Chile's DS 594: Workplace Sanitary Conditions Checklist

DS 594 is the Chilean Ministry of Health regulation that sets the basic sanitary and environmental conditions every workplace in Chile must have. It asks for concrete, measurable things: how many toilets per shift, how many fire extinguishers per square meter, how much noise is tolerated over eight hours, how much ventilation per person. This guide organizes it section by section, with the article behind each requirement, with a food or manufacturing plant in mind, and at the end offers an Excel checklist to walk the plant and log each finding with a photo, owner and deadline. The records required by Decree 44, the preventive management regulation, are gathered in a separate guide.

A caveat before starting: this guide summarizes the decree; it does not replace its text. Every article cited is in the official text published on Ley Chile, the National Congress Library's legal database, and responsibility for applying it lies with each company.

What is DS 594 and who does it apply to? #

It is Supreme Decree 594 of 1999 of the Ministry of Health, the "Regulation on basic sanitary and environmental conditions in workplaces" (Reglamento sobre condiciones sanitarias y ambientales básicas en los lugares de trabajo), published in the Diario Oficial on April 29, 2000 and amended several times since. Its article 1 says it sets the conditions that every workplace must have, as well as the permissible exposure limits for chemical and physical agents and the biological tolerance limits.

Article 3 is the one that matters most to plant management: the company is required to maintain those conditions to protect the life and health of those who work there, whether they are its direct employees or contractors' workers. Outside cleaning staff, the refrigeration supplier's technician and the security guard count too.

The decree assigns enforcement to the health authority. Today that role is carried out by the Regional Ministerial Health Secretariats (SEREMI de Salud). In addition, the single inspection form for DS 44, the preventive management regulation in force since 2025, cites article 3 of DS 594 in its header: the two regulations are reviewed together.

What does DS 594 require, section by section? #

Section	What to check	Articles
Construction, order and cleanliness	Solid, non-slip floors, clear aisles, 150 cm between machines where people walk, pest control	5 to 11
Drinking water	Water for drinking and hygiene; with its own supply, an approved project and 100 liters per person per day	12 to 15
Restrooms	Toilets, washbasins and showers according to the table by people per shift; separated by sex	21 to 26
Changing rooms and lunchroom	Changing room with a locker per person; lunchroom isolated from work areas	27 to 31
Ventilation	10 m³ per worker or mechanical air renewal; capture contaminants at the source	32 to 35
General safety and signage	Evacuation routes, hazard and PPE signage, guarding of moving parts	36 to 43
Fire	Prevention program, extinguishers by floor area, placement, training and annual servicing	44 to 52
Personal protective equipment	Provided free of charge, suited to the risk, certified and with training	53 and 54
Noise	85 dB(A) slow maximum over 8 hours; a table of times for other levels	70 to 82
Heat and cold	WBGT index for heat; clothing, breaks and cold rooms with an emergency exit for cold	96 to 102
Lighting	Minimum lighting by type of task, in the table in article 103	103 and 104

The decree continues with chemical contaminants, vibration, radiation and biological limits, which in a food plant show up in specific tasks: ammonia in the engine room, flour dust, chlorine from cleaning. Those are assessed with measurements, not with a walkthrough.

What is checked in sanitation, water and restrooms? #

Floors must be solid and non-slip and, where corrosive products are handled or there is moisture, impermeable and easy to clean (art. 5). Aisles are kept free of obstacles, also with evacuation in mind (art. 7), and the space between machines where people walk cannot be less than 150 cm (art. 8). The workplace is kept tidy, clean and protected from insects, rodents and other pests (art. 11).

Every workplace needs drinking water for consumption, hygiene and personal cleanliness (art. 12). If the plant has its own water supply, the project requires prior approval from the health authority and a minimum allocation of 100 liters per person per day (art. 14).

