Workwear and personal protective equipment (PPE) come out of the same warehouse, often from the same supplier, and in many companies sit in a single table. Yet the law treats them differently: workwear protects the employee’s own clothes and meets technological or sanitary requirements, while PPE protects health and life against hazards that cannot be eliminated in any other way. This difference determines what is allowed, what is required and what can be settled with a cash equivalent.
Legal basis
- Polish Labour Code (Kodeks pracy), Art. 237⁶ — the employer provides, free of charge, personal protective equipment that protects against hazardous and harmful factors and informs employees how to use it; PPE must meet conformity assessment requirements.
- Labour Code, Art. 237⁷ — the employer provides workwear and work footwear free of charge if the employee’s own clothing could be damaged or heavily soiled, or because of technological, sanitary or OHS requirements; it may specify the workstations at which it allows the use of employees’ own clothing in return for a cash equivalent.
- Labour Code, Art. 237⁸ — the types of PPE, workwear and work footwear and the expected periods of use are set by the employer in agreement with the company trade union or employee representatives.
- Labour Code, Art. 237⁹ — an employee must not be allowed to work without the PPE, workwear and work footwear provided for the given workstation; the employer ensures laundering, maintenance, repair, dust removal and decontamination.
- Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on general OHS regulations, Annex 2 — detailed rules for using PPE and tables of the types of work for which PPE is required.
- Regulation (EU) 2016/425 of the European Parliament and of the Council — requirements for PPE placed on the market, categories I–III, CE marking.
What the difference is
Workwear (work clothes, an apron, work footwear without protective features) is workstation equipment. The employer provides it because the work soils or damages employees’ own clothes, or because technology (e.g. food production) or hygiene requires it. It does not need CE marking as PPE.
Personal protective equipment (a helmet, goggles, protective gloves, footwear with toecaps, a safety harness, hearing protectors, high-visibility clothing, flame-retardant clothing) protects against a specific hazard identified in the risk assessment. It must have a conformity assessment and CE marking, and the employer must match it to the hazard and to the employee, instruct the employee in its use and look after its condition.
The same jacket can be workwear at one workstation and PPE at another: an ordinary insulated jacket in the warehouse and a class 2 high-visibility jacket in a yard with forklift traffic.
What follows from the difference
| Issue | Workwear | PPE |
|---|---|---|
| Basis for allocation | Art. 237⁷ of the Labour Code, working conditions | risk assessment, Annex 2 to the 1997 regulation |
| CE marking | not required | required (Regulation 2016/425) |
| Employee’s own clothing for a cash equivalent | permissible at selected workstations | not permissible |
| Laundering by the employee for a cash equivalent | permissible, except contaminated clothing | the employer is responsible for maintenance |
| Period of use | set by the employer by agreement | set by the employer; in addition, the manufacturer’s instructions and expiry date |
| Allowing work without it | not allowed | not allowed |
Allocation standards table
The employer sets the types of clothing, footwear and PPE and the expected periods of use in an allocation standards table, in agreement with the trade union or employee representatives. The law does not impose periods; the “12 months for work clothes” adopted in many companies is a custom, not a requirement. The table should include:
- the workstation or type of work,
- the type of clothing, footwear and PPE,
- the expected period of use (in months or “until worn out”),
- an indication of what is workwear and what is PPE.
For PPE, the period of use in the table does not exempt you from replacing it earlier: a helmet after an impact, chemical-resistant gloves after a puncture and a harness after arresting a fall are replaced regardless of the date.
Own clothing and cash equivalents
The employer may specify the workstations at which it allows employees to use their own workwear and work footwear in return for a cash equivalent. The exception: workstations where the work involves direct operation of machines and other technical equipment, or work that causes heavy soiling or contamination of clothing. There, the employer provides the clothing.
PPE is never replaced with a cash equivalent. Employees do not buy their own safety goggles or toecap footwear in exchange for a salary supplement.
Workwear may be laundered by the employee in return for a cash equivalent equal to the costs incurred, except for clothing contaminated with chemical or radioactive substances or biologically contaminated, which must not be given to the employee to launder at home.
Records
Every allocation must be documented: to whom, what and when it was issued, for what period and when it was returned. The clothing and PPE allocation record card is the basic evidence during an inspection and in a dispute over damaged clothing. For PPE, it is also worth recording the size, model and batch number, because in the event of a complaint or a product recall you need to know to whom it was issued.
Checklist
- The risk assessment identifies the hazards, and Annex 2 to the 1997 regulation confirms which PPE is required.
- Allocation standards table agreed with employee representatives, distinguishing workwear from PPE.
- Every item of PPE has a declaration of conformity and instructions for use; employees have been instructed.
- The list of workstations where own clothing is allowed does not include machine operation or soiling work.
- Cash equivalents for clothing and laundering calculated from current prices and costs, paid regularly.
- Allocation record cards kept for every employee.
Allocation standards, employee sizing, orders and issues with a signed receipt are handled by our SmartFlow module: the standards table lives in the system, and the issue of clothes or gloves is recorded on the employee’s record at the moment of issue, from the warehouse or from a dispensing machine. More about the whole area on the OHS page.
Legal status as of November 2026. This article is for information only and does not replace legal advice or the opinion of an OHS team.
