Joining an occupational health service (SPSTI) — duty and 2026 contribution
As part of its duty to protect employees' health and safety, a company with FEWER THAN 500 EMPLOYEES must JOIN an inter-company occupational prevention and health service (service de prévention et de santé au travail interentreprises, SPSTI). This is not an option or a service to shop around for: it is an obligation, and it is triggered by the first employee. Companies with more than 500 employees may choose between joining an SPSTI and setting up their own AUTONOMOUS occupational prevention and health service. The cost is capped by ministerial order, not set freely by the service: for each employee, the employer pays contributions whose amount must fall BETWEEN 80 % AND 120 % of the national average cost specified by order. In 2026 that national average cost is set at €116 — so the contribution due per employee must fall BETWEEN €92.80 AND €139.20. An SPSTI billing outside that band falls outside the framework set by the order of 25 September 2025, and that is the one figure check a company director can make on their own contribution notice.
Up to date for 2026 — verified on September 12, 2026Official procedure, no printed formGuide: about 20 min
Deadlines
- As soon as the first employee is hired
- Membership follows from the duty to protect employees' health and safety: it is arranged when the business becomes an employer, alongside the pre-employment declaration and the DUERP.
- The amount is set for the calendar year
- An order of 25 September 2025 sets the amount FOR 2026 of the SPSTI contributions paid by member companies for each employee. The national average cost can therefore be revised from one year to the next: the applicable band must be rechecked each year.
- On each DUERP update, from 11 employees
- The employer sends the DUERP to the occupational prevention and health service it belongs to on each update — membership therefore carries a recurring transmission duty.
Documents to prepare
- Your headcount, which determines both the obligation (the 500 threshold) and the contribution amount
- Contact details of the inter-company occupational prevention and health service covering your area and activity
- The membership pack supplied by that service
- The national average cost for the year: €116 for 2026
- The applicable per-employee band: €92.80 to €139.20 for 2026
- The contribution notice received, to be compared with that band then multiplied by headcount
- The breakdown of what falls within the core set of services, to be requested if the amount exceeds the upper bound
- Your DUERP, to be sent to the service on each update from 11 employees
No form is attached to this procedure: the link leads to the official page that describes it.
What this page gives you
The guide above and the link to the official site. ActioFin does not produce any document for this page: whatever you fill in or file is done on the official medium.
Who this applies to
- Every company with FEWER THAN 500 EMPLOYEES: it must join an SPSTI, with no alternative
- Companies with MORE THAN 500 EMPLOYEES, which may choose between joining an SPSTI and setting up an autonomous occupational prevention and health service
- The employer hiring their first employee: the duty to protect employees' health and safety, from which membership follows, arises with employment
- Each employee, for whom a contribution is due — the calculation is per employee, not a flat rate per company
- The occupational prevention and health service itself, which contributes to the member company's occupational risk assessment and receives the DUERP on each update from 11 employees
- NOT concerned: self-employed people with no employees, the obligation being tied to protecting EMPLOYEES
Worked example
Example: a company with 4 employees and the 2026 contribution band
Léa runs an agency with 4 employees. With fewer than 500 employees, she has no choice: she must join an inter-company occupational prevention and health service. She receives a contribution notice and wants to check it falls within the regulatory framework. The reasoning is set out in full by the source: for each employee, the employer pays contributions whose amount must fall between 80 % and 120 % of the national average cost specified by order; in 2026 that national average cost is set at €116; consequently, the amount of contributions due by companies belonging to an SPSTI must fall between €92.80 and €139.20 for each employee in 2026. Léa therefore has no calculation to redo: both bounds are published. For her 4 employees, her annual contribution must fall between 4 × €92.80 and 4 × €139.20, i.e. between €371.20 and €556.80. A notice of €700 would fall outside the band and would warrant an explanation from the service — it may correspond to services outside the core set of services, which the order of 25 September 2025 was precisely intended to price. Léa also bears in mind that her membership is not merely a cost line: the service contributes to her company's occupational risk assessment, and she will have to send it her DUERP on each update once she passes 11 employees.
