The Occupational Health and Safety Act
The Occupational Safety Act regulates the system of occupational safety in the Republic of Croatia, and in particular national policies and activities, general principles of prevention and rules for occupational safety, obligations of the employer, rights and obligations of workers and commissioners of workers for occupational safety, activities related to occupational safety, surveillance and misdemeanor liability. The purpose of the Act is to systematically improve the safety and health protection of workers and persons at work, to prevent occupational injuries, occupational diseases and other diseases that are related to work.
- Occupational safety as an organized activity that includes a system of rules:
- rules for the design and production of labour resources
- rules for the use, maintenance, inspection and testing of work equipment
- rules that are related to workers and the adaptation of work processes to their gender, age, physical and mental abilities
- methods and procedures for training and informing workers and employers in order to achieve an adequate level of protection at work
- ways and procedures of cooperation between the employer, workers and their representatives, associations and state institutions and bodies responsible for occupational safety and health
- a ban on placing workers in a disadvantageous position because of activities that are undertaken with the purpose of protecting them at work other measures to prevent occupational risks, with the aim of eliminating risk factors and their harmful consequences.
The Occupational Safety Act prescribes the obligation of the employer to organize and implement safety and health at work, including risk prevention and notification, making risk assessment, training, organization and means of work, as well as the obligation to carry out prevention in all work procedures, in organization of work and management of work processes, while ensuring that workers have the highest possible level of protection at work. The Act covers particularly vulnerable groups of workers (underage workers, pregnant workers, workers who have recently given birth, workers suffering from an occupational disease, etc.). The employer is also required to provide the worker with health care that is appropriate to the risks to safety and health that are exposed at work.