Guide · Occupational health and safety · Mexico
NOM-030-STPS-2009: diagnosis, risk matrix and program
Informational guide, not legal advice. Check the current text in Mexico's Official Gazette (DOF) and consult your occupational health and safety officer.
Headcount
What applies to you changes at one hundred workers
How many people work at the workplace?
- Officer
- The employer appoints an internal or external officer (4.1).
- Diagnosis
- Whole-site or by area, covering all four items of 6.1.
- Document
- An occupational health and safety program, updated at least once a year (4.4).
- Content
- All five items of 7.1, including the owner of each action.
The standard applies nationwide and to every workplace. Headcount decides who does the work, how complete the diagnosis must be and whether the document is a program or a list of actions. It is in force according to the Ministry of Economy standards catalog.
Employer obligations
The nine sections of chapter 4 and how they are checked
The right-hand column comes from the conformity assessment procedure (chapter 9): it is what a verification unit or the labor authority asks to see.
4.1
What it requires
Evidence
4.2
What it requires
Evidence
4.3
What it requires
Evidence
4.4
What it requires
Evidence
4.5
What it requires
Evidence
4.6
What it requires
Evidence
4.7
What it requires
Evidence
4.8
What it requires
Evidence
4.9
What it requires
Evidence
| Section | What it requires | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | Appoint an internal or external occupational health and safety officer. | Appointment letter or contract. |
| 4.2 | Give that person access to the areas, information on processes and jobs, and the means to set up the measures. | Stated in the appointment document. |
| 4.3 | Have a whole-site or by-area diagnosis. | The diagnosis covering the four items of 6.1. |
| 4.4 | Have a program based on the diagnosis, updated at least once a year. | The program or the list of actions. |
| 4.5 | Share the diagnosis and the program with the safety and health commission and the workers. | Leaflets, posters or videos; or interviews: 90% of the staff interviewed know them. |
| 4.6 | Keep the follow-up reports on the program's progress. | The follow-up records. |
| 4.7 | Train the staff who are part of the preventive services. | Diplomas, certificates or training programs. |
| 4.8 | Keep the documentation for at least two years. | On paper or electronic media (9.4). |
| 4.9 | Show the documents and records when the labor authority asks for them. | — |
The diagnosis
The four items of the diagnosis, in a jam plant
Tap a point on the layout. Each letter is an item of section 6.1; the diagnosis can cover the whole workplace or go area by area (4.3).
Item a) · Dangerous or unsafe physical conditions
Line 2 · motor M-204
Unguarded belt drive: hand entrapment. NOM-004-STPS-1999.
In facilities, processes, machinery, equipment, tools, transport, materials and energy.
The risk matrix
Risk = hazard times exposure
That is how the standard defines risk (3.12), and it asks for actions to be prioritized by that risk (5.2). It does not set a scale: this is a four-level proposal, using the outcomes of article 477 of the Federal Labor Law.
P = hazard severity · E = exposure. Tap a cell.
Risk = 4 × 3
12 · Critical
Priority 1
Deal with it first. If it is also serious and imminent, immediate response (5.3).
- Hazard severity 4
- Permanent total disability or death
- Exposure 3
- Frequent
Unguarded motor M-204
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Steam kettles
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Filler noise
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Forklift and pedestrians
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Caustic soda
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Panel without lockout
What can happen
P
E
Risk
25 kg sacks by hand
What can happen
P
E
Risk
Adjacent stream
What can happen
P
E
Risk
| Finding | What can happen | P | E | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unguarded motor M-204 | Entrapment | 4 | 3 | 12 · Critical |
| Steam kettles | Burn | 3 | 4 | 12 · Critical |
| Filler noise | Hearing loss | 3 | 4 | 12 · Critical |
| Forklift and pedestrians | Struck-by | 4 | 3 | 12 · Critical |
| Caustic soda | Chemical burn | 3 | 3 | 9 · High |
| Panel without lockout | Electrical contact | 4 | 2 | 8 · High |
| 25 kg sacks by hand | Back injury | 2 | 3 | 6 · Medium |
| Adjacent stream | Flooding | 3 | 1 | 3 · Low |
For noise, heat, lighting or chemical substances, each agent's own standard (NOM-011, NOM-015, NOM-025, NOM-010) has its own recognition and assessment method. The matrix sets the priority; it does not replace that measurement.
The program
Program or list of actions: what each one includes
Item
The preventive or corrective action for each finding
Program (7.1)
List (7.2)
Item
Health promotion and comprehensive addiction prevention
Program (7.1)
List (7.2)
Item
Emergency and health-contingency response
Program (7.1)
List (7.2)
Item
Planned start and end dates
Program (7.1)
List (7.2)
Item
The person responsible for each action
Program (7.1)
List (7.2)
| Item | Minimum content | Program (7.1) | List (7.2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| a) | The preventive or corrective action for each finding | Yes | Yes |
| b) | Health promotion and comprehensive addiction prevention | Yes | Yes |
| c) | Emergency and health-contingency response | Yes | Yes |
| d) | Planned start and end dates | Yes | Yes |
| e) | The person responsible for each action | Yes | Not required |
- One action for each finding in the diagnosis: a finding with no action is the first thing that stands out.
- Health, addiction and emergency actions are included even if they do not come from a finding.
- The officer sets up immediate-response mechanisms for serious and imminent risk (5.3).
- If follow-up shows something is not working, the diagnosis, the program or both are adjusted (5.9).
Through the year
Follow-up, report to the employer and update
The officer tracks the program's progress, records the results (5.8) and reports them to the employer in writing at least once a year (5.7). The program is updated with the same minimum frequency, and everything is kept at least two years to show it if the labor authority asks.
The diagnosis also serves the safety and health commission: the employer hands it over and the commission uses it in its inspections (NOM-019-STPS-2011).
Free template
NOM-030 template: diagnosis, risk matrix and program
In Mexico you must have an occupational health and safety diagnosis and the program that comes out of it, and today they live in loose documents nobody updates.
- · A diagnosis in the four parts of section 6.1, with the NOM that applies to each finding
- · A hazard-by-exposure matrix with level and priority calculated for you
- · A program or list of actions depending on headcount, with dates, owner and progress
- · A check of the minimum content of section 7.1 and of the yearly update and report-to-employer deadlines
Locked file
NOM-030_Diagnostico_Programa.xlsx (55 KB)
Leave your email to download this free spreadsheet and hear about the next one.
Spanish-language file: these records are shown to the Mexican labor authority. The risk scale is a proposal; NOM-030 does not set one.
In the app
The program in the app
Findings and program actions live in iGromi's free app: they are logged during the walkthrough, tracked until closed and the period exports to PDF with its signatures.
Frequently asked questions
NOM-030 FAQ
What is NOM-030-STPS-2009?
What must the occupational health and safety diagnosis include?
What must the occupational health and safety program contain?
How often is the program updated?
Who can be the occupational health and safety officer?
Does NOM-030 require a risk matrix?
How long are the documents kept?
How do you show the diagnosis and program were shared?
Sources: NOM-030-STPS-2009 in the DOF · Ministry of Economy, standards catalog · Federal Labor Law, art. 477. Reviewed on November 5, 2026.
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