With regard to issues of health and safety at work and irrespective of the activities of their companies, employers have the obligations laid down in Articles 5 to 12 of Framework Directive 89/391/EEC transposed into Greek law by virtue of Presidential Decree 17/1996 and codified by virtue of Law 3850/2010. More specifically, Law 3850/2010 stipulates that employers must use the services of a safety technician and occupational physician : these persons, who must have the skills and qualifications specified in Articles 13 and 16 (as amended and in force), may be associated with the enterprise either under an employment relationship or under a service provision contract. In addition to their other competences, the Safety Technician and Occupational Physician must cooperate in the performance of their duties, jointly authoring and revising the written occupational risk assessment required under the aforementioned law.
The assignment of Safety Technicians (ST) and Occupational Physicians (OP) by employers shall take place exclusively online via the website of the Management Information System (MIS) of Labour Inspectorate , and ST and OP duties may be assigned only to persons entered and registered in the Databases of the MIS in question. Information on the process for registered ST and OP in the MIS Database can be found under the section ‘Online Services Guide’ on the home page of the website.
The same section contains ‘Instructions on ST Announcement’ and contains ‘Instructions on OP Announcement’, outlining all the steps of the procedure for the announcement of a safety technician occupational physician via the MIS. .
The general risk prevention principles for the health and safety of workers are laid down in Article 42 of Law 3850/2010 as amended by article 7 of Law 4808/2021, while the special measures for the protection of the health and safety of workers that employers must take in relation to the hazards arising at their companies must be documented in the written occupational risk assessment and must satisfy the provisions of the special Instructions of Framework Directive 89/391/EEC ratified by national statutes, as indicated below:
(the list of statutes is not exhaustive)
1. Hazards associated with the building infrastructure of the enterprise or facility (excluding worksites)
- Directive 89/654/EEC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 16/1996
2. Engineering and electrical hazards
- Directive 89/655/EEC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 395/1994
- Directive 95/63/EEC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 89/1999
- Directive 1999/92/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 42/2003
- Directive 2001/45/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 155/2004
- Directive 2006/42/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 57/2010
3. Hazards due to exposure to physical agents
- Directive 2002/44/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 176/2005
- Directive 2003/10/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 149/2006
- Directive 2006/25/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 82/2010
- Directive 2013/35/EU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 120/2016
4. Hazards due to exposure to chemical, carcinogenic or biological agents
- Directive 98/24/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 338/2001
- Directive 90/394/EEC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 399/1994
- Directives 2000/54/EK, 2019/1833/EE and 2020/739/EE ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 102/2020
- Directive 97/42/ΕC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 127/2000
- Directive 1999/38/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 43/2003
- Directive 2003/18/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 212/2006
- Directive 2006/15/ΕC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 162/2007
- Directive 2000/39/ΕU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 339/2001
- Directive 2009/161/EU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 12/2012
- Directive 2017/164/EU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 82/2018
- Directive 2014/27/EU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 52/2015
- Directives 2017/2398/EU, 2019/130/EU and (EU)2019/983 ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 26/2020
- Directive 2019/1831/EU ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 72/2021
5. Hazards due to musculoskeletal strain at work
- Directive 90/269/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 397/1994
- Directive 90/270/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 398/1994
6. Hazards of any kind not fully addressed through collective means of protection
- Directive 89/656/EC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 396/1994
In addition to the foregoing covering all activities, employers’ obligations on taking special security measures on a case-by-case basis are also laid down in other provisions of national legislation concerning specific activities, such as:
- Building and technical works (Presidential Decree 1073/1981 and Directive 92/57/EEC ratified by virtue of Presidential Decree 305/1996)
- Ship-repair works (Presidential Decree 70/1990)
- Service stations (Royal Decree 380/1963)
- Printing houses (Royal Decree 464/1968)
- The lead-acid accumulator industry (Royal Decree 590/1968)
For further information, contact the Audit Planning and Coordination Department of the Inspectorate of Health and Safety at Work or the Health and Safety at Work Inspection Departments of the Regional Directorates of Labour Inspectorate.
Source: https://www.gov.gr