Dear Sirs,

we would like to inform you that a draft ordinance of the Minister of Family and Social Policy amending the ordinance on health and safety at work in workplaces equipped with screen monitors (hereinafter: the Draft) was published on the website of the Government Legislation Centre on 25 May 2023.

The modifications in question are justified by technological changes that have taken place since the entry into force of the amended act (i.e. since 1998).

The employer is obliged to protect the health and life of employees by providing them with safe and hygienic working conditions, with appropriate use of the achievements of science and technology. Hence, it has become necessary to regulate the issue of work in the case of the use of systems/mobile equipment intended for use at a given workstation for at least half of the daily working time.

The project defines a workstation as a space where work duties are performed, with basic equipment (screen monitor, keyboard, mouse or other input devices, software with user interface), chair and table, and optional additional equipment (disk station, printer, scanner, document holder, footrest).

In addition, the Project proposes the following changes:

• giving new wording to the appendix to the ordinance specifying the minimum health and safety and ergonomic requirements to be met by workstations equipped with screen monitors,
• restriction of the requirements concerning adjustment of the monitor’s setting, without specifying the range and the need to rotate it around its axis,
• removed the requirement to cover the monitor screen with an anti-reflection layer,
• the requirement to use a separate monitor stand has been removed, instead requiring that the monitor’s positioning should not cause uncomfortable head and neck movements,
• reduced the requirements for the design of the keyboard, in particular its height and angle, considering it sufficient to allow the user to adopt a position that does not cause hand-arm fatigue,
• specific requirements concerning the height of the table and the angle of inclination and surface of the footrest have been removed.

If you have general health and safety regulations in place, however, the coming into force of the amendment (the Draft) will result in the need to adapt them to the new guidelines. This means that it is advisable to create new internal company rules and regulations that take these issues into account.

The draft ordinance contains a temporary provision which requires employers to adapt workstations equipped with screen monitors created before the date of entry into force of the draft ordinance to the minimum requirements of occupational safety and health and ergonomics set out in the appendix to the ordinance within 3 months of the entry into force of the draft ordinance.

Although this is a draft ordinance and as of today we do not know its final form – it will in all probability enter into force – the current regulations do not correspond to today’s realities related to technological progress. The regulation (in the indicated or amended form) is expected to enter into force 14 days after its publication.

In view of the above, we would like to offer you our comprehensive services in terms of drawing up internal health and safety regulations for workplaces equipped with screen monitors or information / model statements for employees in the area of health and safety / verification of their compliance when the new regulations come into force – however, it is worthwhile to prepare now for the implementation of the regulations in question.

Please feel free to contact us to discuss the content of such regulations and accompanying documents.