Global groups tend to be strong on safety. They have an environment, health and safety (EHS) standard, incident reporting to headquarters, a set of life-saving rules and a regional EHS lead who audits sites. When they arrive in Peru, they often assume that system satisfies local law. In substance, much of it does. In form, it usually does not. Peru’s Occupational Health and Safety Law, Law 29783, and its regulations prescribe specific bodies, documents, trainings, medical exams, registers and reporting deadlines, and SUNAFIL, Peru’s national labor inspection authority, inspects against those formal requirements.
This article sets out the obligations that matter most for regional HR, EHS and legal teams, and how to build a Peruvian layer on top of the group standard. It forms part of our guide to employment compliance in Peru.
Legal framework
The core rules are Law 29783 and its regulations, Decreto Supremo 005-2012-TR. The law is built on a prevention principle: the employer must guarantee at the workplace the means and conditions that protect workers’ life, health and well-being. It applies to all employers, whatever their sector. Office-based subsidiaries, shared service centers and sales operations are covered, although the scale of the system reflects their actual risks.
Health and safety infringements are classified as minor, serious and very serious in the inspection regulations. Two examples illustrate the range: failing to verify that contractors and staffing providers comply with health and safety rules is a serious infringement, while failing to adopt preventive measures in the face of a serious and imminent risk is very serious.
The core obligations
Committee or supervisor
Employers with 20 or more workers must have a joint health and safety committee (Comité de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo), with employer and worker representatives. Employers with fewer than 20 workers must have a health and safety supervisor. Worker representatives are elected by the workers, which is the element group systems most often lack: a regional EHS lead appointed by management does not replace an elected joint body.
Internal safety regulations
Employers with 20 or more workers must have internal health and safety regulations (Reglamento Interno de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo, RISST). This is distinct from the general internal work rules required above 100 workers, discussed in internal work rules in Peru.
Risk assessment (IPERC)
The employer must identify hazards, assess risks and define controls, a process known locally as IPERC (identificación de peligros, evaluación de riesgos y controles). It must be updated at least once a year and whenever conditions change. Remote work is included: under the 2026 amendments to the telework regulations, a change in a teleworker’s usual location triggers a new hazard identification under Law 29783.
Training
At least four health and safety trainings a year are required, in addition to training at hiring, during employment and when functions or technology change.
Occupational medical exams
Exams are mandatory before, during and at the end of employment. The periodic exam is due every two years, except in high-risk activities, which follow a special periodicity. The exit exam is optional, at the request of the employer or the worker. The employer bears the cost.
Registers and retention
The management system must keep registers of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and dangerous incidents; medical exams; monitoring of agents; internal inspections; statistics; emergency equipment; induction, training and drills; and audits. Micro and small enterprises and low-risk employers may use simplified registers. Accident and disease records are kept for ten years (occupational diseases for twenty years); other registers for five years.
| Obligation | Threshold or frequency | Key evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Joint committee / supervisor | Committee at 20 or more workers; supervisor below 20 | Election records, committee minutes |
| Internal safety regulations | 20 or more workers | RISST document, dissemination records |
| IPERC | At least annually and on changes | IPERC matrix, control plan |
| Training | At least four per year, plus at hiring and on change | Training register |
| Medical exams | Pre-employment; periodic every two years (special for high risk); exit if requested | Exam register |
| Accident reporting | Fatal accidents and dangerous incidents within 24 hours | Notification record |
Key point
The group EHS standard answers the question “are we managing risk well?” Peruvian law adds a second question: “can we prove it in the prescribed form?” A local system needs to answer both.
Where global EHS systems and Peruvian law diverge
Four points generate most gaps in multinational operations.
Governance. Group systems are management-led. Peruvian law requires worker participation through an elected committee or supervisor. The regional EHS lead can support the committee, but cannot substitute for it. Where practical, worker representatives for the sexual harassment intervention committee can be elected in the same process; see sexual harassment prevention duties in Peru.
