Occupational safety and health country profile: Panama

International labour standards

  1. NORMLEX

    Ratification of ILO conventions

    Database on international labour standards

    Provides access to the latest information on ILO international labour standards on OSH (such as ratification information, reporting requirements, comments of the ILO's supervisory bodies, etc.).

Policies and programmes

  1. 2005

    Profile for Central America, Haiti, Panama and Dominican Republic

    in Spanish

    Challenges and proposals, inputs by the Employment Forum: Situation analysis  

Laws and regulations

  1. LEGOSH

    National regulatory framework

    Global database on OSH legislation

    Provides a picture of the regulatory framework of the main elements of OSH legislation. Contains comprehensive legal information and analysis.

  2. NATLEX

    National legislation

    National labour legislation database

    Includes abstracts of OSH legislation and citation information. Full text of laws or a relevant source is linked to the records, when available.

  3. Main laws

    in Spanish

    The General regulations have been adopted in 2009 and the specific Regulations in the construction sector in 2008, implementing the ILO Convention No. 167. The Labour Code contains a full Book on OSH and Occupational Hazards. The Social Security Fund issues technical guides aimed at preventing occupational accidents and diseases.

Authorities and bodies

  1. Responsible authorities

    in Spanish

    One of the functions of the Technical Interinstitutional Committee is to promote a state policy and develop a national occupational safety and health programme.
    The Social Security Fund is responsible for the enforcement of the General regulation on prevention of occupational hazards and safety and health at work, in coordination with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Commerce.
    The Ministry of Labour is responsible for the administration of labour and safety and health issues.

Statistics

  1. ILOSTAT

    Occupational injuries

    Database of labour statistics

    Contains annual data collected through the ILO yearly questionnaire, which covers a wide range of topics including OSH indicators.

  2. LABORSTA

    Occupational injuries

    Database of labour statistics

    Covers official core labour statistics from 1969 to 2008. It includes main OSH statistics, by economic activity. This database is not being updated and will be replaced with ILOSTAT.

Information and advisory services

  1. Knowledge and research bodies

    in Spanish

    There is no specific body established by law, but the Social Security Fund, through its Occupational Health Program, will issue standards and technical guides on prevention of occupational hazards and inform users about technical measures to be taken in order to prevent occupational accidents and diseases.