General OSH obligations of the employer

In the field of occupational health and safety, there are many regulations that define the obligations of employers. The basic legislation is Act No 124/2006 Coll. on Occupational Health and Safety and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts. And here we would also find the general duties of the employer:

1. In order to ensure safety and health at work, an employer shall

a) take measures having regard to all the circumstances of the work and in accordance with the legislation and other regulations to ensure safety and health at work,
b) to improve working conditions and adapt them to employees; in doing so, to take account of changing real and foreseeable circumstances and of scientific and technical knowledge,
c) identify hazards and dangers, assess risk and prepare a written risk assessment
document for all activities carried out by employees,
d) ensure that workplaces, communications, work equipment, materials, work procedures, production processes, workplace layout and work organisation do not endanger the safety and health of employees and, to that end, provide for the necessary maintenance and repairs,
e) ensure that chemical factors, physical factors, biological factors, factors affecting the psychological workload and social factors do not endanger the safety and health of workers,
f) to eliminate hazards and dangers and, if this is not possible according to the scientific and technical knowledge attained, to take measures to limit them and to prepare measures for their elimination,
g) to replace strenuous and monotonous work and work in difficult and hazardous or harmful working conditions by suitable working means, working procedures, production methods and by improving the organisation of work,
h) in premises where hazardous substances are used or stored or where technologies and equipment
are used, the failure of which may endanger the life and health of a large number of employees, other natural persons and the environment, and in premises where there are special hazards and dangers which may immediately and seriously endanger the life and health of employees,


1. to take measures to exclude risks to life and health; if this is not possible in the light of scientific and technical knowledge, to take measures to limit them,

2. to take the necessary measures to limit the possible consequences of risks to life and health and to allow access to the endangered area only to those employees who are strictly necessary and who are properly and demonstrably familiar with, and who have training and equipment in accordance with, the legislation and other regulations to ensure health and safety at work,


i) determine safe working practices,

j) determine and ensure the protective measures to be taken and, where necessary, determine and ensure the protective equipment to be used,

k) to draw up in writing and, where necessary, to evaluate and update an occupational safety and health policy concept containing the essential objectives to be achieved in the field of occupational safety and health and a programme for the implementation of this concept, which shall include in particular the procedure, means and manner of its implementation; this shall not apply to an employer who employs fewer than 11 employees and to an employer whose code
according to the statistical classification of economic activities at the level of a division or group is not listed in Annex No. 1,
l) issue internal regulations, rules on occupational safety and health and give instructions to ensure occupational safety and health,
m) draw up and, where necessary, update its own list of works and workplaces

1. prohibited to pregnant women, mothers up to the end of the ninth month after childbirth and breastfeeding women,2
. associated with specific risks for pregnant women, mothers up to the end of the ninth month after childbirth and breastfeeding women,
3. prohibited to juvenile workers,

n) keep and preserve prescribed documentation, records and registers relating to occupational safety and health for five years from the date on which the last entry was made in them, unless a special regulation provides otherwise,
o) assign employees to work with regard to their state of health, in particular the result of an assessment of their medical fitness for work,6aa) their abilities, their age, their qualifications and their professional competence according to the legislation and other regulations to ensure health and safety at work, and not to allow them to perform work which does not correspond to their state of health, in particular the result of the assessment of their medical fitness for work, abilities for which they do not have the age, qualifications and proof of professional competence in accordance with the legislation and other regulations to ensure safety and health at work,
p) ensure the assessment of the employee’s individual physical abilities when manually handling loads,
q) ensure that health surveillance6a), including medical preventive examinations, is carried out in relation to the work, at regular intervals, taking into account the nature of the work and the working conditions at the workplace, and when requested by the employee,
r) ensure safety and health at work at

1.employees at isolated workplaces,

2.employees who work alone at the workplace,
3. special groups of employees, in particular in relation to specific hazards which particularly affect their safety and health,
s) provide employees with breaks from work for reasons of occupational safety and health,
t) not use, in work where employees are exposed to an increased possibility of injury or other damage to health, a method of remuneration for work which, by increasing the work output, could result in endangering the safety or health of employees.

2. In order to ensure health and safety at work by means of personal protective equipment, the employer shall


(a) draw up a list of the personal protective equipment to be provided on the basis of a risk assessment and an assessment of the hazards arising from the work process from the working environment,
(b) provide, free of charge, the necessary effective personal protective equipment
to employees for whom it is necessary to protect their life or health and keep records of the provision of such equipment,
(c) maintain personal protective equipment in a serviceable and functional condition and ensure that it is used properly.


3. The employer shall be obliged to provide employees free of charge

(a) with work clothing and work footwear if they work in an environment in which the clothing or footwear is subject to extraordinary wear and tear or extraordinary pollution,
(b) to provide employees with a drinking regime if this is required for the protection of their life or health, and to provide the washing, cleaning and disinfecting agents necessary to ensure physical hygiene; the employer shall regulate the provision of a drinking regime by an internal regulation.


4. An employer shall ensure that employees of another employer and natural persons who are entrepreneurs and are not employers, who will carry out work at his workplaces and premises, are provided with the necessary information and instructions to ensure occupational safety and health applicable to his workplaces and premises, in particular the information referred to in section 7(8)(a) to (c). An employer may agree to carry out work with a natural person who is an entrepreneur and is not an employer only if that natural person proves to him, by means of an appropriate document, the professional competence necessary for the performance of the work in accordance with the legal provisions and other regulations for ensuring health and safety at work.


5. The employer shall be obliged to issue a ban on smoking in workplaces where non-smokers work and
to ensure compliance with this ban as well as with the ban on smoking in workplaces.


6. In order to ensure occupational safety and health, the employer is obliged to inform the
preventive and protective services (section 21) in writing about the employment of an employee for a certain period of time and about the employment of an employee temporarily assigned to him pursuant to a special regulation.


7. An employer shall take care of the health and safety of all persons who are  present with his knowledge at his workplaces or on his premises.


8. The employer’s tasks in the field of occupational safety and health care shall be carried out by senior employees at all levels of management within the scope of the tasks arising from their functions. These tasks are an equal and integral part of their job duties.


9. An employer who is a natural person and the statutory body of an employer who is a legal person shall, after notification pursuant to Sections 12(5) and 22(8), ensure that the necessary preventive measures and protective measures are taken; if life or health is in imminent danger, they shall act without delay.

10. The duties of employees in ensuring safety and health at work and in taking the necessary measures shall not affect the employer’s responsibility for the fulfilment of his obligations in the field of safety and health at work.

11. The employer shall bear the costs of ensuring health and safety at work; he shall not pass on such costs to the employee.

These are the general obligations of the employer under the law, but there are many more. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Source: Act No. 124/2006 Coll.

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