Accident Without Documentation: Article 220 KK

Let me tell you how it really looks. As long as nothing happens on the site, missing OSH (occupational safety and health, in Polish BHP) documentation is at most the risk of a fine from an inspector. But on the day someone falls off scaffolding or takes a plank to the head, the game changes its rules. Suddenly it's not a case about a five-thousand-zł penalty. It's a case where the prosecutor starts asking whether you exposed someone to death - and that carries up to 3 years behind bars. Sounds heavy? Because it is heavy. In this piece I'll show you where the line runs between a misdemeanour and a crime, and why a few sheets of paper can be your only line of defence. At BudoReady we've prepared ready-made templates - risk assessment, instructions, training records - precisely so you have that line of defence ready before it's needed.

Key points at a glance

• After a site accident, Article 220 of the Penal Code (art. 220 KK) kicks in - exposing a worker to an immediate danger of loss of life or serious harm to health - punishable by up to 3 years' imprisonment.
• Missing OSH documentation doesn't cause the accident, but after the accident it becomes the main evidence against you - because it shows you failed the duties under Articles 207-209 of the Labour Code.
• Complete documentation (risk assessment, training, instructions, medical checks) is proof of due diligence - it shows you did what was required of you.
• The prosecutor and PIP (Polish Labour Inspectorate) examine the same event from two sides: PIP pursues the misdemeanour, the prosecutor the crime. Two different proceedings and two different stakes.
• The accident register and the post-accident report are not after-the-fact bureaucracy - they're part of your defence, if kept diligently and on time.

A fine is one thing. A criminal case is a completely different league

Let's start with something many foremen confuse. A PIP inspector who comes for an inspection and sees a mess in the papers can impose a fine or refer a misdemeanour motion to the court. That hurts financially, but it's still "only" misdemeanour liability. We've laid out the full list of these penalties in a separate piece - see the full list of PIP penalties to know what you're really exposed to during an ordinary inspection.

But when someone gets hurt on the site, the prosecutor's office enters the scene. And here it's no longer about a fine. It's about a crime. The prosecutor doesn't ask "did you have the papers in the binder". They ask "did you expose someone to death and could you have prevented it". That's Article 220 of the Penal Code. And that's the second league, where the stake is your freedom.

What Article 220 of the Penal Code actually is

Article 220 of the Penal Code states plainly: whoever, being responsible for occupational safety and health, fails to fulfil the resulting duty and thereby exposes a worker to an immediate danger of loss of life or serious harm to health is subject to imprisonment of up to 3 years.

Note one thing. There doesn't have to be a fatality for it to be a crime. Mere exposure suffices - that is, creating a situation in which the worker was really threatened with something serious. The accident is just the most obvious evidence that this exposure existed. After an accident the prosecutor goes back to the day of the event and checks: was this person working in conditions that you, as the one responsible for OSH, should have secured.

And now the key part: who is "responsible for OSH"? On a small site it's most often you - the business owner or the manager who actually runs the work. You can't hide behind "I didn't know". Your duty was to know.

Where the duty comes from - Articles 207-209 of the Labour Code

The Penal Code doesn't hang in a vacuum. It speaks of "the duty arising from responsibility for OSH", and that duty itself is described by the Labour Code. Article 207 of the Labour Code puts it clearly: it's the employer who bears responsibility for the state of occupational safety and health in the workplace. Not the worker, not the subcontractor, not "it'll be fine". You.

Article 207 lists specifics: you must organise work safely, react to hazards, provide protective equipment. Article 237(3) of the Labour Code imposes the duty to train the worker in OSH before you let them start work. And the details - what a safe workstation should look like, what conditions you must meet - are governed by the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on general occupational safety and health regulations.

These are the "duties" whose failure the prosecutor will enter into the indictment. And OSH documentation is simply your proof that you carried out those duties - or proof that you didn't. There's no other version.

Why documentation is your proof of due diligence

Imagine two situations. In the first, after an accident the prosecutor receives your file: a current occupational risk assessment for the given post, a signed initial and periodic training record, a safe-work instruction for that machine, the worker's valid medical checks, a record of handing over personal protective equipment. What does that show? That you identified the hazard, informed the person about it, trained them and gave them the equipment. You did what was required of you.

In the second situation the file is empty or the papers are "cobbled together" after the fact, on the knee. That shows exactly the opposite: the worker walked into a hazard nobody formally informed them about, without training, without an instruction. For the prosecutor that's ready-made evidence of a failure of duty.

