Top10 NEWS January 2018 of health and safety, fire protection & environmental protection

Who can draw up a fire safety manual?

Fire safety issues are regulated by the act on fire protection of 24 August 1991.

Under Art. 4 (2),(2a) and (2b) of the act, fire protection actions may only be undertaken by those holding adequate qualifications.

Under the above act, a fire safety manual can be drawn up by those who:      

hold a fire safety B.Sc. degree or a professional fire-fighting engineer title; hold a fire protection specialist title and hold a university degree; have had their fire-fighting engineering title recognized; hold a professional fire-fighting technician title; hold and fire protection inspector title and a minimum of secondary education; have had their fire-fighting technician title recognized.

Such persons are also entitled to update fire safety manuals.

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“Safety is what is worth investing in” The recent study “Occupational safety in Poland” carried out for the Safe at Work Coalition has shown that an accident at work has occurred in one in every three small and medium-size business over the last two years, of which only 35% were reported to the State Labour Inspectorate.

Marek Maszewski, Head of the Supervision Department at SEKA S.A. and expert for the Safe at Work Coalition, stressed in an interview for the Newseria Biznes news agency that such a small number of reports stems from the fact that the PIP is only notified of accidents deemed as serious or fatal, whereas international studies have shown that one serious or fatal accident corresponds to ten times more accidents of less serious consequences.

The law prescribes that it is the employer that is responsible for ensuring a proper level of health and safety in the workplace. In a company having up to one hundred employees, the employer may entrust the OHS duties to a person employed at a different position, and in certain cases do it himself.

- We try to reach employers with the information on how important staff training is, show employees good and safe solutions, provide advice on replacing work technologies with safer ones. Above all, we intend to show people that safety is what is worth investing in, as results in cutting accident-related costs - persuades Head of the Supervision Department as SEKA S.A.

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OHS online The latest SEKA magazine features a full-length interview with Karolina Zalwert – Head of SEKA’s Training Department on online OHS training courses.

OHS training is mandatory; hence both the content and conditions of the training are regulated in Polish law, including a regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour.

The training courses are usually provided in the traditional form, which causes additional trouble to employers in scheduling the time for such courses. In a strive to meet employers’ expectations SEKA S.A. has developed online OHS training courses.

The course contents are compliant with the Polish law and the specifically with the regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour on training in occupational health and safety of 27 July 2004 (Dz.U. of 18 August 2004), and contain all matters set out in the framework OHS training programme.

- We offer a full range of OHS and fire protection e-learning services. - says Karolina Zalwert. - Regardless of the volume of the order, we provide the same quality and scope of our services – from access to an e-learning platform account, to signing a participant up to an e-learning course, to the end user technical assistance, to provision of certificates and generation of full e-learning completion reports. - she adds.

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OHS Regulation on motor-driven lift trucks On 9 January of this year a regulation was announced in the Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland of the Minister of Development and Finance on the health and safety in operating motor-driven lift trucks of 15 December 2017 (Dz.U. 2018.47) replacing the regulation Dz.U.2002.70.650.

The amendments set out in the regulation concern: 

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Introduction of the concept of work organiser. Under section 2, a work organiser is the employer or a trader not being an employer organising the work to be performed by an individual on a basis other than employment or a sole trader entrusting an operator with truck operation.

Qualified requirements – following 10 August, having regard to the transition periods set out in section 18, the operation of mechanically lifting lift trucks will only be permitted upon obtaining a qualification certificate from the UDT. Introduction of the requirement of a written instruction. The operator can only perform works involving a lift truck when instructed in writing to do so by the work organiser.

Introduction of the obligation of a work organiser to draw up a transportation work safety manual.

The other requirements remain unchanged.

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Mobile OHS Centre The report entitled “Work Safety in Poland” carried out by the Safe at Work Coalition shows that mid-size businesses use personal protection measures more frequently than small businesses. 21% of small businesses (three times more than mid-size ones) declare that they use no personal protective equipment as there is no need for such.

The Mobile OHS Centre is a shop selling individual protective equipment necessary at each building site. The mobile shop Krystian offers specialist clothes and protective footwear designed for construction workers, hard hats, glasses and goggles, gloves and equipment for work at heights.

- We only distribute products meeting the current safety standards, recommended by OHS teams from the companies participating in the Alliance for Construction – says Elżbieta Rogowska, Head of Sales at PW Krystian. - Our mobile point-of-sale’s primary goal is to improve the safety standards at the largest construction investments located in Warsaw and its neighbourhood. - she adds.

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Teleworking and Employer’s OHS obligations Teleworking, home office or remote work is work performed outside the work premises. Therefore, certain doubts arise surrounding the employer’s OHS obligations toward the employee providing work in that form.

