The employer is obliged to familiarize employees with the provisions and principles of occupational health and safety regarding their work. It must also give instructions and directions. They should be detailed enough to minimise the risk to the health or life of the worker. This detail should guarantee an adequate, high level of safety adapted to specific working conditions.

The employer is responsible for the safety status in the trowel plant. Pursuant to Article 207(1) of the Labour Code, its duty is to protect the health and life of employees by ensuring safe and hygienic working conditions. It should provide information on the hazards occurring in the workplace, at individual workplaces and during the work performed, including the rules of conduct in the event of accidents and other situations threatening the health and life of employees. It also has a duty to take protective and preventive measures to eliminate or reduce risks.

Pursuant to Article 237(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, the employer is obliged to familiarize employees with the provisions and principles of health and safety regarding their work. It must also issue detailed instructions and guidance on health and safety at workplaces. In turn, the employee is obliged to confirm in writing that he has read the provisions and principles of health and safety. The Supreme Administrative Court (judgment of 25 September 2019, file no. I OSK 3010/17) pointed out that this regulation does not specify how detailed such instructions and guidelines should be, as well as does not specify their elements. Thus, the obligation to draw up instructions rests with the employer due to the separate and specific nature of his business. The Nsa pointed out that the OHS instruction should be detailed enough to minimize the risk of endangering the health or life of an employee in a given position. For these reasons, it must be precise and accurate enough to meet its primary objective of ensuring the safety and security of the employee.

On the other hand, the Provincial Administrative Court in Gdańsk (judgment of 11 April 2019, file no. III SA/Gd 32/19) stressed that the employer should take all necessary steps and actions to minimize the risk of exposing the employee’s health or life to any danger. The means to this are training, instructions and tips. Therefore, they must be precise and accurate. The court stressed that the instruction should be detailed enough to cover all work processes in a given position, including those that may pose a threat to the life and health of the employee. This detail should guarantee an adequate, high level of safety adapted to specific working conditions.

The employer is obliged to provide employees, for permanent use, with up-to-date occupational health and safety instructions concerning:

• technological processes used in the plant and the performance of work related to accident hazards or health risks of employees;
• operation of machines and other technical devices;
• handling of materials harmful to health and dangerous;
• first aid.

These instructions should, in a manner understandable to workers, indicate the activities to be carried out before the start of the work in question, the rules and methods of its safe performance, the activities to be carried out after its completion and the rules of conduct in emergency situations posing a threat to the life or health of workers. The instructions for work on the use of hazardous substances or mixtures should take into account the information contained in the safety data sheets for those substances and mixtures.

Ohs instruction is a broad concept. It covers the m.in.  workplace instructions for the safe handling of hazardous chemical agents, as well as:

• fire safety instruction, which specifies, m.in, fire protection conditions resulting from the purpose, method of use, technological process, storage (storage) and technical conditions of the facility, including explosion hazard – paragraph 6 of the Regulation of the Minister of the Interior and Administration of 7 June 2010 on fire protection of buildings, other buildings and areas;
• instructions for first aid in the event of an accident, which should contain a list of employees trained in first aid and be displayed, in first aid points and at first aid kits, in visible places – paragraph 44 of the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy on general occupational health and safety regulations;
• instructions for the use of personal protective equipment, which should specify at which positions and which personal protective equipment should be used and how to use and maintain it – paragraph 39c of the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy on general occupational health and safety regulations and paragraph 4 of Annex 2 to this act;
• instructions for the safe performance of construction works – par. 2 of the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on occupational health and safety during the performance of construction works
• instructions for the use of safety signs and signals in the workplace, including in particular the meaning of signs and signals and the rules of behavior of employees who may be affected by them – paragraph 2 of Annex 1 to the Regulation of the Minister of Labor and Social Policy on general occupational health and safety regulations;
• instructions for the use of machines, which is provided for in paragraph 58 of the Regulation of the Minister of Economy on the essential requirements for machines.

Source: https://www.prawo.pl/kadry/instrukcje-w-miejscu-pracy,186723.html

Projekt otrzymał dofinansowanie z Norwegii poprzez Fundusze Norweskie 2014-2021, w ramach programu „Dialog społeczny – godna praca”.