The Republic of Serbia is taking significant steps to harmonize its legislation with the European Union legislation, especially regarding regulations governing safety and health protection of employees at work.
In this regard, the Government of the Republic of Serbia proposed the Health and Safety at Work Bill (“Bill“), which is expected to be passed soon, after the constitution of the National Assembly. If passed, the Bill shall replace the Health and Safety at Work Act[1] (“Health and Safety Act”).
The Bill should create a clear legal framework in the field of safety and health at work in order to provide conditions for a higher level of occupational safety and health, along with the better working conditions in order to prevent injuries at work, occupational and work-related diseases and hazards.
The Bill brings broader powers to the labor inspection. For example, according to the Health and Safety Act the inspection could have closed only a part of the construction site when detecting irregularities, and in that case the investor could have continued with the works in another part of the construction site. Contrary to that, the Bill allows the inspectors to close the entire construction site and stop the works altogether, which should bring a higher level of safety and protection at work.
Furthermore, the Bill introduces a harder fine policy. Inspectors shall be able to impose mandatory fines for violations related to the occupational safety system without the right to appeal, while the maximum fine has been increased from RSD 1,000,000 prescribed by the Health and Safety Act to RSD 2,000,000 prescribed by the Bill.
The Bill also proposes new obligations for employers, the most important ones being as follows:
- Employers must ensure that the measures determined by the Risk Assessment Regulation will be integrated into all activities of the employer at all levels.
- Employers which perform high-risk activities related to safety and health at work must appoint a person who has at least acquired higher education in first-degree studies of at least 240 ECTS points, within the educational field of technical and technological sciences. In case the employers perform less risky activities, they are obliged to appoint a person who has at least acquired higher education at the level of at least 180 ECTS points for safety and health at work, in case those employers do not perform health and safety activities by themselves. The Bill raised the level of competence of personnel who perform safety and health measures at work in comparison to the Health and Safety Act, with the aim to achieve a higher level of safety of employees.
- The employer must provide the employee who works at night with prior and periodical medical examinations, as well as with a medical examination at the employee’s request corresponding to the risks at the workplace, at regular intervals, at least once every five years, and all in accordance with the regulations on health care.
A significant novelty refers to the change of the title of the person appointed for safety and health at work. Namely, this person, if the Bill gets passed, shall have the title of an advisor for safety and health at work when the employee works for an employer engaging in high-risk activities, and the title of an associate for safety and health at work when the employee works for an employer engaging in less risky activities. The change of title was made with the aim of further raising the level of competence of the professionals who perform safety and health at work monitoring.
Also, one of the novelties is that the employer can submit a report of an injury at work electronically.
If the Bill gets passed, the employers shall have one year from its entry into force to organize and harmonize their business with the future act.
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[1] Official Gazette of RS, no. 101/2005, 91/2015 and 113/2017 – other law
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