Croatia: Changes regarding H&S rules in case of remote work

According to the law, which was applicable before 8 January 2020, employers were liable for Health & Safety of their employees, even if e.g. an injury happened to an employee while working from home. In addition, employers were always obliged to conduct risk assessment at the employees’ place of work, even in case employees (occasionally) work from home.

The new by-law finally implemented exceptions to the latter rule - no risk assessment has to be conducted under the fulfillment of certain conditions (one of them being the fact that the activities are performed remotely on occasional basis only). Even though the new legislation did not change the fact that employers are fully liable for H&S in case of remote work, these changes definitely indicate a move to the right direction.

Additionally, a new web platform named OIRA (Online Interactive Risk Assessment) is now available for proper risk assessment. Although the available tools are still in an early stage of development, they should help small and medium ranged companies to ensure a proper H&S environment for their employees.