Salud Laboral and Legal Framework Vocabulary

Vocabulary terms covering key concepts, legal articles, regulatory standards, and risk definitions in occupational health and safety.

Salud Laboral (Occupational Health)

Medical specialty dedicated to the study of diseases and accidents produced by cause or consequence of work activity, as well as preventive measures.

Medicina del Trabajo (Occupational Medicine)

Medical specialty that, acting alone or in community, studies preventive means to achieve the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of collaborators relative to their capacity, work characteristics, and risks.

Norma 004

Official standard related to the clinical record (expediente clínico), not specifically to occupational health.

Artículo 123 de la Constitución Mexicana

Constitutional article establishing that every person has the right to dignified and socially useful work.

IMSS

Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, established in 1943, offering social security affiliation through mandatory (régimen obligatorio) and voluntary (régimen voluntario) regimes.

ISSSTE

Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers in Mexico, founded in 1959.

ISSFAM

Social Security Institute for the Mexican Armed Forces, established in 1978.

Ley Federal del Trabajo (1931)

First federal labor law in Mexico, promulgated on August 28, 1931, during the government of President Pascual Ortiz Rubio.

Artículo 474 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo

Defines a work accident as any organic lesion, functional disturbance (immediate or posterior), death, or disappearance resulting from a criminal act, produced suddenly in exercise of or by reason of work.

Artículo 477 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo

Lists the consequences of realized work risks: temporary disability, permanent partial disability, permanent total disability, death, and disappearance derived from a criminal act.

Artículo 488 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo

Specifies exceptions where employer liability is exempted, such as worker drunkenness, non-prescribed narcotic use, intentional self-injury, brawls, or suicide attempts.

Artículo 504 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo

Requires employers to maintain medical supplies/first aid kits, employ a nurse if having >100 workers, have a doctor/hospital association if having >=300 workers, and report accidents within the first 72 hours.

Artículo 42 de la Ley del Seguro Social

Defines work accidents similarly to Art. 474 of LFT, but explicitly includes accidents occurring while commuting directly between the worker's residence and workplace.

Epidemiología Laboral (Occupational Epidemiology)

Study of the effects of workplace exposures on the frequency and distribution of diseases and injuries in the population.

Condición de Trabajo (Work Condition)

Any characteristic of infrastructure or task that can have a significant influence on generating safety and health risks for workers.

Riesgo Laboral (Occupational Risk)

The possibility that a worker suffers a specific harm derived from work.

Factor de Riesgo Laboral

An element or set of elements present in working conditions capable of generating risk.

Acto Inseguro (Unsafe Act)

Action taken by a worker who is aware of the risks and conditions but disregards them.

Artículo 43 de la Ley del Seguro Social

Defines an occupational disease as a pathological state resulting from the continued action of a cause originating in or motivated by work or the service environment.

Artículo 513 de la Ley Federal del Trabajo

Establishes and regulates the Tables of Occupational Diseases across Mexico, which contain 194 professional diseases maintained by the STPS.

NOM-030-STPS-2009

Mexican Official Standard outlining preventive safety and health functions: diagnostic formulation, action programs, immediate response mechanisms, and health promotion.

Jerarquía de Controles (Hierarchy of Risk Controls)

Five prioritized levels of risk control measures: 1. Elimination, 2. Substitution, 3. Engineering controls, 4. Administrative controls, 5. Personal Protective Equipment (EPP).