Employer and employee OHS duties - what the Polish Labour Code says

In 2025 labour inspectors in Poland issued 213,981 decisions concerning occupational health and safety, halted work 4,572 times and prohibited the operation of machines 7,776 times. Numbers like these rarely signal deliberate rule-breaking; far more often they reveal that in a given company nobody knows precisely who is responsible for what and what exactly they are expected to do. The Polish Labour Code distributes safety tasks between the employer, the person directing the employees and the employees themselves, and the labour inspectorate checks at every inspection whether each of these parties is actually delivering.

Accountability and duties - not the same thing

It is worth separating two concepts that are frequently confused in practice. Responsibility for the state of occupational health and safety in the entire establishment rests with the employer - regardless of how many people they employ, whether they use an external OHS service, or how the people under them behave (art. 207(1) of the Labour Code). Duties, however, belong to every participant in the work process: the employer organises the conditions, the manager enforces them at the workstations, and the employees follow them day to day. We discuss why this responsibility cannot be shifted onto anyone else in a separate article on who is responsible for health and safety in a company. Here we focus on the catalogue of duties - that is, on what each of these people must actually do, because it is precisely these catalogues that the labour inspectorate relies on during an inspection.

Employer duties - the catalogue in art. 207 of the Labour Code

Art. 207(2) of the Labour Code (consolidated text, Journal of Laws Dz.U. 2025 poz. 277) turns the general principle of protecting employees’ health and life into seven concrete tasks. The employer must organise work so that conditions are safe and hygienic, and ensure compliance with OHS provisions and rules in the establishment - which includes issuing orders to remove shortcomings and verifying that they have been carried out, not merely issuing the order. The employer must respond to OHS needs and improve the existing level of protection whenever working conditions change, and develop a coherent prevention policy covering accidents and occupational diseases, taking into account technology, work organisation and social relations. The catalogue closes with three duties that are easy to forget: taking into account in preventive activities the protection of young workers, pregnant employees and employees with disabilities, executing orders and decisions of labour supervision bodies, and implementing the recommendations of the social labour inspector.

To this come the information and training duties. Art. 207(1)1 of the Labour Code (art. 207¹) requires the employer to inform employees about the hazards present at their workstations, about the protective measures already taken, and about the persons designated to provide first aid and conduct evacuations - including those persons’ names, workplace and telephone number. Art. 94(4) of the Labour Code, in turn, requires systematic training of employees in OHS - not a one-off initial course, but a continuous cycle whose deadlines can be calculated with our OHS training calculator. The catalogue is completed by a financial rule: the costs of OHS measures may not burden employees “in any way” (art. 207(2)2 of the Labour Code) - this covers protective equipment as well as medical examinations and training.

Duties of the person directing employees - art. 212 of the Labour Code

A supervisor, foreman or crew leader has their own catalogue of tasks in art. 212 of the Labour Code. They organise workstations in accordance with OHS provisions and prepare and conduct work with a view to protecting people against accidents and occupational diseases. They see to the efficiency of personal protective equipment and to its correct use, as well as to the safe condition of premises and technical equipment and the efficiency of collective protection measures. They also enforce compliance with the rules by the employees under them and ensure that the recommendations of the doctor providing healthcare to the workforce are carried out. Together with the employer, the person directing employees must also know the labour protection provisions to the extent necessary to perform their duties (art. 207(3) of the Labour Code) - which is why this group has its own, longer periodic training.

Employee OHS duties - art. 211 of the Labour Code

Art. 211 of the Labour Code names compliance with OHS provisions and rules as the employee’s basic duty and develops it into seven tasks. The employee must know the safety provisions and rules, take part in training and instruction, and undergo the required examinations. They must perform work in accordance with the provisions and follow the instructions of their superiors in this respect, care for the efficiency of machines and tools and for order at the workstation, use collective protection measures, and use the assigned personal protective equipment and work clothing as intended. They must undergo initial, periodic and follow-up medical examinations, immediately notify their superior of any accident or threat to life and health they notice, warn fellow workers, and cooperate with the employer in fulfilling his OHS duties. The same obligation is repeated in the catalogue of basic employee duties in art. 100(2)(3) of the Labour Code, which covers compliance with OHS and fire protection provisions.

The right to refuse work - art. 210 of the Labour Code

Employee duties have a limit set by safety, and it is the employer who must keep it in mind. Where working conditions do not comply with OHS provisions and pose a direct threat to health or life, or where the work threatens other people with such danger, the employee has the right to refrain from performing it, immediately notifying the superior (art. 210(1) of the Labour Code). If this does not remove the danger, the employee may leave the place of danger (art. 210(2)), and for the time of refraining from work retains the right to pay (art. 210(3)). A similar right applies where the employee’s psychophysical condition does not allow the safe performance of work requiring particular fitness - for example because of fatigue or medication (art. 210(4)). The exception covers professions in which the employee’s duty is to save human life or property (art. 210(5)). In each of these cases the employee may not suffer any negative consequences (art. 210(2)1).

The protection also works in the other direction - in favour of an employee who reacts to danger themselves. Art. 209(1)4 of the Labour Code (art. 209³) obliges the employer to enable the employee to take action to avoid danger even without agreement with the superior, to the extent of the employee’s knowledge and the available technical means, while art. 209² requires the employer, in the event of a direct threat, to halt work and not order its resumption until the danger has been removed. The catalogue is therefore two-directional: the employee has the right to stop working in the face of danger, and the employer must enable this and remove the danger itself.

