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The laws related to health and safety in Croatia include the Occupational Health and Safety Act (or Safety at Work Act) and the Fire Protection Act. When starting a business in Croatia, fulfilling safety at work and fire safety obligations are among the many requirements. Unfortunately, there are no clear channels for gathering information about exactly what are employer’s obligations, except for reading through the extensive documentation of the mentioned laws.

Fortunately, reading this article will provide you with everything you need to know.

As soon as you employ at least one person (other than the CEO of the company), you become an employer, which means you have certain general obligations, obligations regarding your employees, and obligations regarding your business premises.

General employer’s obligations

Conducting a risk assessment is a foundational document of Occupational Health and Safety, and it’s a must-have regardless of the type of work your company does or where your employees work from (field, offices, home, hybrid, etc.).

Another general obligation for every employer is to regulate how you will organize monitoring of safety at work in your company. Officially, this is called: Performing occupational safety at work by a qualified person. The legislature expects you to continually monitor the HS situation in your company. This monitoring is twofold:

1. Administrative monitoring; tracking legal changes and the validity of documents.
2. Practical monitoring: managing risks in your business premises and ensuring that your employees carry out their duties by following instructions for safe work practices.

Fortunately, you have two options for regulating this; you can do it in-house if you have a qualified person, or you can outsource it to an HS certified company (provided you don’t employ more than 49 people). The qualification depends on the educational background of the person (a rule of thumb is that technical colleges and high schools usually provide the necessary qualification). If you employ more than 49 people, you must hire either a safety at work specialist or a safety at work expert, depending on the type of risks present in your work process and environment.

Employer’s obligations towards employees

This is relatively straightforward. Every employee must have 2 trainings:

1. Training for safety at work – this must be done every time the employee changes employers.
2. Training for fire safety – theoretically, this must be done only once, provided the employee has a certificate that proves they’ve undergone this training.

Either the employer or one person authorized by the employer must be trained as the Employer’s representative for safety at work. This is a mandatory function as the Employer’s representative must sign training certificates for the safety at work of all other employees.

First aid training – if more than one employee works in one shift, one person per shift (per location) must be trained for first aid. This type of training is conducted by Occupational Medicine institutions.

Medical exams. Some types of jobs are considered as jobs with special working conditions. Employees working in those jobs have to undergo medical exams to prove they are physically/mentally capable of performing their duties. These exams are conducted by occupational medicine institutions.

Obligations regarding your business premises

Regardless of whether you own or rent an office, warehouse, store, or any other type of space – if your employees work in a workspace under your control, you have certain obligations to fulfil. Typically, these obligations include:

1. Testing of electricity.
2. Testing of the work environment (lighting, noise, temperature, humidity, airflow).
3. Evacuation plan (graphic – floor plan and textual – evacuation plan documentation).

If you have any fire protection devices (such as emergency lighting, hydrants, fire alarms, etc.), these also must be tested. The same applies if you have gas installations. If you possess specific work equipment that can cause injuries, it too must be tested.

Once you have completed all these tasks, you must keep the situation up to date – new employees have to be trained, risk assessments must be updated (if needed), and testing needs to be conducted again (yearly or every few years, depending on the type of testing).

That about sums things up. There can be some additional obligations depending on specific and unique circumstances related to your company. Feel free to contact us if you need further clarifications.