The new asbestos Royal Decree cuts the exposure limit tenfold and obliges companies to identify it in buildings from before 2002
Royal Decree 847/2026, in force since 24 October, cuts the asbestos exposure limit from 0.1 to 0.01 fibres/cm3 and tightens employer duties.
Royal Decree 847/2026, published in the BOE on 23 October and in force since the following day, overhauls the protection of workers against asbestos risk in Spain. The headline measure is the new occupational exposure limit (VLA-ED): 0.01 fibres per cubic centimetre as an eight-hour time-weighted average, ten times stricter than the previous 0.1 limit. The definition covers fibres longer than 5 microns, less than 3 microns in diameter, with a length-to-diameter ratio above 3:1.
Mandatory identification in buildings predating 2002
One of the most far-reaching obligations is the duty to identify the presence of asbestos before starting works in buildings erected before its use was banned in 2002. The employer must check whether materials may contain asbestos and, in case of doubt, treat them as if they did. The decree also regulates the work plans required before any activity with exposure risk, the notification of the start of works to the labour authority, specific worker training and the use of respiratory protective equipment.
The regulation repeals the ministerial orders of 1987 and 1989 that had structured asbestos protection until now, and brings Spain into line with the European directive that drastically lowered the exposure limit. For the construction and renovation sector — and for firms advising on civil liability and occupational disease — the text opens an immediate adaptation phase, with the limit already applicable since its entry into force.
Immediate compliance checklist
For employers in construction, demolition and maintenance, the decree translates into four immediate duties: review asbestos inventories of the buildings where they operate, update risk assessments to the new limit, verify that measurement equipment can detect concentrations ten times lower, and retrain crews on work plans and respiratory protection. Employers already managing the remote-work duties clarified by the Supreme Court will find the decree adds a new layer of documentation and traceability.
A tighter framework for renovation works
The decree arrives at a moment of intense rehabilitation activity driven by energy-efficiency programmes, precisely the works most exposed to asbestos in buildings from before the 2002 ban. The combination of the two agendas — energy renovation and asbestos removal — forces employers to integrate the new obligations into the planning of each project: prior identification, work plan, notification and trained crews are no longer optional steps but conditions for legally opening the site.
The text also clarifies the training obligations, which must be specific to the risk and completed before the works start, and reinforces the documentation of waste: asbestos materials must be removed, packaged and managed as hazardous waste with full traceability. For health and safety coordinators and for the lawyers advising construction companies, the decree becomes the new reference text, replacing a framework that dated from the late eighties. Non-compliance, beyond the labour sanctions, can engage civil and even criminal liability when exposure causes harm, an area where case law on occupational diseases has been tightening the duties of care.
What companies should do now
The adaptation calendar is short because the exposure limit is already applicable. The recommended sequence starts with an inventory: identifying which client buildings predate the ban and which materials are suspect. Then comes the review of measurement capacity — laboratories and equipment able to quantify at the new limit — and the update of training programmes, which must now cover the specific risks of lower but still harmful concentrations. Finally, the documentation of each project must reflect the new work-plan obligations, because the labour authority's supervision will start from that paper trail.
For building owners, the decree is also relevant: the identification duty conditions the contracting of works and the information that must be handed to contractors, and failures in that chain can engage the owner's responsibility.
Source: BOE no. 263 of 23 October 2026, verified 3 November 2026.
Related links
Fuentes
- boe.es. Accessed 3 November 2026.
The specific data in this article come from the official sources cited.
