Portugal Approves the ILO Construction Safety Convention 38 Years On: the Right to Leave Imminent Danger, Free Protective Gear and Drinking Water on Every Site

Portugal has approved the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention No. 167 on Safety and Health in Construction, 38 years after the ILO adopted it in Geneva on 20 June 1988. Decreto n.º 23/2026, published in the Diário da República (the official gazette) on Thursday 22 October, approves the treaty and publishes its French text and a Portuguese translation.

The decree was approved by the Council of Ministers on 30 July and signed by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and Labour Minister Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, among others. President António José Seguro signed it on 15 September.

Construction employs many immigrants in Portugal, and it is a sector where accidents are often fatal. On the labour inspectorate's own figures, construction accounted for 48 of the 134 fatal work accidents it recorded in 2021, more than any other sector. That page was last updated in July 2022. For more recent national totals, see our report on fatal workplace accidents in 2024.

When it takes effect

Approval by decree is not the end of the process. Under article 38, the convention binds Portugal 12 months after its ratification is registered by the ILO's Director-General, and the decree does not give a date for that registration. Article 4 also makes clear how the treaty works: a ratifying country commits to adopt, and keep in force, national legislation that gives effect to the convention. The decree does not itself change any Portuguese rule, and it does not say which rules, if any, will need to change.

What the convention requires

The convention covers all construction work, from preparing the site to finishing the project. That includes building, renovation, repair, maintenance (including cleaning and painting) and demolition, and civil engineering works such as roads, railways, bridges, tunnels, dams and ports.

• The right to leave danger (article 12): national law must give every worker the right to remove themselves from danger when they have good reason to believe there is an imminent and serious risk to their safety or health. The worker must tell their supervisor straight away. Where there is an imminent risk, the employer must stop the work and evacuate workers.
• Free protective equipment (article 30): where workers cannot be protected by other means, employers must provide suitable personal protective equipment and clothing, and keep it in good condition, at no cost to the workers.
• Welfare on site (article 32): sufficient drinking water must be available on or near every site. Depending on the size and length of the job, there must be toilets and washing facilities, places to change and dry clothes, and places to eat and shelter in bad weather. Women and men must have separate toilets and washrooms.
• Who answers for safety (article 8): where two or more employers work on the same site at once, the main contractor, or whoever controls the site, coordinates the safety measures. Each employer remains responsible for its own workers.
• Information and training (article 33): workers must be told about the risks they face and trained in the means of preventing them.
• Specific hazards: the convention sets duties for scaffolds and ladders (inspection by a competent person), lifting gear, work at height and on fragile roofs, excavations and tunnels, demolition, electricity, explosives, fire, first aid and exposure to harmful substances.
• Enforcement (article 35): each country must have penalties and an inspection service with the means to check that the rules are applied. Work accidents and occupational diseases must be reported to the authorities within a set time (article 34).

Workers also have duties under article 11: to cooperate with the employer on safety, to use the protective equipment provided, and to report without delay any situation they think is a risk and cannot deal with themselves.

If you work in construction now

Workers in Portugal can report unsafe conditions to the Autoridade para as Condições do Trabalho (Authority for Working Conditions, ACT), the labour inspectorate. Our guide to claiming for a work accident explains what to do after an injury. In October, ACT opened an inquiry after three Romanian workers died inside a water reservoir at a Quinta do Lago home.