On 28 April 2023, on the International Day of Safety and Health at Work, after 18 years, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia passed the new Law on Safety and Health at Work.
New definitions
The Law introduces a lot of changes of the previously defined terms:
- the definition of the workplace has been changed, and it is now the work tasks that the employee performs in the working environment in which he/she stays or has access during work and which is under the direct or indirect control of the employer,
- definitions of working from home have been introduced as work that the employee performs using information and communication technologies from the place of residence and remote work that is performed in another area that is not the employee’s place of residence, nor an area under the direct control of the employer,
- the terms occupational safety and health adviser and occupational safety and health associate have been introduced instead of the term person for occupational safety and health,
- a new term, Register of Injuries at Work, was introduced as a single, electronically managed database of injuries at work, which is maintained on the basis of work injury reports.
Engagement of occupational safety and health advisers and associates
Another novelty is that an employer that employs 251 to 500 people in certain activities is obliged to have at least two, and if it employs more than 500 employees, is obliged to have at least three advisors, engaged under the full-time employment agreement. If the employer engages a legal entity or an entrepreneur who has a license to perform safety and health at work, that legal entity or entrepreneur determines the number of occupational health and safety advisors.
In all other activities, an employer who employs more than 500 employees is obliged to conclude a full-time employment agreement with at least two occupational health and safety associates.
