An accident at work sets off a chain of obligations, each with its own deadline and addressee. An employer facing this for the first time usually calls an OHS consultancy first and then looks for document templates. Below is the order of actions, from securing the scene to the accident register, with the legal basis for each step.
Legal basis
- Polish Labour Code (Kodeks pracy), Art. 234 — in the event of an accident, the employer takes action to eliminate or limit the hazard, provides first aid, establishes the circumstances and causes and applies preventive measures; immediately notifies the district labour inspector and the public prosecutor of a fatal, serious or collective accident; keeps an accident register; keeps the post-accident report for 10 years.
- Act of 30 October 2002 on social insurance against accidents at work and occupational diseases, Art. 3 — definition of an accident at work: a sudden event caused by an external cause, resulting in injury or death, which occurred in connection with work.
- Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 1 July 2009 on determining the circumstances and causes of accidents at work — the accident investigation team, the deadline for drawing up the report, approval, delivery to the injured person.
- Regulation of the Minister of Family and Social Policy on the statistical accident-at-work card — the statistical card for Statistics Poland (GUS).
- Labour Code, Art. 237 and the regulation on the accident register — scope of the register.
The first hour
- Help for the injured person. Calling an ambulance if their condition requires it, first aid by designated employees.
- Removing the hazard. Switching off the machine, cutting the power, securing the area so that no one else gets hurt.
- Securing the accident scene. Until the circumstances have been established, machines and equipment that were stopped must not be restarted, and objects must not be moved if they could have had an effect on the accident. Consent to changes is given by the employer in agreement with the social labour inspector, and in the case of a fatal, serious or collective accident after agreement with the labour inspector and the public prosecutor.
- Notifications. The employer immediately notifies the district labour inspector and the public prosecutor of a fatal, serious or collective accident. Failure to notify is a petty offence.
It is worth writing down straight away who witnessed the event and taking photos of the scene. The accident investigation team will need this anyway, and witnesses’ memories fade with every day.
The accident investigation team
The circumstances and causes are established by the accident investigation team. It is made up of a member of the OHS team and a social labour inspector. In a workplace without an OHS team, its place is taken by the employer, an employee performing the tasks of the OHS team, or an external specialist. Where there is no social labour inspector, their place is taken by an employee representative with a valid OHS training certificate. In a small company where a two-person team cannot be put together, the team consists of the employer and an external specialist.
The team inspects the accident scene and the condition of the machines and equipment, takes explanations from the injured person and information from witnesses, seeks the opinion of a doctor and other specialists if needed, and assesses whether the employer or the injured person breached any regulations.
The post-accident report and its deadlines
The report is drawn up no later than 14 days from the day on which notification of the accident was received. If the deadline is missed, the report must state the reasons for the delay. The injured person has the right to read the report before it is approved and to submit comments and objections; they also have access to the case file.
The employer approves the report no later than 5 days after it is drawn up. If the report contains findings that infringe the employee’s rights, or the employer has comments, the employer returns it to the team for clarification and completion; the team has 5 days for this. The employer delivers the approved report without delay to the injured person or, in the case of a fatal accident, to the family. The employer also delivers the report on a fatal, serious or collective accident to the labour inspector.
The report and its attachments (explanations, witness information, opinions, sketches, photos) are kept for 10 years.
After the report
- Register of accidents at work. The employer enters every accident in it: the injured person’s details, the place and date, information on the consequences, the date the report was drawn up, a statement of whether the event is an accident at work, and the preventive conclusions.
- Statistical accident card. It is prepared on the basis of the approved report and sent to GUS within the deadlines set by the regulation on the statistical card.
- Preventive measures. The conclusions of the report must be fed into the occupational risk assessment for that workstation and into the instructions. If the accident showed that the risk assessment did not anticipate the hazard, the assessment must be updated.
- Benefits. The injured person claims benefits from ZUS (the Social Insurance Institution) on the basis of the report; the company does not pay accident insurance compensation itself.
The most common mistakes
- Restarting the machine and “tidying up” before the team arrives, because production is waiting.
- A one-person team, or a team made up of people without the required qualifications.
- A late report with no explanation of the reasons.
- No signature of the injured person confirming they have read the report, or no delivery of the report.
- Preventive conclusions that change nothing in the risk assessment or the instructions.
- Not reporting the event because the employee “did it to himself” and did not want to cause trouble.
Checklist
- Employees designated to give first aid; PIP and public prosecutor’s office numbers kept by the shift supervisor’s phone.
- Procedure for securing the accident scene known to the foremen.
- Composition of the accident investigation team set in advance, with deputies.
- Templates for the report, the injured person’s explanations and witness statements to hand.
- Accident register kept up to date, reports kept for 10 years.
- Conclusions from every accident recorded in the risk assessment and in the instruction programme.
In the OHS app, an incident on the shop floor can be reported straight away from a kiosk or a phone, with a description and a photo, and the OHS team member receives it in a queue with the report deadline counted from the day it was reported. The accident register and preventive conclusions are then in the same place as the risk assessment and training. More on how we put OHS in order in a company 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.
