Accident prevention

As part of the accident prevention, ZUS:

• subsidises the activities of contribution payers aimed at maintaining earning capacity throughout the period of professional activity,
• analyses the causes and effects of an accidents at work (especially fatal, serious and collective accidents) and occupational diseases,
• disseminates knowledge of hazards causing accidents at work and occupational diseases and methods of their prevention,
• conducts scientific and research work aimed at eliminating or reducing the causes of accidents at work and occupational diseases.

In 2024, the expenditure on accident prevention tasks totalled PLN 123.6 million.

From 2013, the Social Insurance Institution has been subsidising the activities of contribution payers aimed at maintaining earning capacity throughout the period of professional activity. These activities are implemented by the payers under projects that are intended to:

• improve the occupational health and safety,
• reduce the risk of an accidents at work or occupational diseases,
• reduce adverse effects of risk factors at workplaces.

In 2024, the Social Insurance Institution continued to promote knowledge on the medical rehabilitation by, inter alia, subsidising, to the amount of PLN 73 thousand, 5 scientific projects in which ZUS representatives participated. This made it possible to dissemi- nate information about the medical rehabilitation programme run by ZUS and to gain knowledge about the latest medical developments, especially in rehabilitation of diseases covered by ZUS rehabilitation programme, and also provided an opportunity to build on good practice in this area.

In the competition announced on 2 February 2024 for projects concerning the mainte- nance of earning capacity throughout the entire period of professional life, to be imple- mented in 2025, ZUS accepted 5,054 requests for co-financing. Contribution payers whose projects have been selected for co-financing implement them in 2025.

As part of other tasks in the field of an accident prevention, the Social Insurance Institution commissions scientific and research studies and analyses of the causes and consequences of accidents at work and occupational diseases. Then, on the basis of conclusions from these studies ZUS:

• sets out the directions for preventive activities;
• organises trainings on accident prevention,
• develops information materials.

The Social Insurance Institution disseminates knowledge about hazards causing accidents at work and occupational diseases, as well as ways of counteracting these threats by, inter alia, organising training, issuing brochures and leaflets with information about the safety and protection of people in the work environment, participation in information campaigns, co-financing conferences, congresses and scientific symposia on safety in the work environment.

These activities are aimed to:

• develop the proper approach of employees and employers to safety in the workplace,
• promote safe behaviour.

In 2024, 621 accident prevention training courses were organised, in which 15,118 persons participated

As part of ZUS cooperation with the National Labour Inspectorate (Państwowa Inspekcja Pracy, PIP) in the implementation of the ‘Construction. STOP accidents!’ campaign, the following four brochures from the ‘Construction’ series have been disseminated:

• ‘Safety at work posts’,
• ‘Nets that save lives’,
• ‘Working in excavations’,
• ‘Selection of technical measures to prevent falls from height.’

In 2024, ZUS:

• in cooperation with the State Mining Authority (Wyższy Urząd Górniczy), organised two one-day seminars entitled: ‘Safety of operation of electrical power equipment and installations’ and ‘Regulations and rules of the operation of explosion-proof equipment in mining operations’, and a two-day seminar entitled: ‘Educational activities for the effective improvement of safety and health protection of workers’;
• co-financed nine projects for a total amount of PLN 137.3 thousand – as part of its efforts to disseminate knowledge about the risks causing accidents at work and occupational diseases, as well as ways to counteract this risks;
• organised a conference entitled 'Prevention as the path to a safe and healthy tomorrow: health – demographics – technologies;’ the partners of the event included: National Labour Inspectorate, National Institute of Public Health – National Research Institute, National Labour Fund, PZU Zdrowie, Central Institute for Labour Protection – National Research Institute, Prof. J. Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź, State Mining Authority, Polish Association of Occupational Health and Safety Employees, AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Wieliczka Salt Mine, Employers of Poland and the Safe at Work Coalition Association.

In 2024, the Social Insurance Institution joined the group of partners of the Vision Zero strategy. This is a prevention strategy in the field of occupational safety, devel- oped by the International Social Security Association (ISSA) – in particular by the ISSA Special Commission on Prevention – in cooperation with occupational health and safety experts, employers, employee representatives and labour inspectors. To promote knowledge about effective accident prevention methods and focusing on continuous improvement of health and safety conditions at work, ZUS has prepared a Polish version of the basic guide on the strategy ‘Vision Zero. 7 Golden Rules – for zero accidents and healthy work. A guide for employers and managers’.