Pursuant to Art. 283 of the Labour Code (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 1666) who, being responsible for the health and safety at work or managing employees or other natural persons, does not comply with the provisions or rules of health and safety at work, is subject to a fine from PLN 1,000 to PLN 30,000 . The same punishment shall apply to anyone who:

• contrary to the obligation, it does not ensure that the construction or reconstruction of the building structure or parts thereof, which include work rooms, is carried out on the basis of projects taking into account the requirements of occupational health and safety;
• contrary to the obligation, equips workplaces with machines and other technical devices that do not meet the requirements for conformity assessment;
• contrary to the obligation, provides the employee with personal protective equipment that does not meet the requirements for conformity assessment;
• does not notify the relevant district labour inspector, public prosecutor or other competent authority about a fatal, serious or collective accident at work, or about any other accident that caused the above-mentioned effects, related to work, if it can be considered an accident at work, no reports an occupational disease or suspicions of such a disease, does not disclose an accident at work or an occupational disease, or presents false information, evidence or documents relating to such accidents and diseases;
• fails to execute the enforceable order of the National Labour Inspectorate within the prescribed period;
• hinders the activities of the National Labour Inspectorate, in particular, prevents visits to the workplace or fails to provide information necessary to perform its tasks;
• without the permission of the competent labour inspector, it allows the child to perform work or other gainful activities until the age of 16;
• against the obligation to apply:
• materials and technological processes without prior determination of the degree of their harmfulness to the health of employees and without taking appropriate preventive measures,
• chemical substances and their mixtures not clearly labelled and enabling their identification,
• hazardous substances, hazardous mixtures, hazardous substances or hazardous mixtures that do not have safety data sheets, as well as packaging protecting against their harmful effects, fire or explosion;

Pursuant to the aforementioned legal provision, the persons responsible for the health and safety at work are responsible for failures in the field of occupational health and safety. These include the employer, persons managing the workplace on behalf of the employer, management and lower level management. Pursuant to §1 of the cited provision, worded very broadly, each breach in the field of occupational health and safety constitutes an offense against the employee’s rights and may be punishable by a fine. The catalogue of offenses specified in §2 of the cited provision states that the shortcomings in the scope of the situations included in the catalogue are of the nature of special shortcomings.

The responsibility of the employer and the manager regarding occupational health and safety is extended to criminal liability in the chapter on offenses against persons performing paid work. This catalogue includes:

1. failure to fulfil the obligation in the scope of occupational health and safety and thus exposing the employee to the immediate danger of loss of life or serious damage to health;
2. failure to notify the competent authority of an accident at work or occupational disease, or failure to prepare or present the required documentation.

In the case of paragraph 1, the perpetrator of this act shall be punishable by up to 3 years imprisonment, a fine or the penalty of restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to one year, if he acts unintentionally.

In the case of point 2, the perpetrator is subject to a fine of up to 180 daily rates or the penalty of restriction of liberty.

The above list of offenses and crimes may also apply to employees of the OHS service, in the scope of their duties and powers, specified in the ordinance on the OHS service.

Source: https://bhp-szkolenia.info/naruszenie-przepisow-bhp-katalog-wykroczen-przestepstw/

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