Counting. Group systems often report training hours or e-learning completion. Peruvian law counts trainings and requires a register showing attendance. Quarterly sessions are a simple way to meet the minimum of four a year.
Medical surveillance. Many groups have no pre-employment medical exam policy, or have one limited to specific roles. In Peru, occupational medical exams apply to all workers, with employer-paid periodic exams.
Reporting clocks. Group incident reporting may run on 24 or 48 hours to headquarters. In Peru, fatal accidents and dangerous incidents must be notified to the Ministry of Labor and Employment Promotion (MTPE) within 24 hours, regardless of the internal timetable.
Illustrative scenario
Illustrative scenario: an Asian electronics distributor runs a warehouse in Callao with 45 workers and a Lima office with 30. Its group EHS standard is applied rigorously: monthly walk-throughs, forklift certification and a strong incident culture. An employment audit finds that the company has a single safety coordinator appointed by management and no elected joint committee, that only two formal safety trainings were recorded in the year, that office staff never had occupational medical exams and that the IPERC was last updated before the warehouse layout changed. The substance of safety management is good; the formal system required by Peruvian law is incomplete.
Contractors and the principal company
Where contractors or staffing providers work at the company’s premises, the principal must verify their compliance with health and safety rules. Failing to do so is a serious infringement. The Labor Inspection Tribunal (Tribunal de Fiscalización Laboral, SUNAFIL’s administrative appeals tribunal) issued binding precedents in 2025 touching on the principal’s responsibility for accidents, among other topics; their detail should be reviewed case by case.
Consequences
Health and safety is the area where Peruvian exposure escalates fastest.
- Fines are graduated by severity, company size and workers affected; for certain infringements involving death or permanent disability, the calculation takes into account the company’s total workforce.
- Closure. After a fatal accident, the inspector may order temporary closure of the area while the investigation lasts; during closure, workers are paid and the days count as worked. As a sanction, temporary closure can be imposed for up to 30 calendar days, reducible to 15 if the company proves measures that exceed legal requirements.
- Referral to prosecutors. Fatal accidents caused by health and safety breaches established in an administrative decision are reported to the Public Prosecutor’s Office within five business days.
- Criminal liability. The Criminal Code penalizes anyone who deliberately breaches health and safety rules, after prior notification by the competent authority, and thereby places workers’ life, health or integrity in imminent danger, with aggravated penalties where death or serious injury results.
Watch out
Obstructing the investigation of a fatal accident is sanctioned with a fine and temporary closure. Group crisis protocols that restrict site access or information flow after an incident must be reviewed so that they do not impede the inspector.
Checklist for the Peruvian layer
- Confirm headcount per employer and whether a committee or a supervisor is required.
- Hold elections for worker representatives and keep minutes of every committee meeting.
- Adopt internal safety regulations if there are 20 or more workers and make them known to the workforce.
- Update the IPERC at least annually and after any change in layout, process or location, including telework.
- Schedule at least four trainings a year and keep attendance registers.
- Implement pre-employment and periodic medical exams for all workers.
- Maintain the statutory registers and retention periods.
- Align group incident reporting with the 24-hour notification to the MTPE.
- Verify contractors’ health and safety compliance before and during their work.
Preventive recommendations
Integrate these obligations into the local obligation matrix described in building an employment compliance program, put the recurring dates into an annual employment compliance calendar, and include health and safety in any periodic employment audit. Treat the committee as a partner in the group EHS program rather than a formality.
Bottom line
A strong group EHS culture is the best starting point a Peruvian subsidiary can have. What it usually needs is the formal layer Peruvian law prescribes: an elected committee or supervisor, internal safety regulations, a current IPERC, counted trainings, occupational medical exams, complete registers and a 24-hour reporting line to the MTPE. Our occupational health and safety service helps regional teams build that layer without rebuilding what the group already does well.