Introduction
National strategies are vital policy instruments to enhance the effectiveness of an OSH system by defining the key priorities and actions for improving workers’ health and safety.
The Commission called on the Member States to update and draw up their national OSH strategies in line with the EU Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2021-2027 - in cooperation with social partners - to ensure that the new measures are applied on the ground.
The Portuguese Authority for Working Conditions (ACT - Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho) is the state agency responsible for enforcing labour laws, promoting occupational health and safety, and preventing workplace risks across Portugal[1]. The ACT’s main mission is to promote the improvement of working conditions, by promoting the policies on the prevention of occupational hazards and controlling the compliance with the labour standards and the laws concerning the health and safety at work in all public and private activity sectors.
More information on the various OSH systems can be found in the relevant OSHwiki articles on national OSH systems.
Basic information on the national OSH strategy
Despite the progress made, the levels of labour accidents in Portugal highlight the need to strengthen prevention, improve the organisation of occupational safety and health services and qualify information and monitoring systems.
The Council of Ministers approved the National Strategy for Safety and Health at Work 2026-2027, (Estratégia Nacional para a Segurança e Saúde no Trabalho 2026-2027 (ENSST2026-2027)) with the aim of reducing the incidence rate of occupational accidents, in particular the rate of fatal accidents[2].
Former strategy:
Estratégia Nacional para a Segurança e Saúde no Trabalho 2015 -2020 — «Por um trabalho seguro, saudável e produtivo» (National Strategy for Health and Safety at Work 2015-2020 – “For a safe, healthy and productive work”)[3].
Background and the perceived problem
Despite the progress made, the number of workplace accidents in Portugal remains above the EU average. According to data published in 2025, 184,607 workplace accidents were recorded, of which 136 were fatal. Efforts must be intensified to rapidly reduce workplace accidents and occupational diseases, moving towards a zero accident. Working in safe and health-protected conditions is a fundamental right of all workers, enshrined in various EU instruments and in the European Pillar of Social Rights. Additionally, working in safe and health-protected conditions has repercussions on the well-being, motivation, performance and productivity of the worker and produces a significant impact on the competitiveness and sustainability of companies, contributing to economic growth.
Recent economic, demographic, and technological developments have contributed significantly to changing work patterns and the emergence of new accident and occupational risks, which pose new challenges to occupational safety and health (OSH). Simultaneously, the COVID-19 pandemic has made evident the evolution of the world of work as a result of the implementation of new technologies and, therefore, the need to adapt OSH systems to this new reality.
Main characteristics and objectives of the OSH-strategy
The ENSST2026-2027 aims to achieve safe and healthy work environments that ensure the health and well-being of workers, contributing to the progress of companies, organisations, and society.
The ENSST2026-2027 identifies a set of priority intervention areas designed to strengthen prevention, protection, and promotion of safety, health (physical and mental), and well-being at work.
The National Strategy for Safety and Health at Work 2026-2027 (ENSST2026-2027) sets out priorities and measures in the field of safety and health at work (OSH), in accordance with the European Union (EU) Strategic Framework for Safety and Health at Work 2021-2027, taking into account the needs identified for Portugal to promote safety and health at work.
Details of the strategy (action plan)
The Strategy is based on four interconnected strategic axes: training, monitoring, social dialogue, and knowledge.
The aim of the four axes is to achieve a sustainable preventive occupational safety and health culture, where the right to a safe and healthy working environment is respected and where employers and employees actively participate in securing a safe, healthy and productive working environment. A continuous reduction of accidents and occupational diseases to achieve Vision Zero related to work-related deaths.
The axes are subdivided into strategic and specific objectives. To achieve these objectives concrete measures are defined. For each measure targets and stakeholders are determined. Indicators were identified and named to evaluate the implementation of the measures.
Axis description
Axis 1: Capacity Building
Strategic Objective 1: Strengthen the integration of OSH into educational and vocational training systems and consolidate knowledge, participation, and communication, with a view to raising the level of OSH literacy, creating a generation of workers and employers more informed about the benefits of a culture of prevention, safe and healthy work environments and workplaces.
Specific Objective 1.1: Ensure lifelong occupational safety and health competence to promote greater risk awareness and the adoption of safe and healthy behaviors.
