What Health and Safety Compliance Means
Health and safety compliance is the complete set of duties defined by the Georgian Labour Code, measured by the numerical scale of its fines. The foundation is the Code's master demand: the employer must provide the employee with a working environment that is as safe and healthy as possible for life and health. This general demand unfolds into concrete obligations: supplying complete, objective and understandable information about every factor affecting life and health; introducing a preventive system of labour safety and providing personal protective equipment; and taking every reasonable measure for the timely localisation of the consequences of industrial accidents, first aid and evacuation.
The employee, too, holds a right-duty pair: the employee may refuse to perform work, an assignment or an instruction that contradicts the law or, through unsafe working conditions, creates an obvious and material threat to the life or health of the employee or a third person, to property or to the natural environment — with the duty to notify the employer immediately. A compliance programme builds precisely this two-way mechanism into a system.
The Protective Layers — Night Work and Leave
Night time is defined by law as the period from ten in the evening until six in the morning; night work means work in that period lasting, as a rule, not less than 3 hours. It is prohibited to employ a minor, a pregnant woman, a woman who has recently given birth or a nursing woman at night; a person with disabilities and a parent of a child under 3 years may not be deployed at night without consent. For night work in heavy, harmful or dangerous conditions the maximum working time within 24 hours must not exceed 8 hours; at the worker's request the employer must, at its own expense, provide preliminary and periodic medical examinations, and where health problems arise — transfer the worker to suitable day work where possible.
The leave layer is equally precise: paid leave is at least 24 working days per year; unpaid leave at least 15 calendar days; work in heavy, harmful or dangerous conditions adds 10 calendar days per year. The contract may set different terms, but they must not worsen the employee's position, and any clause by which the right to paid annual leave is waived or denied is void.