It is the employer’s responsibility to provide health and safety training for a newly hired employee. Such training should take place before the employee’s first day of work. The employer is primarily responsible for health and safety at work. It is the employer’s task to create appropriate working conditions and to provide procedures and instructions for safe behaviour. The employee, on the other hand, is obliged to follow these rules. Read the article to the end and find out what the OSH training is.
The most important elements of health and safety training
When you hire a new employee, as an employer you have a duty to provide the employee with:
- safety and health training before allowing him or her to work,
- training when there are changes to work procedures or when you buy new equipment,
- training if there are changes to operating procedures or if you purchase new equipment or devices, the rules of risk protection, and a risk assessment,
- provide personal protective equipment free of charge and inform employees on how to use it.
- Training is confirmed in writing on the initial training card, which must be kept in the employee’s personal file. The training is paid for by the employer and it is included in the working time.
OHS training – When is it not required?
Safety training is not required if an employee starts a new employment contract with the same employer and the same position. Remember that you may be fined if you do not provide safety training, but you should.
Occupational health and safety training – initial training
You must carry out induction training before a new employee starts work. This consists of two parts. The first is general instruction (to ensure that you know the basic principles of health and safety). The second part is job-specific instruction, in which you are obliged to inform the employee about hazards and risks resulting from the work performed and ways to protect against them. Additionally, acquaint the employee with the methods of safe work performance.
Periodic training
Periodic training must be conducted
- at least once a year – for employees employed in positions where particularly hazardous work is performed,
- Once every 3 years – for employees working in blue-collar jobs,
- once every 5 years – for employees in engineering and technical positions, including designers, constructors of machines and other technical devices. In addition, for employees in occupational health and safety services, employees whose work involves exposure to factors that are harmful to health, arduous or dangerous, and persons who manage employees, in particular managers, masters and foremen,
- once every 6 years – for employees in administrative and office positions.
