Every company puts safety in the workplace first, it is an unquestionable priority. Occupational health and safety needs to be taken care of already at the stage of building a given plant or adapting rooms, at the stage of organizing work stations and assembling technical equipment.

Occupational health and safety at work is a set of rules, procedures and practices aimed at ensuring the protection of the health and life of employees while performing their professional duties. This is an area that is important not only from a moral but also a legal point of view. Proper occupational health and safety ensures that work is performed in a manner consistent with regulations, safe and minimizing the risk of accidents and occupational diseases. Taking care of this benefits both the employer and employees, positively influencing efficiency and the atmosphere. This concept includes, among others, decisions made during the construction of a workplace, organization of workplaces, as well as decisions regarding technical equipment.

Occupational health and safety is one of the most important issues and the employer is responsible for it. This is regulated by the Labor Code, and more precisely by Article 207. It is the employer who determines what attitude he or she takes towards occupational health and safety regulations – he cannot take this responsibility away from himself or transfer it to someone else.

Importantly, the scope of his responsibility is not affected by the employees’ obligations in the field of occupational health and safety and the entrusting of the tasks of the occupational health and safety service to specialists from outside the workplace, referred to in Art. 237(11) § 2.

However, the question arises what about the managers of individual departments, who are also responsible for the occupational health and safety in the company. Yes, they are, but then this responsibility applies only to their department, and not to the entire company.

This means that the employer, along with some of the power, hands over some of the responsibility to them. For example, the sales department manager is responsible only for this sales department, the logistics manager – for the logistics department, etc. The area of ​​his responsibility for occupational health and safety depends on the scope of his authority.

Moreover, every person in a leadership position should be aware of the importance of this responsibility. Her decisions, choices and behavior have a real impact on her subordinates, their health and lives.

It may also seem that the responsibility still lies with the occupational health and safety service. As it turns out, this is not the case at all. The occupational health and safety service is actually the only body in the workplace that is not directly responsible for the state of occupational health and safety. It is an advisory and control body (which helps the employer), not a decision-making body (an example is the fact that the occupational health and safety service cannot impose penalties on employees).

The employer’s occupational health and safety status is verified by two institutions: the National Labor Inspectorate and the National Sanitary Inspectorate. They are authorized to carry out inspections, and in the event of detecting irregularities and omissions (for example, failure to fulfill duties, exposing employees to serious damage to health or even to the risk of loss of life), they have the right to impose penalties of up to 3 years of imprisonment. For violating occupational health and safety regulations, the employer may pay a fine ranging from PLN 1,000 to even PLN 30,000.

No one should forget that consequences await employees who do not comply with the established order and organization in the workplace, occupational health and safety and fire protection regulations, or who come to work after drinking alcohol or taking drugs. In this case, the penalty may be a warning, a reprimand or a financial penalty.

Occupational health and safety is an extremely important issue for every business, every company – regardless of its profile, industry or the size and number of employees. According to the Labor Code, the employer bears key responsibility for the occupational health and safety in the workplace, but managers also have a role in ensuring safety within their department. The occupational health and safety service is responsible for monitoring and advising, but the employer is the main decision-maker. In addition, the employer does not have impunity because its activities in the area of ​​compliance with occupational health and safety regulations are monitored by the State Sanitary Inspectorate and the National Labor Inspectorate. Employees also have health and safety responsibilities.

Source:https://www.bhp-gabi.pl/a149,kto-odpowiedz-za-stan-bhp-w-zakladzie-pracy.html

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.