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.
The Scale of Fines — the Price of Compliance
The Code's sanction scale gives an exact measure of the cost of compliance: each violation triggers a warning or a fine — for an individual employer with income under 100 000 GEL in the previous year, a fine of not less than 200 and not more than 400 GEL; with higher income, not less than 300 and not more than 800 GEL; for VAT-registered organisations the brackets rise accordingly — operations not exceeding 100 000 GEL, not less than 300 and not more than 800 GEL; from 100 000 to 500 000 GEL, not less than 400 and not more than 900 GEL; above 500 000 GEL, not less than 600 and not more than 1 000 GEL. A violation against a minor, a pregnant woman or a person with disabilities doubles the fine; a repeat within 1 calendar year doubles it again.
Beyond the fine, the employer must fully compensate the employee for work-related damage caused by deterioration of health and the costs of necessary treatment — so the price of compliance includes damages alongside penalties.
What Does Not Apply in Georgia
The general-duty-clause framework of United States occupational-safety legislation does not directly extend to Georgia: here both the duties and the sanctions are defined by the Labour Code's own norms. A compliance programme must be built on precisely these norms — foreign standards are useful only as comparative material.
Within the preventive system the employer supplies personal protective equipment where necessary and replaces hazardous equipment with safer technology as it becomes available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below we answer the questions most frequently asked about compliance.
What does the employer's core duty include?
A maximally safe and healthy environment, the supply of information, a preventive system and protective equipment, emergency measures, and full compensation of work-related damage.
Who is barred from night work?
Minors, pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and nursing women — absolutely; persons with disabilities and parents of children under 3 years — without their consent.
How much leave is guaranteed?
Paid leave of at least 24 working days a year; unpaid leave of at least 15 calendar days; heavy and dangerous work adds 10 calendar days.
What fines can be imposed?
From 200 to 1 000 GEL per violation depending on category; violations against protected groups and repeats within 1 year double the fine.
How We Help on Legal.ge
The Legal.ge team builds compliance programmes from the Code's norms: we map the duties, quantify the fine exposure of each potential violation, prepare the internal documents and train the team. Contact us — a measured risk is always cheaper than the price of a violation.