How to meet OHS duties in practice

The catalogues from chapter I of part X of the Labour Code are easy to turn into an annual routine that can be documented before an inspection:

1. Put the duties in writing - who in the company organises workstations, who enforces the rules, who designates the persons responsible for first aid and evacuation (art. 207¹ and art. 212 of the Labour Code).
2. Show employees the hazards at their workstations and collect confirmations that they have read the information (art. 207¹ of the Labour Code).
3. Plan training and medical examinations for the whole year - systematic training is required by art. 94(4) of the Labour Code; see our OHS training offer.
4. Issue orders to remove shortcomings and document their execution - a record of an order without checking its completion is not enough (art. 207(2)(2) of the Labour Code).
5. Agree with employees on how to report hazards and defects - so that the right to refuse work under art. 210 does not remain a theoretical provision.
6. Do not pass costs on to employees - no “contributions towards helmets” and no deductions for protective equipment (art. 207(2)2 of the Labour Code).

Penalties for neglecting OHS duties

Failure to comply with OHS provisions or rules by the person responsible for their state, or by a person directing employees, carries a fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 (art. 283(1) of the Labour Code; the amounts apply from 8 July 2026 under the amendment published in Dz.U. 2026 poz. 473). The same penalty applies to a manager who, despite the duties under art. 212, tolerates shortcomings. A rank-and-file employee is not subject to the fine under art. 283 of the Labour Code - their violations are dealt with by the employer under the disciplinary procedure, including disciplinary penalties under art. 108 of the Labour Code. A full overview of the rates and types of liability can be found in our article on OHS fines 2026.

Summary

• Responsibility for the state of OHS in the entire establishment rests with the employer (art. 207(1) of the Labour Code), but duties exist at every level: the employer organises and provides (art. 207(2)), the manager prepares the work and enforces the rules (art. 212), and the employee follows the provisions, uses protective equipment and reports hazards (art. 211).
• The law gives the employee a shield: in the face of a direct threat they may refrain from work or leave, retaining the right to pay and without negative consequences (art. 210 of the Labour Code), while the employer must halt the work and remove the danger (art. 209² of the Labour Code).
• Neglecting OHS duties now costs a fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 (art. 283(1) of the Labour Code, from 8 July 2026), and the best defence is duties put in writing, documented and embedded in an annual rhythm of training and checks.

If you want your company’s OHS duties written down and documented without building your own procedures from scratch, see our OHS outsourcing services or contact us - we will help you put the duties in order before a labour inspector does it for you.

FAQ

Can an employee refuse to perform dangerous work? Yes. Where working conditions pose a direct threat to health or life, the employee refrains from work while notifying the superior, and if this does not remove the danger - may leave the place of danger (art. 210 of the Labour Code). They retain the right to pay and may not suffer any negative consequences. The exception covers persons whose duty is to save human life or property.

Who is responsible for OHS if the employee violates the rules themselves? Responsibility for the state of OHS in the establishment always rests with the employer - its scope is not affected by employee duties or by entrusting OHS tasks to external specialists (art. 207(1) of the Labour Code). An employee who violates the rules is, however, answerable to the employer under the disciplinary procedure, in extreme cases with a disciplinary penalty under art. 108 of the Labour Code.

Can the employer charge employees for protective equipment or OHS training? No. Art. 207(2)2 of the Labour Code provides that the costs of measures taken by the employer in the field of OHS may not burden employees in any way - this covers personal protective equipment, medical examinations and training.

What duties does a manager or foreman have in the field of OHS? Art. 212 of the Labour Code obliges the person directing employees to organise workstations in accordance with the provisions, to see to the efficiency and correct use of protective equipment, to protect employees against accidents and occupational diseases, to enforce compliance with the rules, and to ensure that the doctor’s recommendations are carried out. The manager must also know the OHS provisions to the extent necessary to perform their duties (art. 207(3) of the Labour Code).

What is the penalty in 2026 for failure to comply with OHS duties? A fine of PLN 2,000 to PLN 60,000 for the person responsible for the state of OHS or directing employees (art. 283(1) of the Labour Code, after the amendment in force from 8 July 2026). Where an employee is exposed to the immediate danger of loss of life or severe bodily harm, criminal liability under art. 220 of the Criminal Code comes into play.

Does a one-off initial training satisfy the employer’s training duties? No. Art. 94(4) of the Labour Code requires systematic training of employees, which means cyclical periodic training after the initial training. Deadlines depend on the group of workstations - from one year for particularly hazardous workstations to six years for office work.

Sources

• Act of 26 June 1974 - Labour Code - consolidated text (Dz.U. 2025 poz. 277) - ELI (Polish)
• Act of 11 March 2026 amending the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 473) - ELI (Polish)
• Report on the activities of the National Labour Inspectorate in 2025 (orka.sejm.gov.pl) (Polish)
• National Labour Inspectorate - legal advice: responsibility and basic duties of the employer (Polish)
• National Labour Inspectorate - legal advice: employee duties and rights regarding OHS (Polish)

Legal status: September 2026. This article is for information only and does not constitute legal advice. For individual cases consult a lawyer or an OHS specialist.