Is a written risk assessment mandatory in Iran, and how often must it be reviewed?

Not as a general statutory document. Iran's Labour Law has no article like the EU Framework Directive or Türkiye's Law 6331 that requires every employer to keep a written risk assessment and renew it at fixed intervals. Its duties still require hazards to be identified, measured and controlled. Sector regulations, Ministry of Health measurement programmes and most industrial contracts expect the assessment to be written down.

Short answer

• Labour Law: no general written risk assessment article and no review interval was found in Chapter 4 (Articles 85 to 106).
• Duties that need hazard identification: plan approval for new or expanded workplaces (Article 87), testing machinery shown to be harmful (Article 89), providing safety means and supervising (Article 91), and annual examinations of workers exposed to disease risks (Article 92).
• Health side: the Ministry of Health monitors and measures harmful agents against national occupational exposure limits.
• In practice: oil, gas, petrochemical and other large employers run HSE management systems with written hazard identification. Contracts and ISO 45001 certification require it.
• Review: no legal interval verified. Review at least yearly and after any change, accident, near miss, inspection finding or new medical finding.

Why the law still requires an assessment in substance

The duty in Article 91 is to provide "the means and resources necessary" to secure safety and health. An employer cannot decide what is necessary without first identifying the hazards. Article 95 adds that if an accident happens because the rules were not followed, the employer or manager is criminally and civilly liable. The specific defence the law gives is that the employer provided the means, trained the worker and warned them (Article 95, Note 2). A written assessment showing which hazards were found, which controls were chosen and which training was given is the clearest evidence for that defence.

On the health side, the Ministry of Health runs workplace exposure assessment and medical surveillance. A 2025 national study describes the sequence. OSH experts or service companies first assess exposures. Authorised physicians then examine workers based on that assessment, and suspected cases go to occupational medicine specialists. In practice, the Article 92 examinations are hard to run without a written exposure assessment.

Iran ratified ILO Convention No. 155 in 2023, in force since 2024. The Convention asks the state to have a coherent national OSH policy and to require employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that workplaces, machinery, equipment and processes under their control are safe and without risk to health. It does not itself prescribe a written assessment or a review interval.

How to set up a defensible assessment in Iran

1. Cover the whole site, including contractors and home or remote workers, because Chapter 4 also covers home workplaces.
2. Use a recognised method, such as a 5x5 matrix, job safety analysis or HAZOP for process units, and record the hazards, the people exposed, the existing controls and the actions.
3. Match the health part to the Ministry of Health exposure limits and list which workers need Article 92 examinations.
4. Link each control to the training given and to signed warnings, to support the Article 95, Note 2 defence.
5. Review it at least yearly, after any change of process or equipment, after accidents or near misses and after an inspector's report.

Comparison with the EU and Türkiye

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Iran: law, authorities and employer duties
• Workplace risk assessment: process, team, records and review
• Must an employer in Iran appoint a safety professional or an occupational physician?

Standards and further reading

• Labour Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1990, Articles 87 to 95: English translation, Iran Data Portal.
• ILO Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155).
• ISO 45001, occupational health and safety management systems (requirements with guidance for use).
• National profile for OSH services in Iran (IRANOSH), BMC Public Health, 2025: PMC11995502.
• Assessment of barriers to establish OSH: a country report, Industrial Health, 2015: PMC4550803.

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.