Measure 1.1.1: Review of the legislative framework, drafting a general OSH Law.
Measure 1.1.2: Encourage the discussion of OSH issues in schools, through the development of information and awareness-raising actions with school groups, non-grouped schools, and private school establishments.
Measure 1.1.3: Promote the development of UFCDs (short training units) in the field of occupational safety and health and strengthening their integration into the various professional qualification profiles.
Measure 1.1.4: Promote the integration of occupational safety content into Bachelor's, Master's and doctoral programmes.
Measure 1.1.5: Strengthen workers and employers in the area of occupational safety and health through the development of training and vocational retraining programmes focusing on new forms of work organisation (e.g., teleworking, digital platforms), green jobs (e.g., construction and renovation, renewable energy, forestry, agriculture, waste management and recycling), and digitalisation of the economy.
Measure 1.1.6: Produce and disseminate informative content and educational support materials to raise awareness on occupational safety and health.
Measure 1.1.7: Promote the exchange of experiences, reports and best practices, raising awareness of the importance of safe and healthy workplaces, with particular attention to the most statistically relevant problems (musculoskeletal injuries, mental health, cancer, hazardous substances, biological agents and other risk factors).
Measure 1.1.8: Disseminate information on occupational safety in the media.
Measure 1.1.9: Offer free training courses for the implementation of occupational safety measures by the employer/nominated employee/employer representative.
Measure 1.1.10: Provide free training courses for workers to perform their duties related to occupational safety and health.
Measure 1.1.11: Develop digital tools to support Vision Zero
Axis 2: Monitoring
Strategic Objective 2:
Promote risk management (known, new and emerging risks), safety, health and well-being in the workplace, and strengthening the application of current rules and guidelines in public and private organisations and among employees.
Specific Objective 2.1: Support the development of the technical capacity of public and private organisations in the field of occupational safety and health, prioritising micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Measure 2.1.1: Provide interactive risk management tools, technical guides and easy-to-understand informational material, and support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in applying the OSH legislative framework.
Measure 2.1.2: Provide translation of guidance documents into several languages (according to the main nationalities of the workers).
Measure 2.1.3: Creation of a microsite to promote and support the exercise of occupational safety activities by the employer or by a designated employee in micro-enterprises that do not carry out high-risk activities.
Measure 2.1.4: Promote health surveillance through the National Health Service in the situations foreseen in article 76 of Law no. 102/2009, of September 10, in its current wording, guaranteeing the necessary conditions for its effective implementation.
Measure 2.1.5: Strengthen the staffing framework for the promotion of OSH, of the competent body for the promotion of safety at work, and increase the percentage of jobs foreseen in the staffing plans related to the promotion of occupational health, of the ministries responsible for the labour (MTSSS) and health (MS) areas, respectively.
Measure 2.1.6: Reformulation of Council of Ministers Resolution No. 28/2019, of February 13.
Specific Objective 2.2: Continuously improve the ability to respond to changes in the world of work.
Measure 2.2.1: Promote awareness campaigns on current and emerging risks and the measures to be taken, namely, musculoskeletal injuries, exposure to extreme weather conditions (cold and heat waves, fires, floods, droughts, etc.), digitalisation, green jobs, epidemic situations (e.g., vector-borne diseases), exposure to chemicals and mental health.
Specific Objective 2.3: Increase and strengthen the promotion of health and well-being in the workplace.
Measure 2.3.1: Support the development of programmes focused on well-being and the adoption of healthy lifestyles in public and private sector organisations.
Axis 3: Social Dialogue
Strategic Objective 3:
Foster a culture of prevention in occupational safety and health based on participation and social dialogue among actors and stakeholders with different interests, perspectives, and points of view, at various levels — local, regional, national, and international.
Specific Objective 3.1: Strengthen cooperation and dialogue for the effective and continuous improvement of occupational safety and health
Measure 3.1.1: Promote cooperation, sharing and exchange of experiences, methodologies and resources regarding the prevention of occupational risks and the strengthening of relations between organisations at national and international levels.
Measure 3.1.2: Support the development of best practice plans for participation in occupational safety and health (OSH), which promote negotiation, communication and a culture of prevention in companies and other organisations.
