Occupational health and safety at work in a nutshell

What does occupational health and safety mean?

The workplace should be safe not only for employees, but basically for any individual who is there. This is to be ensured and paid for by the employer and is then the responsibility of the managers in their respective roles. The scope of this legal duty will of course be vastly different when working in an office, a laboratory, working at height or on a construction site, for example. Nevertheless, there are some general principles that should be followed in all these workplaces.

The basic rule of thumb is that if an employer is sufficiently knowledgeable about OHS and employs 25 or fewer employees, he or she can take care of this area himself or herself (in the case of an office operation, anyone can certainly do this). However, if it is a hazardous operation or a workplace with 25 or more employees, there should ideally be a dedicated H&S person.

Occupational health and safety (OHS) is fundamental to any workplace. In this context, emphasis is placed on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), which includes work clothing, work boots, work gloves, hard hats, safety helmets and other protective equipment.

For example, the abbreviation OSH also includes safety at heights, where specific work equipment such as safety harnesses are used, and rules for fire protection.

Risk identification

Every workplace is required by law to identify the risks to employees. Even in the aforementioned office, a fall, a snapped finger or the toppling of a locker can happen. As part of the risk identification process, the employer should find and minimise just such unsecured lockers or other risks. Those that cannot be completely eliminated should be communicated to the employee in advance.

Risk identification also includes consideration of what activities require the use of protective work equipment, which includes, for example, work gloves or work boots. All information should be given to employees during regular OHS training. All workers should receive fire and safety training to ensure not only that they are able to use PPE correctly, but also that they can identify hazards, for example.

For the majority of operations, there are already written documents on this topic, so it is enough to get a similar document, for example from OSH professionals, and compare it with the real operation at the workplace. It usually contains a description of the risk – i.e. what can happen (e.g. needle sticks, cuts, etc.), the likelihood of the risk and the severity of the consequences and the measures that can be taken. This document should become an integral part of your employer’s agenda.

Categorization of works

Every job performed in the workplace should be classified into one of four categories. The conditions for categorising work are set out in a government decree, which identifies a total of thirteen risk factors that are assessed on this occasion – these are dust, chemicals, noise, vibration, non-ionising radiation, physical strain, working position, heat strain, cold strain, psychological strain, visual strain, strain, working with biological agents and working in elevated air pressure. The Decree clearly describes the criteria for categorisation.

Each job should be assessed in terms of the different factors and their categories. If, for example, you subsequently assess the risk for a factor at level three, that job is classified as category three, even though all the other factors are assessed at level one.
The assessment should be carried out for each job separately.

The importance of job categorisation includes occupational health examinations, their frequency and frequency of recurrence. If the categorisation results in at least one position in category 2 or higher, this information should be sent to the Regional Health Station responsible for the location of the workplace.

Provision of protective equipment

In hazardous operations, it is important that the employer provides adequate personal protective equipment and work equipment for all employees. This includes work helmets, work boots, work clothes and other protective equipment. It is important that the protective equipment is appropriate to the specific needs of the work environment (e.g. safe working at height requires the use of safety harnesses).

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is often confused with work equipment or work clothing, but they are not the same thing. For example, a rake, a computer or a paint roller are work equipment.

In contrast, protective equipment is a work helmet, work gloves or a safety harness for working at height. Employers should equip their employees in hazardous work directly with protective equipment and not rely on them to provide it themselves. Nor should they provide them for reimbursement in the event of normal wear and tear (another situation is, for example, loss or destruction caused by misuse).

Work boots or work clothes can be protective equipment, for example, if you use them to protect your employees from the cold. However, if they are uniform shirts for employees in a pizzeria, they are not protective equipment.

Fire protection

In this area, too, the activities carried out fall into one of the following categories:

• without increased fire risk,
• with increased fire risk,
• high fire risk.

However, the criteria should be assessed by a competent person.

Each workplace should be equipped with fire extinguishers, but this is usually provided by the landlord of the building. Nevertheless, it is not a bad idea to check this and, if necessary, agree remedies with the landlord.

In the event of a fire, and other similar situations, the workplace should be equipped with escape route signs (which are usually green) and red fire extinguisher signs.

Occupational safety training

Regular training (sometimes even practical training) should be provided in both fire protection and occupational safety. Regular OHS training introduces employees to the personal protective equipment used, the principles of OHS and fire protection. Often the training, or simply signing a paper stating that it has taken place, is the only OSH activity that takes place.

However, what you probably get away with in an office job can mean a really big mess if your employees are working at a lathe or in a lab, for example. Employees should be trained regularly on the proper use of protective equipment and following OSHA policies, including specific fire safety training or lab safety training.

Training should take place at the latest on the day the employee starts work in the form of initial training and then, at appropriate intervals – particularly in view of the type of work and changes in the organisation of work – refresher training.

OSH records

In the field of OSH, it is worth not underestimating both the duties as such (conducting regular training, assigning protective equipment) and keeping records of these activities. For example, if there is a truly fatal workplace accident, it will be difficult to prove that you agreed with a colleague to use safety glasses and a helmet, and that you trained them, if you have no evidence of any of this and the survivors claim the cost of the funeral and maintenance of any minor children left behind.

As for the records that the employer should keep, these are mainly the accident book and fire book, which are legally required, and the health and safety inspection log (which should include a ‘health and safety inspection’ at least once a year, i.e. a thorough check of everything to do with health and safety). However, the law does not provide for binding forms and therefore electronic forms are allowed.

Medical examinations

The employer should have a contract with the company doctor and every employee should undergo a medical examination at least before starting work. This can also be done by the employee’s district doctor if the work is classified as least demanding. Periodic medical examinations should follow at certain intervals, again determined by the category of work activity and the age of the employee.

Who supervises OHS?

Oversight of work safety is carried out by the State Office of Labour Inspection through its inspectorates. It does not pay to ignore the regulations in this area, as the fines can be very high – up to CZK 2 million. Of course, the inspectors take into account the general dangerousness of the operation, so if a breach of duty is discovered in an accounting firm, the inspector can expect a period of time to rectify the defects rather than a fine of CZK 1 million. However, when investigating a fatality in a high-rise work, they would probably not be so forgiving.

Ensuring workplace safety is not only a legal obligation for employers, but also a prevention of workplace accidents that can have serious consequences. Therefore, it is important that employees use personal protective equipment and regularly attend health and safety and fire protection training.

Summary

occupational health and safety (OHS) is a key element for any workplace, not only to protect employees but also to prevent serious accidents, labour disputes or problems with the labour inspectorate. Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment, identify and minimize hazards, and prevent accidents through regular training and the provision of adequate protective equipment. It is also important to keep careful records of all OSH activities so that in the event of an incident, it is possible to demonstrate compliance with all obligations. Compliance with these principles not only ensures the health of employees but also protects the employer from legal and financial consequences.