Don't let your team's OHS licence expire without requesting renewal

Persons or companies that provide occupational safety and health (SST) services to employers or workers must obtain a licence to operate those services and meet the minimum requirements set by the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (Article 2.2.4.6.41 of Decreto 1072 de 2015). Resolución 754 de 2021 of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection sets the procedure and requirements that natural and legal persons must meet before the departmental and district health secretariats for the issue and renewal of the Occupational Safety and Health Licence (Articles 1 and 2). The licence for natural persons is issued to those holding a degree in an SST field at technical, technologist, university professional or specialisation level (Article 7); for legal persons it is issued in three forms depending on their fields of action (Article 14) and requires, among other things, that team members hold valid licences (Article 15(15.3.1)). In companies, Resolución 0312 de 2019 requires the person who designs the SST management system to hold a valid SST licence (Articles 3, 4 and 9).

Occupational Safety and Health Licences are valid for ten (10) years and may be renewed for an equal term, provided the holder meets the requirements of the rules in force; licences granted before Resolución 754 remain valid until their expiry date (Article 5 and paragraph). The licence has national coverage for the authorised fields of action, but legal persons that open sites in jurisdictions other than the head office must apply for a licence from the health secretariat of the new site (Article 6). Changes to the holder's name or ID, or to a legal person's representative, company name, address, sites or fields of action, are recorded by certificate and do not change the validity of the original licence (Articles 8 and 16).

Applications for issue and renewal are handled through the Ministry's web application after registering on the Mi Seguridad Social portal; the health secretariat issues its decision within 45 business days of filing (Articles 3, 9 and 17), and the process is free of charge (Article 4). If documents are missing, the secretariat requests them by email within the following ten business days and the applicant has fifteen calendar days to supply them; otherwise the application is deemed withdrawn (Article 10). For legal persons there is a verification visit within twenty business days of the application (Article 19) and, if not all requirements are met, a compliance plan may be agreed and checked within no more than 45 calendar days (Article 20). Renewal is requested within the three (3) months before the expiry date, from the secretariat that issued the licence, attaching the required documents and a copy of the original licence (Articles 11 and 18).