The Labour Inspectorate was born in Spain a the beginning of the 20th century, coinciding with social reforms which improved the conditions of the most disadvantaged working classes. An historic moment that coincided with the promulgation of a large number of revolutionary rules such as the Industrial Accidents Act of 1900 or the Employment of Women and Minors Act of 1900.

El Regulations for the Labour Inspection Service, Promulgated by Royal Decree of March 1, 1906, it professionalized the work of these public officials. Under this foundational rule, Labour Inspectors were equated with administrative officers and given a number of powers in their visits to workplaces. Any impediment to their surveillance work in such workplaces was penalized.

From 1906 The Labour Inspectorate is responsible for monitoring compliance with social legislation, which was still in its infancy and, more than 120 years later, in constant profusion and revolution.

After the creation of the Ministry of Labor in 1920, a regional General Inspectorate was established in our country that would become provincial almost a decade later.

After the Civil War, in 1939, a significant expansion of the competences of the Labour Inspectorate took place with the creation of the National Labour Inspectorate and the integration into it of the Social Insurance Inspectorate and the Emigration Inspectorate.

Many years later, in the democratic period, the Civil Service Reform Act transformed, in 1984, the Labour Inspectorate into the Social Security Inspectorate, and was formed around two bodiesthe Superior of Labour and Social Security Inspectors and the Superior of Labour Controllers, as the management body.

In 1997, through Act 42 of 14 November, Ordinator of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate and thanks to the new territorial organization of the State arising from the Constitution of 1978, the Labour and Social Security Inspection System is configured as an integrated institutional set, whose functions were exercised within the scope of competences of the State and the Autonomous Communities.

In addition, Law 42/1997 creates the management team of Employment and Social Security Sub-inspectorsl, in which the aforementioned Corps of Labour Inspectors is integrated, adapting and updating its inspection functions of support and collaboration within the system of Labour Inspection and Social Security.

The next milestone in the history of the Labour Inspectorate is Law 23/2015, of 21 July, Ordinator of the Labour Inspection and Social Security System, which creates a new organ, the State Agency for Labour and Social Security Inspectionl, which replaces the Directorate General of the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate. This autonomous body is a fundamental pillar of the new design of the Labour Inspectorate: it has its own legal personality and differentiated from that of the State, as well as the capacity to act for the fulfilment of its purposes.

The aforementioned rule also created a new Occupational Safety Scale in the Corps of Labour Sub-inspectors, to consolidate and strengthen the role of the Labour Inspectorate in the field of Occupational Risk Prevention.