Here's the crux. Documentation won't make the plank not slip. But it shifts the burden of assessment. It shows you exercised due diligence - that you did what the law required of you, and that the accident happened despite it, not through your negligence. In criminal proceedings that's the difference between being a defendant and being a witness.

What specifically saves your skin

• Occupational risk assessment (ORZ) - for every post, current. Shows you knew about the hazard and described it.
• OSH training records - initial and periodic, with the worker's signature and date. Proof the person was prepared.
• Safe-work instructions - for machines, at height, for particularly dangerous works.
• Medical checks - a valid certificate of no contraindications to work in the given post.
• Confirmation of issuing personal protective equipment - helmet, harness, goggles. That you provided it, not just "told them to buy it themselves".

What PIP examines, and what the prosecutor examines

After a serious site accident both institutions usually appear, and it's worth understanding that they look at it from different perspectives.

PIP establishes the circumstances and causes of the accident, checks the documentation, assesses whether OSH regulations were breached. The inspector can impose a fine, refer a misdemeanour motion, and in more serious cases - notify the prosecutor of a suspected crime. It's often PIP that "passes the ball" to the prosecutor.

The prosecutor's office conducts the criminal proceedings. It examines whether there was exposure under Article 220 of the Penal Code, and in cases of serious injury or death - also other crimes against health and life. The prosecutor will appoint an OSH expert who will analyse your documentation, the state of safeguards, the organisation of work. That expert's opinion carries the most weight in the case. And the expert assesses on the basis of the papers - the ones you have or the ones you don't.

These are two separate tracks. You can get a fine from PIP and, in parallel, stand before the criminal court for the same event. Misdemeanour and criminal liability don't exclude each other.

The accident register and post-accident report - part of the defence, not a formality

Once an accident does happen, your conduct in the first hours and days is also assessed. You have a duty to establish the circumstances and causes of the event, draw up a post-accident report and enter the accident into the register. If you do it diligently and on time, you show that the firm operates properly - that you're not sweeping things under the carpet.

If you don't do it, or do it sloppily, you add another charge and another piece of evidence of negligence. A diligent report, kept in line with procedure, can also establish that the immediate cause was, for example, a gross breach of the rules by the injured person themselves despite training - and that matters in assessing your liability. We've laid out how to run it step by step in a separate guide: the accident register and post-accident report.

The PIP reform from 8 July 2026 - why this matters more now than ever

From 8 July 2026 the reform of the Polish Labour Inspectorate comes into force. Inspectors get stronger tools and more freedom of action, and site inspections - especially where accidents occur - will be more probing. This doesn't mean the criminal provisions change. Article 220 of the Penal Code was and is. What changes is how effectively gaps in documentation will be caught and passed on.

Put plainly: the chance rises that an empty binder gets noticed, described and sent where you don't want it sent. The closer this date gets, the less sense there is in putting off sorting your papers.

Have documentation ready before it's needed - the FULL package with PIP response

Let's not kid ourselves - no foreman has time to write a risk assessment and instructions from scratch in the evenings. So we did it for you. BudoReady packages are ready-made OSH document templates tailored to PKD 43 (Polish business activity code), in Polish and Ukrainian - you just fill in the company details.

If the theme of this article struck a nerve - criminal liability, an inspection after an accident, a prosecutor - then your choice is the FULL package (749 zł). It has everything from the STARTER and STANDARD packages, plus the PIP response pack: ready procedures for the event of an inspection or incident, a post-accident report template, an accident register and a list of steps to take once the inspector is already on the site. That's the difference between panic and calmly handing over the file.

If you're starting out calmly and want a solid base, the STANDARD package (449 zł) gives you a complete set of everyday documentation. But on the topic of criminal liability, FULL sleeps better.

The promotion runs until 7 July 2026 - just before the PIP reform comes in. You'll have to pay the price anyway later, only without the discount and perhaps already after the first inspection.

See the packages and choose FULL with PIP response →

The point is one and simple. OSH documentation isn't bureaucracy you do for the inspector's peace of mind. It's your insurance policy. On the day everything goes wrong, those sheets will be the only thing that tells the prosecutor: this person did what was required of them. Take care of them before you need them - because by then it'll be too late to make them up.

This article is informational and does not replace individual legal advice or consultation with an OSH specialist. Document templates require individual adaptation to the realities of your company and specific job posts, and the current legal position is worth verifying as of the date of use.