Employment Brief: Serbia adopts new health and safety regulations

Recently, a new Law on Safety and Health at Work came into effect in Serbia, impacting all employers. This law ensures the implementation of the latest EU standards in terms of safety and health at work (EU Directive 89/391/EEC) as well as harmonisation within current HR regulations in Serbia.

Key novelties are:

• the concept of objective responsibility of the employer for non-compliance with the safety and health requirements;

• new definitions, such as “work from home” and “remote work”, “workplace”, “work environment”, and “objective unavoidable and immediate danger”;

• the register of injuries at work and register of licenses which will be maintained in e-form;

• a medical exam for employees working at night before they take on night work, and on a regular basis for the duration of said night work;

• employer’s obligation to provide employees with personal protective equipment in good condition and conduct training sessions to ensure its proper use; 

• employer’s obligation to issue a work permit when an employee is performing certain high-risk jobs (e.g. working at height, in-depth, and in confined spaces);

• employer’s obligation to refer the employee, at his/her request, to regular medical checks that correspond to the risks at the workplace. These costs are borne by the employer;

• appointment of occupational safety and health consultants, who’s number will depend on the business activity and the number of employees;

• higher misdemeanour fines, including fines for employees.