Employers obligations
The employer is responsible for the safety and health of workers.
Every employer must elaborate and adopt a written safety statement specifying the methods and measures of providing occupational safety and health and revise it accordingly as each new danger or a change in the level of risk occurs.
Safety statement is based on the identification of possible risks and hazards at workplaces and in the working environment as well as on the assessment of risks for the occurrence of injuries and health damage.
On the basis of the risk assessment the employer must adopt and implement the necessary measures of the safety and health of children, adolescents and young people.
Particular attention must be paid to:
- the equipment and design of the workplace,
- the nature, level and duration of exposure to physical, biological and chemical nuisances, psychological and other pressures,
- the form, type and use of working equipment, machines, appliances and instruments (devices) they handle,
- the planning of work processes and operations as well as the organisation of work,
- the level of education, training and instruction of young people.
The employer must inform the adolescents and young people of all possible risks and measures taken to ensure safety and health. The employer is also under obligation to inform the child's legal representatives of all possible risks and measures taken for the safety of the child. He or she must provide protective and preventive measures for the healthy and safe work of children and adolescents suitable to their age. Authorised physicians, expert staff and other professional services must be included in the process.
The employer must provide the young persons working in the workplaces defined by the risk assessment as presenting risk to their safety, physical or mental health or development with regular health surveillance as well as preliminary and periodic health checks. The specific health checks are performed within a period stated in the risk assessment, which may not be longer than a year.
In particular, the employer must ensure safety and health at work by:
- designating the tasks related to safety at work to an expert worker and the tasks related to health preservation to an authorised physician,
- adopting measures for the provision of fire safety,
- adopting measures for the provision of first aid and evacuation in case of danger,
- informing workers of the introduction of new technologies and working tools, as well as the related risks of injuries and health damage,
- providing safe work training to workers,
- providing the workers with means and equipment for personal safety at work and ensuring its use if the means of work or working environment are inadequate to ensure mandatory health and safety at work despite measures being taken,
- providing periodic analyses of working environment and periodic checks and tests of working equipment,
- providing health checks to workers.
Basic principles the employer must follow include:
- avoiding risks,
- assessing risks which cannot be avoided,
- managing the risks at their source,
- adapting the work to a specific individual by an adequate design of the workplace and the working environment, the choice of working equipment and working and production methods,
- providing measures for the preservation and strengthening of health,
- adapting to the technical progress,
- replacing dangerous with non-dangerous or less dangerous,
- developing an integral safety policy comprising technology, the organisation of work, working conditions, human relations and working environment factors,
- giving priority to collective security measures over individual ones,
- giving appropriate instructions and information to the workers.
Employer's obligations to primary school children, secondary school pupils and young workers
With respect to all workers (young workers of course included) you must follow the requirements stated in the legal acts, in particular:
Occupational Health and Safety Act (Official Gazette RS, Nos. 56/99 and 64/01) and regulations
Employment Relationships Act (Official Gazette RS, No. 42/02)