On 20 April 2022, a new regulation on occupational health and safety in public transport and intercity bus transport entered into force. Theissue of improving the sanitary and social working conditions of public transport employees – drivers and tram drivers – has become particularly important.

The new rules cover issues affecting the safety of employees and concern m.in:

• the addition of a new chapter defining working conditions on loops and line ends and in vehicles.
• extension of the list of works at which there is a possibility of a particular threat to health and life,
• expanding, for safety reasons, the requirements for entrance gates to the depot and workshops,
• defining requirements for the marking of duct ramps,
• defining the requirements for the premises in which work related to the maintenance and repair of buses powered by methane fuel and the maintenance and repair work of these vehicles are carried out,
• determine on which roads and tracks activities related to the conduct of technical inspections of vehicles may be carried out,
• supplement the provisions on safety when working with a vehicle,
• expansion of health and safety regulations regarding work at height (roofs and the upper part of vehicles),
• supplemented by provisions on head-protective equipment and requirements for workers performing refuelling and LNG tank operations.

The new regulation complements the above-mentioned regulations of the existing provisions.

The material scope of the Regulationhas been extended  to include requirements for conditions at the ends of communication lines.  According to the new regulation, at the ends of communication lines where facilities with a social room are located, toilets should be equipped with running water, should have a connection to the sewage network or tank, and should be heated and ventilated.

The social room shall:

• be located at a distance of not more than 250 m from the place designated for parking of the vehicle, measured after the shortest route from the vehicle to the social room,
• be heated, illuminated and ventilated,
• be equipped with: washbasin and sink with running water, hot and cold, drinking water, personal hygiene products, device for boiling water, device for heating a meal; staff seating and toilet,
• have limited access for outsiders.

These premises and toilets would be provided by the organiser of public transport or by the municipality party to the inter-municipal agreement on public transport.

In addition, the new regulation defines the working conditions in the cabin of a vehicle used in public transport, according to which the employer provides drivers of line vehicles with public transport cabins, which are:

• separated from the passenger part by a wall with a lockable door, preventing the opening of the cabin door from the outside by unauthorized persons (which will significantly improve the safety of the driver or driver),
• equipped with sun blinds in the external windows of the cabin,
• air-conditioned separately,
• heated (a temperature of not less than 18°C should be ensured).

Source: https://asystentbhp.pl/nowe-rozporzadzenie-w-sprawie-bezpieczenstwa-i-higieny-pracy-w-komunikacji-miejskiej-oraz-autobusowej-komunikacji-miedzymiastowej/

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