OSH Coordinator in Poland: Role, Duties and Powers
When several contractors are working on the same site at the same time, it’s easy for chaos, conflicting decisions, and — worst of all — real danger to employees’ health to follow. That’s exactly when the OSH coordinator steps in. They’re not a full-time enforcer of the rules, but their vigilance, knowledge, and judgement often decide whether the work finishes as a success — or as a series of accident reports. Who really is an OSH coordinator, what are their duties, when does one need to be appointed, and what can they actually do when they spot a hazard? If you want to avoid costly mistakes, keep reading.
Who should actually become an OSH coordinator? Don’t get the choice wrong
At first glance, it might seem that an OSH coordinator is simply another member of the OSH service — someone experienced, ideally with inspector-level qualifications. In practice, it’s a bit different. An OSH coordinator doesn’t have to be an OSH service employee, although they often are. It isn’t a job title but a function performed under specific conditions — most commonly when people employed by different employers are working in the same place. And this is where it gets tricky. It can’t be just anyone who happens to hold an OSH certificate and has a free slot in their schedule. The choice of who takes on this function should be deliberate. The regulations don’t rigidly specify what qualifications are required — but that doesn’t mean anyone will do.
If you’re an employer who wants peace of mind, check whether the candidate knows the specifics of the industry, understands the hazards on site, can work with different teams, and can make quick decisions under difficult conditions. For more complex projects — such as construction sites or machine installation — the OSH coordinator should have not just practical experience but the technical background to match. It often helps if the role goes to someone who has already supervised similar projects and knows what real work “in the field” looks like. This isn’t about someone sitting on the sidelines with a folder of regulations — it’s about someone who genuinely understands what’s happening on site, and who can act before something goes wrong.
Does your company actually need an OSH coordinator? Check before it’s too late
Not every company needs to go looking for an OSH coordinator right away, but there are situations where having one is mandatory — and not as a formality, but as a genuine necessity. Under Article 208 of the Polish Labour Code, an OSH coordinator must be appointed whenever people employed by different employers are working in the same place at the same time. This is the typical case with renovations, construction projects, servicing work, or the installation of large-scale equipment. If you’re managing a project that brings several contracting companies together, this isn’t something you can ignore.
Not having a coordinator in these conditions isn’t just a risk of chaos — it’s a serious safety risk, and a serious risk to your own legal liability. Even if each employer takes care of their own OSH obligations separately, without joint oversight, misunderstandings can arise — and those quickly lead to accidents. An OSH coordinator doesn’t replace each company’s own OSH service, but ties their efforts together, synchronises schedules, and verifies communication and emergency-response procedures. Often, all it takes is one party failing to inform the others about a change in working methods — and a routine task ends in an accident.
OSH amid chaos — how does a coordinator manage several companies on one site?
If you’ve ever been on a large construction site, or in a facility undergoing modernisation, you’ll know that “organisational chaos” is often a generous way to describe what’s actually going on. Electrical contractors, plumbers, scaffolding crews, ventilation installers — all working in the same place, each with their own schedules, plans, and ways of doing things. Without joint oversight, it’s hard to talk about safety at all. This is exactly where the OSH coordinator on a construction site plays a key role. Their job isn’t just checking whether people are wearing hard hats — it’s coordinating the efforts of a dozen or more parties who often don’t even realise their work could conflict with, or create hazards for, each other.
The scope of an OSH coordinator’s duties is genuinely broad — from scheduling work, to organising the transport of materials, to establishing shared communication and emergency-alert procedures. They need to know the location of utility connections, evacuation routes, and storage areas. They also need authority — because they’re the one who can halt work if they judge that something puts employees’ health at risk. On paper, it looks like a technical function; in practice, it’s a very human role. It takes an understanding of people, the ability to talk to site managers from different companies, and sometimes the willingness to push back against someone’s stubbornness. But done well, it brings genuine order to a situation that was previously left to chance.
When can an OSH coordinator halt work? These powers often come as a surprise
One of the most important — and least obvious — powers of an OSH coordinator is the ability to stop work if there’s a risk to employees’ health or life. Interestingly, not everyone knows this. Many companies still assume that only a direct supervisor can make that call. In fact, an OSH coordinator has both the right and the obligation to intervene immediately when they see a dangerous situation. That means they can remove an employee from a task, and can also demand a change in how a task is carried out, or require additional protective measures. Actions like these take more than knowledge — they take confidence. A coordinator isn’t there to stand on the sidelines and watch. They have real influence over what happens on site, especially where several companies are working at once.
Where they identify negligence, they can also issue recommendations to a specific employer, who is then obliged to respond to them. Importantly, these are not “requests” — they’re formal recommendations grounded in law. And while the coordinator doesn’t personally bear criminal liability for the state of OSH on site, they have a decisive influence on maintaining it. So if you hold this function yourself, or are about to hand it to someone in your organisation, make sure that person understands the scope of their authority and is prepared to use it when it’s actually needed.
An OSH coordinator isn’t the police — how do you ensure safety without creating conflict?
The role of an OSH coordinator is often mistakenly seen as a kind of enforcement patrol — someone who shows up, checks boxes, hands out warnings, writes notes, and leaves. In practice, that attitude does more harm than good. A truly effective coordinator isn’t someone who rules from a position of authority, but someone who knows how to build cooperation between teams. To do this role well, you need to be able to get on with managers from different companies, agree on shared ways of working, and build an atmosphere of trust. That’s exactly why the requirements for an OSH coordinator aren’t just formal — they’re also about “soft” skills. They need to be a good communicator, assertive, flexible, and consistent, all at once.
The best coordinators are the ones who don’t throw regulations in people’s faces, but help them understand why those rules exist. They don’t look for someone to blame — they solve problems before they turn into conflicts. The role isn’t about adding another layer of oversight; it’s about getting everyone to work in a consistent way, without chaos, unnecessary friction, or hazards. At the end of the day, it’s not about spreadsheets and reports — it’s about making sure everyone goes home safe and in one piece. If that happens, the OSH coordinator has done their job well.
If you’re looking for someone who not only knows the regulations but genuinely understands the reality of work on a construction site, in a production facility, or during a modernisation project, it’s worth turning to proven specialists. EHS Consulting offers professional OSH supervision, including acting as OSH coordinator — in line with applicable regulations and tailored to the specifics of a given project. Drawing on experience across many industries, EHS Consulting effectively supports companies wherever cooperation between different contractors calls for good organisation, a fast response, and clearly defined procedures. Instead of working in the dark, tap into the knowledge of experts who can help you keep the workplace safe — without unnecessary red tape or stress.
