By: Georgina Herrera Guerrero
The prevention of psychosocial risk factors falls within the field of occupational safety and health. The employer’s duty is to organize work under conditions that allow its dignified performance. On that basis, the Federal Regulation on Occupational Safety and Health (RFSST) defines both psychosocial risk factors and a favorable organizational environment and requires each workplace to maintain a diagnosis and a preventive program.
NOM 035 STPS 2018 operates as a technical standard that develops those concepts and sets criteria for identification, analysis, and prevention, together with correlated obligations on information, recordkeeping, and follow up.
Psychosocial risk factors are understood as conditions of the position, the workday, and the organization that may cause anxiety disorders, sleep wake disturbances, and severe stress and adjustment disorders, as well as acts of workplace violence. A favorable organizational environment, for its part, entails belonging, adequate training for assigned tasks, clarity of responsibilities, participation and communication, reasonable distribution of workload with regular work schedules, and evaluation and recognition of performance.
The standard does not turn the company into a clinical services provider nor does it authorize inquiries into internal psychological variables. Its object is limited to the design and management of working conditions. Where signs, symptoms, or complaints so warrant, the appropriate route is referral to competent health services.
The scope of application is general, and the intensity of obligations depends on the size of the workplace. In all cases, a prevention policy, the dissemination of information, the handling of workplace violence, and the identification and referral of persons subject to severe traumatic events are required. Beginning at sixteen employees, the identification and analysis of psychosocial risk factors for the workforce is added, and in workplaces with more than fifty employees the evaluation of the organizational environment is incorporated, which may be performed using a representative sample when technically justified. The results inform decisions and are integrated into the workplace’s occupational safety and health system, with updates at least every two years or earlier if conditions change materially.
From an evidentiary perspective, NOM 035 requires preservation of documentary or electronic evidence that proves what has been done. Documentation serves two functions. First, it enables conformity assessment and verification by the labor authority. Second, it supports the measures adopted in administrative or labor claims. Traceability is central: the file must allow the reviewer to follow the thread from finding to measure, responsible party, deadline, result, and closure. Minimum retention of records for one year, availability for consultation by employees, and protection of personal data complete the framework.
Finally, psychosocial prevention is articulated with the occupational risk regime. If an accident occurs or an occupational disease is suspected, the employer must comply with the corresponding notices and procedures. Information generated under NOM 035 feeds causal investigations and facilitates corrective actions.
References:
- Federal Labor Law (Ley Federal del Trabajo, LFT). Arts. 2, 3, and 132 sections XVI–XVII; Arts. 473–475 (occupational risks) and 504 sections V–VI (accident notices). Current text. Last amendment: DOF Feb 21, 2025.
- Federal Regulation on Occupational Safety and Health (Reglamento Federal de Seguridad y Salud en el Trabajo, RFSST). DOF Nov 13, 2014. Art. 3: subsec. IX (Occupational Safety and Health Diagnosis), XI (Favorable Organizational Environment), XVII (Psychosocial Risk Factors). Applicable provisions on mandatory diagnosis and program; notice obligations referenced by STPS (Arts. 7, 76, 77).
- Official Mexican Standard NOM-035-STPS-2018, Psychosocial risk factors at work—Identification, analysis, and prevention. DOF Oct 23, 2018. Secs. 1 (Objective), 2 (Scope), 5 (Employer obligations), 7 (Identification/analysis and organizational environment assessment), 8 (Preventive measures and controls), 10 (Conformity assessment). Reference Guides I–V.
- Informative Guide to NOM-035-STPS-2018 (STPS). Clarifies scope and obligations; confirms no mass psychological testing or clinical stress measurement is mandated; focus on working conditions and work organization.
