Meeting the objectives depends on the scope and performance of action aiming at using and popularising its results. For that reason, and due to the economy structure, where over 98% of businesses are SMEs – it is indispensable for the implementation of Programme’s results to directly involve the state administration in their dissemination. Those actions ought to be carried out on various levels:

• central – coordinated by respective Ministries; actions; work supporting the improvement of working conditions in priority industry sectors for national economic development and in the areas of high accident risk, including dissemination work aimed at dispersed public (e.g., SMEs)
• social – executed jointly with social partners and the key institutions in the Polish Labour protection system; work shaping pro-safety attitudes and educating selected groups of employers and employees (particularly from high-risk sectors) and training specialists
• local – executed in enterprises and for specific target groups; work concerning the reduction of occupational risk in specific work processes or adapting working conditions to particular workers’ needs, e.g. resulting from their age or disability.

Meeting the Programme’s objectives will improve the working abilities owing to the following:

• reduced occupational hazards to the extent allowing extended professional activity,
• improved quality of work and life,
• improved safety culture in the working and living environment, bringing about reduction in the number of accidents and occupational diseases.

Main objective

The Programme’s main objective is to develop innovative technical and organisational solutions, aiming at development of human resources, new products, technologies, and management methods and systems whose application will help reduce the number of workers exposed to harmful, dangerous and onerous factors, and reduce the related number of work accidents, occupational diseases and resulting economic and social losses.

For this aim, a new challenge is the extension of professional activity age, according to the novel Act on pensions and disability benefits from the Social Insurance Fund, dated 11.05.2012.

Detailed objectives

• creating opportunities for fulfilling the requirements of new strategic documents on OSH and EU directives
• developing and improving solutions for improvement and preservation of working abilities in order to prevent labour market exclusion, particularly for elderly people
• developing methods and tools for preventing and reducing occupational risk in the working environment, including new and emerging risks
• widening the knowledge on causes and results of work accidents and occupational diseases, and on profitability of preventive action on state and enterprises level
• shaping and promoting safety culture by improving OSH management and developing a modern system of educating and informing the society, with reference to the life cycle, from childhood to retirement