•  News
    • Report: Impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Polish labor market (3)
      Due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost half of employers expect investment suspension, and every fourth employee - salary reduction. These are just some of the conclusions from the latest report of the Safe at Work Coalition "Work safety in Poland 2020. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Polish labor market". They show that employers reacted quickly to the current epidemic situation and introduced many sanitary measures before the relevant regulations came into force. However, there is a belief in the labor market that some of the solutions will remain in companies for longer, but the economic outlook is pessimistic.
  • Recipes with commentary
    • How to understand auxiliary work on energy devices (5)
      The employer's right is to include additional tasks in the auxiliary works that do not fit both within the operational works and in the list of examples of auxiliary works. This is due to the fact that the latter type of work has been regulated only in the open catalog included in the provisions on health and safety at work for energy devices. So what can be auxiliary work?
  • Questions and Answers
    • Who is the subject of an employee of the OHS service employed in MOPS (6)
      In the municipal social welfare center, the employer is a person employed in the position of director. Subordinating the health and safety inspector to the head of the MOPS human resources section or another person, e.g. the deputy director, would constitute a clear violation of the provisions.
    • How to protect the driver who steps on the tanker at a height of 3 m (6)
      Exemption from the obligation to use personal protective equipment will depend on whether the railings installed on the cistern have a certain height and sufficiently protect the employee against falling from a height.
  • Accidents at work
    • Accident analysis - the fall of a young carpenter (7)
      The article presents an analysis of an accident that occurred during works related to the assembly of the roof structure of a newly constructed residential building. An employee fell from a height of 14 meters and suffered general bruises and fractures in the heel bone of his right leg. What were the causes of the accident in the opinion of the labor inspector?
  • The subject of the issue
    • Occupational health and safety service for employers (8)
      The health and safety service is a one-person or multi-person organizational unit separated within the structures of the workplace, the responsibility of which is primarily consultancy and control in the field of occupational health and safety. Creating a health and safety service is obligatory for some larger employers. So when is the employer obliged to establish this service, and when can he resign from it?
  • Working conditions
    • Can the portable toilet be placed inside the warehouse (11)
      There are no contraindications as long as the warehouse is empty. Moreover, effective mechanical ventilation must be provided. People from outside should use the toilet on the premises of the plant, while maintaining the sanitary regime.
    • I do not have time for anything! - i.e. about the organization of work during a pandemic (12)
      Time management workshops and publications are very popular today. Paradoxically, technological progress and new tools that are to improve and accelerate our work, cause more and more time wasting. This is especially evident during the coronavirus epidemic. Many remote workers simply don't get on with their tasks. Where does it come from and how to deal with it?
    • Monotony and the threat to work safety (14)
      Many years of observations carried out by international and national organizations dealing with labor protection prove that the negative effects of monotony occur primarily in the performance of routine work consisting in the constant repetition of the same activities or work tasks. The consequence of this are not only the psychological effects resulting from the mental underload. How to prevent monotony at work?
  • Court case law
    • Remuneration for OSH training is subject to contributions (15)
      Occupational health and safety training, lectures, workshops or other such classes in the field of occupational health and safety are almost always the subject of a contract for the provision of educational services, to which the provisions on mandate apply. As a result, such contracts concluded with specialists, as natural persons, constitute the basis for their coverage by social insurance and health insurance, i.e. they are subject to premiums.
      COVID-19 and OSH
    • Household member as a witness to an accident of a remote worker (16)
      Performing remote work to counteract COVID-19 does not exclude the possibility of an accident involving the employee. In such a situation, sympathy is due both to the injured party and to the members of the accident team, who have limited possibilities as part of the investigation. It is difficult to obtain a monitoring record in the flat of the victim, which will objectively recreate the course of the event. In most cases, it will be necessary to rely on the account of the victim and any witnesses.
    • Make sure personal information of infected employees is safe (17)
      As recommended by the chairman of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), employers should inform workers about COVID-19 cases and take protective measures, but should not provide more information than necessary. Check if the employer with whom the employee fell ill with COVID-19 has the right to disclose information to other employees including the name of the employee who was sick or who may be a carrier of the coronavirus (unconfirmed)
  • OHS training - questions and answers
    • Can an electronic health and safety training card be used (18)
      The provisions on OSH training do not provide for electronic documentation of the completion of OSH training. The current regulations stipulate that completion of the general instruction is confirmed in writing in the initial training card, which is kept in the employee's personal file.
    • What training for a blue-collar worker who is also a manager (18)
      Training programs should be adapted to the types and conditions of work performed by the trainees. The employee should undergo periodic training in the field of health and safety for employers and other persons managing employees.
    • Which training group should the regional sales manager qualify for (19)
      It is not the job title that determines whether an employee qualifies for the appropriate training group, but the nature of the job. I suggest that an employee who is mistakenly employed as a sales manager is sent for periodic training for employees not listed in § 14 points 1-5 of the OHS training regulation, whose nature of work involves exposure to factors harmful to health, burdensome or dangerous, or with responsibility in occupational health and safety.
  • Safety instructions
    • Health and safety instructions in the treatment room (20)

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