The Croatian Association for a Healthy Workplace held an expert conference on Health and Safety at Work on 30 January 2025. The aim of this expert conference was to inform participants about regulations, news and examples of good practice in the field of health and safety at work, and invited presentations were also given at the conference by lecturers from the Croatian University of Applied Sciences.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Ana Rački Marinković presented a paper on the topic “Supervision of the application of EU law in the field of occupational safety”. It was shown how the European Commission, in its role as guardian of EU law, supervises the application of European occupational safety law, and how judicial supervision is carried out by the Court of Justice of the European Union.
It was emphasized that the Republic of Croatia has not had any open proceedings for violation of EU law in the field of occupational safety so far, but that harmonization should be monitored and implemented correctly in terms of new and future legislative initiatives at the EU level, while achieving specific results or goals set by EU legislation.
The Head of the Department of Occupational Safety and Health at the Polytechnic of Safety Studies, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Darko Palačić, prof. prof. stud. in permanent selection, gave a presentation on the topic “New standard ISO 45004:2024 Occupational health and safety management system – Guidelines for assessing performance”.
It was emphasized that in practice, indicators of the success of the implementation of occupational health and safety are often insufficiently monitored. It was shown how the application of this standard, which is based on proactive indicators, allows organizations to monitor, analyze and continuously improve their performance in the area of occupational safety and health, and better integrate safety management into business processes, as well as the advantages of its application in the context of non-financial reporting obligations.