Safety in transport and storage
Before starting work involving the transport and storage of goods, workers must undergo a required training course on occupational health and safety, covering on-the-job training.
Employers’ instructions
Employers must issue detailed instructions and guidelines on occupational health and safety for jobs involving the transport and storage of goods. The instructions must relate at least to:
- rules for traffic on internal roads
- rules for storing materials, specifying, inter alia, where, how and to what height each type of material may be stored
- information on the permissible load for floors, ceilings and storage equipment
- rules relating to the handling of objects, especially their weight and the position of the centre of gravity
- rules for handling the machines and technical devices used.
Qualifications of lift truck operators
If workers are responsible for handling motor-powered lift trucks, they must meet additional requirements. If they handle lift trucks with mechanical lifting drive, they must be over 18 years old and hold:
- a qualification certificate for handling lift trucks obtained under provisions on the method and procedure for verifying qualifications required to handle and maintain technical devices and on the method and procedure for extending the validity period of qualification certificates, or
- an operator licence for heavy construction and road machinery or a working machinery operator’s logbook containing an entry on the handling of lift trucks.
If they handle other lift trucks (i.e. without mechanical lifting drive), they must be over 18 years old and:
hold a certificate of completion of training required for the given type of lift truck, confirming the acquisition of skills, based on programmes developed or approved:
- by the Office of Technical Inspection (Urząd Dozoru Technicznego) or
- since 1 January 2011, by the Human Resources Development Centre (Ośrodek Doskonalenia Kadr) in Mysłowice, or
- hold a document confirming that the holder is licensed to operate motor vehicles or vehicle combinations consisting of a motor vehicle and a trailer or semi-trailer obtained under provisions on documents confirming that holders are licensed to operate vehicles, or
- meet the conditions set out for operators of lift trucks with mechanical lifting drive.
Operators of gas-powered trucks and persons who change cylinders in such trucks should undergo training on how to safely use cylinders, including how to safely change them.