Axis 4: Knowledge
Strategic Objective 4:
Improve and promote research, data collection, and information analysis on OHS, contributing to decision-making and the development of evidence-based OHS policies.
Specific Objective 4.1: Guarantee and improve the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data on occupational safety and health.
Measure 4.1.1: Improve national systems for notification, collection, processing, and dissemination of information on occupational and work-related diseases.
Measure 4.1.2: Review of the national model for registration and monitoring occupational diseases and work-related illnesses, and gradual promotion of compatibility between information systems.
Measure 4.1.3: Implement the digitisation and dematerialisation of the suitability certificate form, while gradually promoting interoperability with primary care clinical information systems, including the structured recording of information on professional life.
Measure 4.1.4: Make the Workplace Accident Reports (BdSL) accessible.
Measure 4.1.5: Provide a Workplace Accident Barometer
Specific Objective 4.2: Promote and support scientific research in the field of occupational safety and health, with broad dissemination of the results.
Measure 4.2.1: Conduct a National Survey of Working Conditions.
Measure 4.2.2: Create partnerships with higher education institutions and other bodies to conduct research studies in the area of occupational safety and health.
Measure 4.2.3: Disseminate the results of the occupational safety and health (OSH) research through multimedia.
Actors and stakeholders
For each measure stakeholders are determined and named.
Resources and time frame
The commitments and pledges to be made in implementing the measures foreseen in the ENSST2026-2027 depend on the availability of budgetary resources by the competent authorities.
The current National Strategy for Health and Safety at Work covers the period from 2026 to 2027.
Evaluation
The Portuguese Authority for Working Conditions (ACT), as the coordinating entity, will ensure the follow-up, monitoring, and evaluation of the ENSST2026-2027, in order to allow for assessing the degree of achievement of the established objectives and, to ensure its review and updating whenever changes in context justify it, particularly for targets that require better collection of statistical data.
The evaluation of the ENSST2026-2027 will be carried out at the following times:
Initial evaluation — until the end of October 2026;
Intermediate evaluation — until the end of the first semester of 2027;
Final evaluation — until the end of the first semester of 2028.
The ENSST2026-2027 may be revised annually, depending on the results of the evaluation to be carried out in the relevant year. Furthermore, indicators requiring an initial status assessment may be adjusted after its completion.
To this end, the results of the ENSST2026-2027 assessment, as well as the initial and intermediate assessments, will be analysed at a meeting of the ACT's Advisory Council for the Promotion of Occupational Safety and Health, which will consider and analyse the possible need for a proposal to revise the ENSST2026-2027, to be submitted to the member of the Government responsible for the governmental area of labour, solidarity and social security.
Outcome indicators for the years 2026 to 2027
The 29 measures of the four axes have a set of 51 performance indicators that will allow the monitoring and correction of deviations inherent in the execution of the ENSST2026-2027.
However, the following outcome indicators of the ENSST2026-2027 are assumed, to be monitored annually until the end of 2027:
Occupational Accident Incidence Rate: 2021 value: 3637.5; Target 2027: 3200
Incidence rate of fatal workplace accidents: 2021 value: 2.8; Target 2027: ≤ 2.5
Number of certified occupational diseases: 2021 value: 14,417; 2027 Target: not defined
Percentage of internal occupational safety services: 2021 Value: 7.8%; 2027 Target: 8%.
Relationship to EU Strategic Framework on health and safety at work 2021-2027
The National Strategy for Occupational Safety and Health 2026-2027 (ENSST2026-2027) establishes objectives and measures in alignment with the European Union (EU) Strategic Framework for Safety and Health at Work 2021-2027.
Examples:
Key objective 1 of the EU Framework is covered for example by the Strategic Objective 1, measure 1.1.7. Anticipating and managing change in the new world of work is covered by Strategic Objective 2, and especially in Specific Objective 2.2., Measure 2.2.1
Key objective 2 of the EU Framework: Vision Zero is explicitly mentioned in Strategic Objective 1, Measure 1.1.11. Promoting health at work is covered by several measures, for example in Strategic Objective 2, Specific Objective 2.3
Key objective 3 of the EU Framework “increasing preparedness for possible future health threats is covered for example by Strategic Objective 2, Specific Objective 2.2