How to fill it in, step by step
- Check your headcount: below 500 employees, joining an SPSTI is MANDATORY and you have no alternative.
- Above 500 employees, choose between the two routes open to you: joining an SPSTI, or setting up an autonomous occupational prevention and health service.
- Identify the inter-company occupational prevention and health service covering your area and activity, and ask it for a membership pack.
- Declare your headcount: the contribution is due FOR EACH EMPLOYEE, which makes headcount the structuring figure in the membership agreement.
- Note the national average cost for the current year: it is set by order, and stands at €116 for 2026.
- Check that the per-employee contribution you are asked for falls between 80 % and 120 % of that national average cost — i.e., in 2026, between €92.80 and €139.20.
- If the amount billed exceeds the upper bound, ask the service to break down what falls within the core set of services and what does not.
- Multiply the per-employee contribution by your headcount to check the total billed.
- Once a member, arrange your employees' medical monitoring with the service, and its input into your occupational risk assessment.
- Plan for sending the DUERP to the service on each update as soon as you reach 11 employees.
- Recheck the band each year: the order sets the national average cost FOR A GIVEN YEAR.
The form, line by line
- The 500-employee threshold
- It is the only boundary the source places on the obligation: below it, joining an SPSTI is required; above it, the company chooses between membership and an autonomous service.
- National average cost
- Set by order for a given year — €116 in 2026, by the order of 25 September 2025. It covers the SPSTIs' "core set of services", per the order's own title.
- 80 % – 120 % band
- The amount paid for each employee must fall between 80 % and 120 % of the national average cost. This is not a recommendation: it is the financing framework laid down by decree no. 2022-1749 of 30 December 2022.
- €92.80 and €139.20 in 2026
- Both bounds are CALCULATED AND PUBLISHED by the source for 2026: there is no need to recompute them from the national average cost.
- Contribution per employee
- The unit of account is the employee, not the company: the total billed is checked by multiplying the individual contribution by headcount.
- Autonomous service
- An alternative reserved for companies with more than 500 employees: setting up their own occupational prevention and health service instead of joining an inter-company one.
Good to know
- Membership is not a freely negotiable commercial contract: the price is capped by an annual order, within a band of 80 % to 120 % of the national average cost.
- The source publishes both figures for the year — €92.80 and €139.20 in 2026 — giving a director an immediate check on their contribution notice, with no calculation.
- The cap covers the "core set of services": a service may bill separately for items outside it, and that is the first explanation to seek when faced with an amount outside the band.
- The 500-employee threshold exempts no one: above it, it merely opens a SECOND route (the autonomous service), it does not remove the coverage obligation.
- Membership has a documentary sequel: the occupational prevention and health service contributes to the occupational risk assessment, and receives the DUERP on each update from 11 employees.
- The amount is revised by order from year to year: the 2026 figure was set by an order of 25 September 2025, more than three months before the year it governs.
- SPSTI financing is governed by decree no. 2022-1749 of 30 December 2022: that text lays down the capping principle, the annual order setting only the reference amount.
- The obligation is tied to the presence of EMPLOYEES: a self-employed person with no employees is not subject to it, and becomes so on hiring.
Common mistakes
- Treating membership as an optional expense to weigh up: it is an obligation for every company with fewer than 500 employees.
- Believing the 500-employee threshold removes the need to join above it: it opens the choice of an AUTONOMOUS service, not an exemption.
- Paying without checking the band: the per-employee contribution must fall between 80 % and 120 % of the national average cost.
- Recomputing the bounds from the national average cost when the source already publishes them: €92.80 and €139.20 for 2026.
- Thinking in terms of a company flat rate: the contribution is due FOR EACH EMPLOYEE.
- Reusing a previous year's band: the national average cost is set by order FOR A GIVEN YEAR, and must be rechecked.
