Employees of the OHS service have the right to apply to the employer for the application of disciplinary penalties in relation to employees responsible for neglecting their duties in the field of occupational health and safety. Thus, the subject of the application may not be any violation of the organization and order in the work process. It must be such a violation that corresponds to the regulations and principles of health and safety.

Compliance with health and safety regulations is one of the basic duties of every employee. This is an obligation that is part of the broadly understood organization and order in the work process. In a situation where employees violate the obligations regarding the organization of work, including health and safety regulations, the employer should react. There are several possibilities:

• disciplinary conversation,
• imposition of a fine,
• in extreme cases, termination of cooperation, if there have been violations of a particularly serious calibre, and the employee has nothing to complain about and does not promise a chance for improvement.

In order for the employer to be able to initiate the procedure for imposing a penalty for breach of order, the information about the breach of the order must reach him. In particular, the source of such information may be a notification from:

• health and safety services,
• an employee performing the tasks of the health and safety service employed in another job,
• external specialist.

It should be remembered that the provisions on employee disciplinary responsibility refer to the employee’s failure to comply with:

• established organization and order in the work process,
• occupational health and safety regulations,
• fire regulations,
• the adopted method of confirming arrival and presence at work and justifying absence from work.

The remaining catalog of violations includes:

• leaving work without justification,
• appearing at work while intoxicated or after using alcohol or an alcohol-like substance
• drinking alcohol or taking an alcohol-like substance while at work.

The provisions of the regulation on the occupational health and safety service show that the OHS service is entitled to request the employer to apply disciplinary penalties to employees responsible for neglecting their OHS obligations. Considering the above, it should be emphasized that not every misconduct – even noticed by an employee of the OHS service – will be the subject of an application for imposition of a disciplinary penalty. Interestingly, the provisions on employee liability more clearly distinguish violations of health and safety regulations from, for example, violations of the sobriety principle.

Irrespective of the fact that the regulations on employee liability for order separate OHS violations from violations of sobriety, an employee of the OHS service has the right to request the imposition of a disciplinary penalty. Especially when the employee violates the rules of readiness to perform work – physical and mental readiness. Violation of the principle of sobriety, as well as the use of substances acting similarly to alcohol, certainly have an impact on the safety of the work process.

The employer should not reject the application of an occupational health and safety service employee on the grounds that the regulation on the occupational health and safety service entitles service employees to apply for penalties only in relation to employees responsible for neglecting their occupational health and safety obligations. A separate issue is the final decision on the application of the penalty. The application of the health and safety service employee for punishment is not absolutely binding for the employer.

Source: https://www.portalbhp.pl/blog/za-violenie-what-obowiazkow-pracowniczych-service-safety-safety-may-apply-o-kare-porzadkowa-dla-pracownika-10557.html#

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.