PIP Reform 2026: What Changes for Construction Firms

From 8 July 2026, an inspector from the PIP (the Polish Labour Inspectorate) walks onto a construction site with a fatter ticket book and new tools. The on-the-spot fine jumps from 2 000 zł to 5 000 zł repeat-offence penalties come in, there is a 50 000 zł penalty for unpaid wages, and remote inspections that you will never see at the gate. If you run a small firm under PKD 43 (specialised construction), this affects you - whether you employ two people or twenty. At BudoReady we have ready-made templates for each of these points, but first let's go through the facts so you know what you actually need to prepare.

Key points in brief

• The PIP reform comes into force on 8 July 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026 item 473, the Act of 11 March 2026).
• The inspector's on-the-spot fine rises from 2 000 zł to 5 000 zł with repeat offences up to 10 000 zł.
• Penalties under the Labour Code range from 2 000 zł to 60,000, plus a new type of penalty of 50 000 zł for prolonged non-payment of wages.
• Remote and hybrid inspections appear - the inspector can check you without setting foot on site.
• PIP starts targeting firms algorithmically, including through patterns from KSeF (the Polish e-invoicing system) - this is no longer a lottery.

What exactly is this reform and when does it start

The specifics: the Act of 11 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026 item 473) comes into force on 8 July 2026. This is not a gentle tweak - it is a rebuild of the way PIP inspects and penalises. Three things change at once: the penalty amounts go up, the way firms are selected for inspection changes, and new forms of inspection itself are added.

For a small construction firm under PKD 43, this means one thing: the old "it'll be fine somehow" stops working. Previously a small firm counted on PIP not having enough people to reach it. After 8 July, the inspector no longer needs to travel to start an inspection. More on that in a moment.

The fine rises from 2 000 zł to 5 000 zł - and that's not all

The most tangible change is the penal fine the inspector issues on the spot. Today the maximum is 2 000 zł. From 8 July - 5 000 zł. And if the inspector catches you on the same failing a second time (a repeat offence), the fine reaches 10 000 zł.

Sounds like small change against construction turnover? Count how many such fines an inspector can issue in a single day if they walk onto a site where people work without helmets, without job-specific training, without an occupational risk assessment at the workstation. That's not one fine - it's a whole run of them.

Labour Code penalties: 2 000–60 000 zł

The fine is only the tip. For more serious offences against workers' rights the case goes to court, and there the penalty range is 2 000–60 000 zł. We're talking about things like putting a worker to work without a medical examination, without OSH (occupational safety and health) training, no occupational risk assessment, no job-specific instructions at the machines.

On a construction site these are everyday matters. A new person on site without current job-specific training and a medical is ready-made material for such a case. We laid out the full list of penalties in a separate post - worth reviewing before someone shows it to you in an inspection report.

New: 50 000 zł for prolonged non-payment of wages

This is a new type of penalty that did not exist before. If a firm persistently fails to pay people their wages, the inspector can hit it with a penalty of up to 50 000 zł. It is aimed squarely at industries where "pushing payday back a month" used to be the norm - and construction is at the top of that list.

If you happen to pay people late because "the investor hasn't transferred yet" - after 8 July that becomes an expensive habit.

Penalty table after 8 July 2026

Type of sanction	Before the reform	After 8 July 2026
Inspector's fine (on the spot)	up to 2 000 zł	up to 5 000 zł
Fine for a repeat offence	-	up to 10 000 zł
Labour Code penalties (court)	1 000–30 000 zł	2 000–60 000 zł
Prolonged non-payment of wages	no separate penalty	up to 50 000 zł

Look at the right-hand column and translate it into the reality of your own site. These are not amounts that dissolve into costs.

Remote and hybrid inspections - the inspector without setting foot on site

Here is the change many site managers will miss, because you can't see it at the gate. After the reform, PIP can conduct an inspection remotely - it summons you to send documents, checks them at its own desk, and only then (or not at all) shows up on site. A hybrid inspection combines the two: the paperwork part remotely, the physical part on site.

What does this mean for you in practice? That the first contact with an inspector is often a demand to send documentation within a few working days. If you don't have your occupational risk assessment, training registers, medicals and instructions pulled together - you won't manage to "add them in" after the deadline. The documents have to exist before the letter arrives.

