What are the obligations of the carrier in the event of a driver’s accident at work?
As defined in Article 3(1) of the Act of 30.10.2002 on social security for accidents at work and occupational diseases, an accident is an event of an emergency, caused by an external cause, causing injury or death in connection with work. In order for an event to qualify as an accident at work, a total of all four conditions must bemet.
In addition to driving, activities such as unloading, loading, forwarding, daily handling of vehicles and trailers, supervision and assistance to persons disembarking or disembarking in the cab of a lorry shall be regarded as work in the caseof the driver. All necessary administrative formalities, keeping the vehicle clean and other work undertaken to carry out official tasks or to ensure the safety of persons, vehicles and goods are activities falling within the scope of the professional driver’s work, as defined in detail by the Law on drivers’ working time.
Among the accidents that occur during the performance of official activities, we can list four types:
- Fatal accidents – a fatal accident is considered to have resulted in the death of the injured person within a period not exceeding 6 months from the date of the incident as a result of injuries sustained or deterioration in healthcaused by the incident.
- Serious accidents – inall situations where there was a serious injury, such as loss of vision or when the consequence was a violation of the basic functions of thebody (including incurable disease) e.g. loss of the finger of the hand, mental illness, are classified as serious accidents.
- Collective accidents -an accident in which at least two people have suffered an accident is a collective accident,
- Light accidents – a slight accident at work are all incidents, as a result of which the employee suffered an injury that does not fit into the definition of a serious accident.
An accident at work requires the trader to follow appropriate instructions on how to find provisions concerning m.in. assistance to the victim, securing the site of the accident, notifying the designated authorities and carrying out investigations into the circumstances and causes of the incident, which, especially in the case of the specificity of the trucker’s work, can be extremely difficult.
It is clear that when an accident occurs at the company’s premises and the condition of the victim requires intervention, it must be assisted, for example, by calling the medical services. Another issue on which the trader is obliged is to secure the place where the whole situation occurred. When an accident occurs outside the company’s premises, securing the place of the incident may not be easy, but the legislature does not provide for such an eventuality.
Theemployer is obliged to report the accident immediately at the work of the relevant authorities. Fatal, severe or collective incidents must be reported to the State Labour Inspectorate and the Public Prosecutor’s Office. – It happens that the employer forgets to make this application in a lot of emotions, and this is an unacceptable situation. If the authorities are not informed of an accident at work with the signs of a serious, collective or fatal accident, which occurred in the performance of official duties, the entrepreneur should face a possible fine of up to PLN 30,000 or even a penalty in the form of a restriction of liberty, as treated by Article 221 of the Criminal Code. In addition, it should be borne in mind that even if PIP and the Public Prosecutor’s Office are already involved in explaining the details of the accident, the employer must still notify those authorities in person, and for the purposes of proof of compliance with the statutory obligation, the indicated form of notification to the authorities is in writing.
In explaining the circumstances of the event on the part of the employer, the activities are carried out by the accident team appointed by him. Investigations should be undertaken immediately in order to properly identify the circumstances and causes of the accident and then appropriately identify the incident under investigation. According to the regulations, the accident team has 14 days to make the relevant findings and draw up a protocol.