Restrooms have a toilet and a washbasin, with each toilet in a compartment with a door; if the work involves contact with toxic substances or body soiling, showers with hot and cold water are added (art. 21). Where men and women work, they are separate, and the employer must provide liquid soap, disposable drying and toilet paper (art. 22). The minimum number comes from the table in article 23, by people working per shift:

People per shift	Toilets	Washbasins	Showers
1 to 10	1	1	1
11 to 20	2	2	2
21 to 30	2	2	3
31 to 40	3	3	4
41 to 50	3	3	5
91 to 100	6	6	10

Above one hundred people per shift, one toilet and one washbasin are added for every fifteen, and one shower for every ten where showers are required. The typical mistake is counting the headcount of the whole plant instead of the largest shift, or the reverse: forgetting that the night shift has grown.

If the work requires changing clothes, a changing room is needed with a locker per person, separated by sex, and two lockers if there is exposure to toxic or infectious substances (art. 27). If people eat at the workplace, the lunchroom is isolated from work areas and from any source of contamination (art. 28).

What does it require for ventilation, signage and fire? #

Ventilation, natural or artificial, must maintain conditions that do not cause discomfort or harm health (art. 32). Fumes, gases, vapors or dust are captured at their source (art. 33). Each worker needs at least 10 m³ of volume, unless there is mechanical renewal of 20 m³ of air per hour per person or a minimum of six air changes per hour (art. 34).

Article 37 concentrates what is most often flagged during an inspection: marked and unobstructed evacuation routes, exit doors that do not open against the direction of evacuation and are not locked with a key or padlock, and visible, permanent signage of hazard zones, escape routes, safe zones and the PPE that must be worn, in Spanish and, if necessary, in the language of workers who do not speak it. Moving parts, transmissions and points of operation on machines are guarded (art. 38), and nobody works near a moving machine with loose clothing, long loose hair or jewelry (art. 40).

For fire, the decree requires a prevention program that controls combustibles and heat sources (art. 44), extinguishers of the appropriate type and certified (art. 45), and a minimum number based on floor area:

Maximum area per extinguisher	Minimum extinguishing rating	Maximum travel distance
150 m²	4A	9 m
225 m²	6A	11 m
375 m²	10A	13 m
420 m²	20A	15 m

The number is obtained by dividing the floor area by the extinguisher's coverage and rounding up (art. 46). They go in accessible, marked places, no more than 1.30 m from the floor to their base (art. 47); all staff are trained in their use (art. 48) and they are serviced at least once a year, with the label up to date (art. 51). The most repeated finding in warehouses is not a missing extinguisher: it is an extinguisher blocked by pallets.

What does DS 594 say about noise, heat, cold and lighting? #

Noise. No one may be exposed to more than 85 dB(A) slow as the equivalent continuous level over an 8-hour workday, measured at the position of the ear (art. 74). For other levels, the table in article 75 shortens the time: 88 dB(A) allows 4 hours, 91 dB(A) 2 hours and 94 dB(A) one hour, always without counting hearing protection. In a plant, the typical areas are compressors, mills, packaging machines and the refrigeration engine room.

Heat. Workstations with a heat load are assessed with the wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) index and the energy cost of the task (arts. 96 to 98). Ovens, autoclaves, fryers and cooking rooms are the candidates.

Cold. Article 99 defines cold exposure by its effect on body temperature. Anyone working in the cold receives suitable, insulating clothing (art. 100) and alternates rest periods in temperate areas (art. 101). And a short article that weighs heavily in the food industry: cold rooms must have safety and monitoring systems that make it easy for a worker to get out quickly in an emergency (art. 102).

Lighting. Each workplace needs a minimum average lighting level that depends on the task, according to the table in article 103, and a ratio between general and localized lighting according to article 104. It is checked with a lux meter, not by eye.

Noise, heat and lighting are answered with a measurement. A fixed noise or temperature sensor helps you see trends and alerts you when something changes, and at iGromi we work with industrial IoT sensors for that. But it does not replace measurement at the worker's position or the assessment by the administering body under Law 16.744 (Chile's workplace accident and occupational disease insurance law). Nor should the product's temperature, which the HACCP plan controls and we explain in cold room temperature monitoring, be confused with people's exposure to cold, which is what DS 594 looks at.