This changes the whole logic of preparation, in fact. It used to be about the site looking tidy in time for the inspection. Now it's about the folder being ready all the time, because a summons can land by email at any hour.

Algorithmic targeting of firms through KSeF patterns

And here we come to the most important thing to understand. PIP stops picking firms for inspection "blindly". After the reform, the inspectorate targets firms algorithmically, drawing among other things on patterns visible in KSeF - the National e-Invoicing System.

How it works in plain terms: the system looks at what you invoice and to whom, what your employment profile looks like, how large your revenue is relative to the number of declared workers. If you issue construction-work invoices for large amounts while you have a single person declared to social insurance (ZUS) - the algorithm sees this and moves your firm higher up the inspection list.

We laid out in detail how PIP targets firms through KSeF and which patterns light up a red flag. The key takeaway: inspection stops being a matter of bad luck. If your profile matches the risk pattern, it's not a question of "whether", only "when".

Let's bust the myth: "another law that doesn't apply to me"

I know the talk from the site: "I've got a small firm, two blokes, who cares about me". Well, they do care - and more than they care about the big players. Three reasons:

• The algorithm doesn't look at size, only at the pattern. A small firm with large invoices and one worker declared to ZUS is a textbook targeting case.
• Remote inspection lowers the barrier to entry. The inspector no longer has to lose a day travelling to your firm at the far end of the district. They send a summons and wait for the documents.
• For a small firm 5 000 zł hurts more than 50 000 zł does for a developer. The big players have an OSH department and a lawyer. You have yourself and a folder that either exists or doesn't.

The reform does not go easy on the small ones. It actually makes it easier to reach the small ones. That's the whole point.

What to have ready BEFORE 8 July - a preparation calendar

Good news: you don't need months to sort this out. Most of it is documents you either already have or draw up once and update. The legal basis doesn't change - the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 26.09.1997 (general OSH rules) and the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 6.02.2003 (OSH in construction work) still apply. The reform changes the penalties and the way of inspecting, not the list of required papers.

The minimum that must exist (a folder for remote inspection)

1. Occupational risk assessment (ORZ) for each job - the first document the inspector asks for.
2. OSH training register - induction and periodic, with dates and signatures.
3. Job-specific training for everyone who sets foot on site.
4. Current medical examinations of workers - without them a person has no right to work.
5. OSH instructions at the machines and for particularly hazardous work.
6. Register of issued personal protective equipment (PPE) - who got a helmet, harness, boots and when.

For larger works and work at height

• BIOZ plan (health and safety plan) where the rules require it.
• IBWR (safe-work instructions) for specific tasks (excavations, work at height, scaffolding, demolition work).
• UA (Ukrainian) versions of documents and training if you have workers from Ukraine on your team - the inspector will check whether the person understood what they signed.

If you work on large sites (Skanska, Budimex, Strabag)

Main contractors have their own entry requirements, often stricter than the rules themselves. A documentation package built to their procedures handles two things at once: entry onto their site and readiness for PIP. It's the same set of papers, just arranged the way a large investor wants it.

Survive a PIP inspection - start with the STARTER package

If you're reading this and working out in your head what you're missing - don't build it from scratch. The STARTER package (299 zł) is 10 ready-made files: an occupational risk assessment, OSH instructions, registers and a checklist for a PIP inspection. You fill in your details, adapt it to your site, and you have a folder that exists before the summons, not after.

Need more - job-specific training, medicals, a BIOZ plan, PPE - you take STANDARD (449 zł 27 files). And if you work on large sites and need IBWR in six types, UA versions and a package for developers as well as one for responding to the PIP inspection itself - there's FULL (749 zł 45 files).

The promotion runs until 7 July 2026 - exactly the day before the reform takes effect. That's no coincidence. See the See BudoReady packages and have peace of mind before the inspector sends their first email.

Legal basis: the Act of 11 March 2026 amending the Act on the National Labour Inspectorate and certain other acts (Journal of Laws 2026 item 473), coming into force on 8 July 2026 - ISAP.

This article is for information only - I describe the changes as an old hand in the trade understands them, but it does not replace advice from an OSH specialist or the current state of the law. If in doubt, check with an OSH professional or at the source. Document templates require individual adaptation to the realities of your firm and specific jobs, and the current legal state is worth verifying as at the date of use.