Supreme Decree No. 44, published on July 27, 2024 and in force since February 1, 2025, replaced DS 40 and DS 54, which dated from 1969. Fifty-five years without an update.
And since June 2026, ILO Convention 155 became part of Chile's legal order, reinforcing DS 44's obligations and raising the bar in enforcement.
For occupational medical centers this is not someone else's problem: they produce the evidence their client companies defend themselves with.
What fundamentally changed
DS 40 required having a set of rules and doing prevention. DS 44 requires managing risk and being able to prove it: surveillance, investigations, records and indicators, plus health surveillance of workers and their occupational exams.
The difference between "doing" and "being able to prove" is the whole difference. The Instituto de Seguridad Laboral published a Single Inspection Form (FUF DS No. 44): that is the checklist they arrive with. If the answer to a point is "we do it but it is not recorded," it counts as not done.
The records you have to be able to show
- Occupational exams per worker, with date, result and which surveillance program they belong to.
- Process traceability: who attended, in which box, with which panel.
- Informed consents, signed and tied to the specific visit.
- Indicators that show evolution, not a snapshot from the day of the inspection.
None of those four survive on a spreadsheet passed around by hand.
The blind spot: this is sensitive data
Two sets of rules meet here, and almost nobody looks at them together.
DS 44 requires you to keep workers' health information. Law 21.719, in force from December 1, 2026, governs how you have to keep it, because health data is sensitive data under the law's strictest regime.
So: one rule requires you to hold the records and the other requires you to protect them, with 72-hour breach notification and fines up to 20,000 UTM. A spreadsheet emailed around breaks the second while trying to satisfy the first.
Where this comes from
In 2019, occupational medical centers ran worker check-in on Excel and passed a printed sheet for each box: audiometry, anthropometry and the rest. We studied that reality and built GesLaboral to replace it.
Today it runs occupational medical centers in Chile: QR check-in with a health survey, control by box, results by service with their units and panels, and reports carrying a QR verification code. That QR is not decoration: it lets anyone verify the report's authenticity instantly, which is exactly where DS 44 pushes.
Three questions for your center
- If the inspection form arrives tomorrow, how long does it take to gather one specific worker's records? If it is hours, you already know where the problem is.
- Who can see health results? With 21.719 coming, "the whole team" stops being an acceptable answer.
- Can you prove a report was not altered? If the answer rests on someone's word, it is not enough.
GesLaboral adapts to each medical center: whichever boxes they have, their panels, their units, even their report format. If you want to see it with your flow, get in touch.
Sources: Instituto de Seguridad Laboral — Decree 44 · Superintendencia de Seguridad Social · ILO Convention 155