- Concluding too quickly that billing is irregular when the amount is higher: services outside the core set may be added — ask for the breakdown before challenging it.
- Forgetting that membership carries follow-on duties: sending the DUERP to the service on each update from 11 employees, and the service's input into the risk assessment.
- Waiting until after hiring to deal with it, when protecting employees' health and safety is owed as soon as there is an employee.
Frequently asked questions
Must my company join an occupational health service?
Yes if it has fewer than 500 employees: as part of its duty to protect employees' health and safety, it must join an SPSTI. Above 500 employees, the company may choose between joining an SPSTI and setting up an autonomous occupational prevention and health service.
How much does membership cost in 2026?
For each employee, the employer pays contributions whose amount must fall between 80 % and 120 % of the national average cost specified by order. In 2026 that national average cost is set at €116. The contributions due by member companies must therefore fall between €92.80 and €139.20 for each employee.
Is the price negotiable?
It is capped: the per-employee contribution must stay within the band of 80 % to 120 % of the national average cost set by order. The principle of that cap is laid down by decree no. 2022-1749 of 30 December 2022, and the reference amount for 2026 by the order of 25 September 2025.
How can I check my contribution notice?
By comparing the amount asked PER EMPLOYEE with the two bounds published for the year — €92.80 and €139.20 in 2026 — then multiplying by your headcount. A higher amount may correspond to services outside the core set of services: ask for the breakdown.
Is the contribution due per company or per employee?
Per employee: the source states that the employer pays contributions "for each employee".
What does the service bring beyond medical monitoring?
It contributes to the company's occupational risk assessment. On that basis, from 11 employees, the employer sends it the DUERP on each update.
Does the amount change every year?
Yes: the national average cost is set by order for a given year. The 2026 figure comes from an order of 25 September 2025; the applicable band must therefore be rechecked each year.
Go further
Official sources
- entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr — "Cotisation SPSTI : quel montant pour l'année 2026 ?" (published 17 October 2025, Entreprendre Service Public / Direction de l'information légale et administrative), read on 2026-09-12: "Un arrêté du 25 septembre 2025 fixe le montant pour l'année 2026 des cotisations SPSTI (services de prévention et de santé au travail interentreprises) versées par les entreprises adhérentes pour chaque salarié"; "Dans le cadre de son obligation de protéger la santé et la sécurité des salariés, les entreprises de moins de 500 salariés doivent adhérer à un SPSTI"; "Les entreprises de plus de 500 salariés ont, quant à elles, le choix entre adhérer à un SPSTI ou mettre en place un service de prévention et de santé au travail autonome"; "Pour chaque salarié, l'employeur verse au SPSTI des cotisations dont le montant doit se situer entre 80 % et 120 % du coût moyen national précisé par arrêté"; "En 2026, le coût moyen national des cotisations dues par l'entreprise au SPSTI est fixé à 116 €"; "Par conséquent, le montant des cotisations dues par les entreprises adhérentes à un SPSTI devra se situer entre 92,80 € et 139,20 € pour chaque salarié en 2026"; texts cited: order of 25 September 2025 on the national average cost of the core set of services of inter-company occupational prevention and health services, and decree no. 2022-1749 of 30 December 2022 on the financing of those services — September 12, 2026
- entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr — "Qu'est-ce que le document unique d'évaluation des risques professionnels (DUERP) ?", fact sheet F35360 (verified 22 July 2026, Entreprendre Service Public / Direction de l'information légale et administrative), read on 2026-09-12 for what membership entails beyond the contribution: the "service de prévention et de santé au travail auquel l'employeur adhère" is listed among the contributors to the occupational risk assessment; the DUERP "est transmis par l'employeur à chaque mise à jour au service de prévention et de santé au travail auquel il adhère" (companies of 11 to 49 employees); and the service is listed among those to whom the DUERP must be made available — September 12, 2026
Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.