams be carried out?** Annually for workers under 18 and over 50. Every 2 years for everyone else. Plus pre-employment exams (before starting) and occasional exams (return from sick leave of more than 30 days, or a change of role). The occupational physician can change the frequency depending on risk. **Who pays for occupational health exams?** The company. All costs of occupational safety and health services are the employer's responsibility. Exams must take place during working hours. **Can a worker refuse the exam?** No. The worker is required to attend the consultations and exams determined by the occupational physician. Refusal may give rise to disciplinary proceedings. **What is the fine for not having occupational health in place?** A very serious administrative offence. For SMEs with turnover below €500,000, fines range from €2,040 to €4,080 for negligence, or from €4,590 to €9,690 for intent. In the event of an accident without a valid medical fitness certificate, there may be civil and criminal liability. ## Conclusion Occupational health is an obligation you do not notice until it goes wrong. When everything is fine, it looks like an unnecessary cost. When there is an accident and your medical fitness certificates are not up to date, it becomes the most expensive problem the company has. Organising it is not complicated. An authorised OSH provider, an exam calendar, certificates signed and filed. It is a matter of organisation, not bureaucracy. Are your employees’ occupational health exams all up to date? ### About the author ![Andre Nabais](/authors/andre-nabais.jpg) #### Andre Nabais Co-founder of TeamYo. Passionate about simplifying HR processes for small and medium businesses. ### Want to simplify leave management? Try TeamYo free for teams up to 5 employees. 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