Serbia has introduced a health and safety Rulebook for employers to fight disease epidemics, including the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rulebook on preventive measures for safe and healthy work to prevent the occurrence and spread of an epidemic of infectious disease (the ‘Rulebook') was adopted on 29 June 2020. The Rulebook closely regulates preventive measures that employers must apply in order to prevent the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and eliminate the risks for safe and healthy work of employees, as well as other people fin the work environment, when the competent authority declares an epidemic of an infectious disease.
The Rulebook came into force on 11 July 2020, and applies to all workplaces and spaces within workplaces in which work is performed, except for field work and work from home.
The Rulebook stipulates inter alia that employers are obliged to adopt a Plan of Implementation of Measures for Preventing the Occurrence and Spread of an Infectious Disease Epidemic (‘Plan') by 10 August 2020 at the latest. This will be an integral part of the risk assessment actions required by the law regulating safety and health at work. The Rulebook stipulates mandatory elements of the Plan, such as measures and activities by the employer to prevent infectious diseases (e.g. providing employees with instructions on applicable preventive measures and information on symptoms of the disease, enhanced hygiene in the workplace, organisation of work in shifts where possible etc.). It also gives an important role to the person in charge of safety and health at work and envisages certain obligations for employees in order to implement the additional necessary measures for safety and health at work.
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