On 21 January 2021 a new royal decree was published in the
Official Gazette which has temporarily extended occupational doctors role in combating the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace. Occupational doctors will be contact tracers in the workplace and in this context have been given the authority to:
identify high-risk contacts in the company;
issue a quarantine certificate for these workers; and
refer certain workers to be tested or to carry out the test themselves if they consider such action to be more appropriate.
This does not mean that employers can now have their workers tested on a large scale and systematically. Testing can happen only when the occupational doctor decides so and only for well-defined categories of worker (eg, high-risk contacts or when the occupational doctor deems testing necessary to combat an imminent outbreak in the company or for workers who must make a business trip abroad for which a negative test is required).