Drinks for employees are a current topic not only at the beginning of summer. The provisions of labor law impose obligations on employers related to providing employees with water or other beverages. They specify situations in which an employer should provide employees with drinks, as well as their types.

Occupational health and safety regulations regulate the employer’s obligations related to the provision of water or other beverages to employees. All employees are entitled to water, which the employer is obliged to provide, and those who work in particularly onerous conditions – also other drinks.

The employer is obliged to provide all employees with drinking water or other beverages. Places where employees can obtain drinking water should be located no more than 75 meters from their workstations.

Water is fit for use if it is free from pathogenic microorganisms and parasites in numbers that pose a potential threat to human health, any substances in concentrations that pose a potential threat to human health and does not show aggressive corrosive properties and meets the microbiological and chemical requirements set out in the Regulation of the Minister of Health on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

Employees employed in particularly onerous conditions have the right to appropriate drinks, if it is necessary for preventive reasons. The employer is obliged to provide them with such drinks free of charge in quantities that meet the needs of employees. Employees are not entitled to a cash equivalent for drinks.

The employer is obliged to provide drinks to employees:

• in conditions of a hot microclimate, characterized by a value of the thermal load index (WBGT) above 25 degrees Celsius,
• in cold microclimate conditions, characterized by the value of the air cooling power index (WCI) above 1000,
• when working in the open space at an ambient temperature below 10 degrees Celsius or above 25 degrees Celsius,
• in work related to physical effort, causing effective energy expenditure of the body over 1500 kcal (6280 kJ) in men and 1000 kcal (4187 kJ) in women during a working shift,
• at workplaces where the temperature caused by weather conditions exceeds 28 degrees Celsius.

Depending on the working conditions, the employer is obliged to provide employees with cold or hot drinks. In the case of employees working in hot microclimates, characterized by a thermal load index above 25 degrees Celsius, the employer is obliged to provide beverages enriched with mineral salts and vitamins.

During the summer heat, the employer is obliged to provide cold drinks to employees:

• when working in the open space – when the ambient temperature exceeds 25 degrees Celsius,
• when working indoors – when the temperature at the workplace exceeds 28 degrees Celsius.

Workplaces where employees should receive drinks, and detailed rules for their distribution, are determined by the employer in consultation with company trade unions, and if a given employer does not have a trade union organization – the employer after obtaining the opinion of employees’ representatives.

Beverages are issued to employees on days of work justifying their release. Drinks should be available to employees throughout the working shift.

Source:https://kadry.infor.pl/bhp/bezpieczenstwo-pracy/5764548,napoje-dla-pracownikow-kiedy-pracoda-ma-obowiazek-dac-pracownikom.html