Under Art. 207 Labour Code of 26 June 1974 (Dz.U. 2016.1666, as amended), an employer is responsible for the status of health and safety of an employee providing work for the benefit of the employer in the workplace, i.e. the place where the work is performed. Whereas, where work is regularly performed outside the work premises, the Labour Code, in Chapter II b entitled ‘Employment in the form of teleworking', provides for a possibility of working outside the company's premises.

Art. 6717: “where work is provided from a tele-worker’s home, the employer will perform its obligations towards such employee, to the extent required by the type and conditions of the work performed, as set out in Division Ten, excluding:  

The obligation to provide safe and hygienic work premises, [...]

The obligation to ensure adequate sanitary and hygienic equipment.”

Remote work, or home office, is a type of work that is not specified in the current law. It is recommended that an employer, when agreeing to an employee’s request, obtain his/her statement that they will perform work in a safe manner, minimising the loss of health (life) in conditions adequate to the task performed.

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Amendments to OHS regulations to decrease employees’ safety?

The facilitation package being developed by the Ministry of Development will substantially amend the OHS training requirements, inter alia: It will no longer be compulsory for clerical and administrative staff in workplaces of the lowest risk, and an employer will be allowed to perform the duties of OHS Service provided it employs up to 50 employees.

Marek Maszewski, Head of the Supervision Department at SEKA S.A. and expert for the Safe at Work Coalition, assesses, in an interview for the Newseria Biznes agency, that the amendments concerning OHS training that can be provided by the employer are risky seeing that the solution could adversely affect the employees' safety.

- Employers already have multiple other duties in the area of business management; however, quite frequently the lack the expertise and time capabilities to track the changes in the law. This area is already regulated by nearly a thousand provisions; hence the frequent changes may escape the employers’ attention. The technological changes in accident prevention or the personal or collective protection measures require professional expertise – says Marek Maszewski.

The Ministry’s draft provides that periodical OHS training will no longer be compulsory for clerical and administrative staff employed by employers qualified as no higher than the occupational group risk category three.

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Uniform air quality measurements On 4 January 2018, President of Poland signed the act of 14 December 2017 amending the act on Environmental Protection Inspectorate and the act – Environmental Protection Law providing that air measurements must be uniform across the entire country and more reliable.

The act amending the act on Environmental Protection Inspectorate of 20 July 1991, extends and makes more precise the scope of duties of the National Reference and Calibration Laboratory. The duties will include:     

Organising and conducting inter-laboratory comparisons and proficiency tests; Reviewing quality assurance and monitoring systems in institutions operating measurement networks and single measurement points, at least once in five years; Coordinating proper application of referencing methodologies and demonstrating equivalence of non-referential methodologies; Implementing new research methods; Participating, at least every three years, in quality assurance programmes organised by the European Commission.

Extending and making more precise the scope of duties of the national reference and calibration laboratory will allow to ensure adequate level of quality of air quality measurements and to provide reliable information on the actual air quality across Poland.

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Lighting on the construction site The guidelines on the lighting on construction sites are set out in the regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure on the occupational health and safety in construction works of 6 February 2003 whose provisions regulate the issue in much detail.

The basic requirements as to the lighting of a construction site set out in the regulation in the new wording are provided below: 1. Section 17 – marking and lighting of dangerous passages and zones; 2. Section 19 provides details on the use of gates before crossings of roads with overhead electricity lines in conditions of limited visibility; 3. The requirement to use, where possible, daylight in providing light to workstations in the premises and on access roads. Whereas the wings of the opening parts of windows must not pose threat to employees.

4. Where the daylight is insufficient for the works and during the night, artificial lighting must be provided.

The points of light must be so laid out as to ensure that the notice boards and signs as well as the traffic sings on the construction site can be read easily.

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The product and packaging database has been launched On 24 January 2018 a Product, packaging and waste management database (BDO) was launched available at www.bdo.mos.gov.pl. The entries to the BDO must be provided by businesses that market new products, packaged products or deal with waste management.

Currently the following applications can be downloaded from the website: for entry into the register, updating the entry and deleting from the register. A completed application must be filed with the relevant Marshal Office.

The entities required to file an application for entry into the register are set out in Art. 50 of the act on waste of 14 December 2012.

The following entities are not registered: 

individuals and organisations not being businesses utilising waste for own purposes;  entities having title to the surface of the land on which the communal waste deposits are located, released from the duty to obtain a permit for waste processing;  entities conducting a non-business activity involving waste management that collect packaging waste and waste in the form of used consumption goods;  entities transporting waste produced by themselves.

Businesses have 6 months to file their applications with the relevant authorities.

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