What changes in a food plant? #

The same rules, with four points that come up in almost every inspection:

1. Floors wet all shift. Constant washdown calls for non-slip floors, clear drains and slip-resistant footwear. Article 5 expressly requires it for places with moisture.
2. Cold rooms and tunnels. A door that opens from the inside, an alarm someone tested recently, full thermal clothing and breaks in a temperate area.
3. Cleaning chemicals and ammonia. Safe storage (art. 42) and capture of vapors at the source (art. 33).
4. Shifts with variable headcount. In high season, the shift grows and restrooms sized for the normal headcount fall short.

How do you do the review so it doesn't end up in a drawer? #

1. Walk by section, not by area. First all the extinguishers, then all the exits, then all the restrooms. Less gets missed.
2. One photo per finding. With date and location. A finding without a photo gets argued; with a photo, it gets fixed.
3. Every "no" with an owner and a deadline. A finding without an owner shows up again at the next review.
4. "Not applicable" with judgment. If there is no private water supply, article 14 does not apply. If nobody has measured noise, the answer is not "not applicable": it is "no".
5. Close with a date. When it is fixed, write down when and keep the "after" photo.
6. Repeat. Once a year is not enough in a plant that changes its layout every season. The joint health and safety committee can use the same checklist in its inspections.

How does DS 594 relate to DS 44? #

DS 594 says what conditions the workplace must have. DS 44, in force since February 1, 2025, says how prevention is managed: the hazard identification matrix, the preventive work program, risk information, training and the joint committee. A finding from the DS 594 checklist usually ends up as a row in the matrix and a measure in the program. We explain it in the guide to DS 44 and the IPER matrix. Findings also make good topics for 5-minute safety talks, and the joint health and safety committee can add them to its inspection program.

What does the DS 594 checklist spreadsheet include? #

• 35 items grouped in eleven sections, each with its article, to answer yes, no or not applicable.
• Columns for photo or observation, owner, deadline and closing date.
• A calculated status in each row: OK, pending, overdue, no deadline or closed, with the days overdue.
• A summary by section with the percentage of progress and the overdue or undated findings.
• A worked example from a food plant, so you can see how it looks before deleting it.

It can be downloaded for free on this page and in downloads. It does not replace the text of the decree or the assessment of a prevention expert.

Frequently asked questions #

What is DS 594?

It is Supreme Decree 594 of 1999 issued by Chile's Ministry of Health, which sets the basic sanitary and environmental conditions for every workplace in Chile and the exposure limits for chemical and physical agents. It was published in the Diario Oficial on April 29, 2000.

Who enforces DS 594?

The health authority, today through the Regional Ministerial Health Secretariats (SEREMI de Salud). DS 44 cites article 3 of DS 594 in its inspection form, so a preventive management inspection also reviews workplace conditions.

Does DS 594 apply to contractors' workers?

Yes. Article 3 requires the company to maintain sanitary and environmental conditions for everyone working at the site, whether they are direct employees or contractors' workers performing activities for it.

How many restrooms does DS 594 require?

It depends on the number of people per shift, according to the table in article 23: one toilet and one washbasin for up to 10 people, two for up to 30 and three for up to 50, for example. Above one hundred per shift, one toilet and one washbasin are added for every fifteen people.

What is the noise limit under DS 594?

85 dB(A) slow as the equivalent continuous level over an 8-hour workday, measured at the position of the worker's ear (art. 74). For higher levels, the table in article 75 reduces the permitted time: 4 hours at 88 dB(A) and one hour at 94 dB(A).

How often must fire extinguishers be serviced?

At least once a year, by the manufacturer or a technical service, with a record on the label (art. 51). The plant should avoid being left without extinguishers while they are being serviced.

Do it in the app #

The Excel checklist is a good place to start. If you would rather have each finding recorded on the spot, with iGromi you can log inspections from your phone with photo, author and time, and follow each open item until it is closed, without transferring paper to a spreadsheet at the end of the day. Request early access.