SYSTEM FOR SUPERVISION AND CONTROL
OF SAFETY OF TECHNICAL INSTALLATIONS
IN POLAND
Hansel J., Wcisło A.
AGH University of Science and Technology, Department of Ropeway Transport, Mickiewicza Ave. 30, PL 30059 Cracow, Poland
Academy of Management and Banking, Cracow, Poland
Abstract: The state supervision system put in place after Poland joined the EU provides for: conformity of products and processes, standardisation system, product control, work safety supervision, technical inspection, safety inspection in the mining sector. The paper outlines dependencies between the state authorities, state administration and other agencies being a part of the safety supervision system developed following the Poland accession to the EU, and reviews the major legal acts consistent with the EU legislation. The new standardisation system in Poland which came into force in September 2002 is discussed in more detail.
1. Introduction
The basic responsibility of the State, understood as a political organisation encompassing all inhabitants of a specified territory is to ensure their survival and biological functioning and to cater for the need of safety. This responsibility lies with the EU authorities, too. The technological advancement makes it easy for people to satisfy their basic needs, furthermore it also helps in the development of mankind as the whole (fulfilling the higher needs). At the same time it poses new dangers to human life and health as well as to the natural environment. The responsibility for providing the required safety conditions in all areas of human activities, including business and engineering, lies with the public authorities that make and enforce laws (directives, regulations, Acts).
Approximation of the Polish law is the requirement imposed not only by the Accession Treaty, but also by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. In the last 5 years nearly 100 legal acts were appropriated into the Polish legal system. These had relevance to the safety of machines and installations, including numerous EU directives (old, new and global approach directives) as well as other legal documents.
2. Safety supervision and control system in Poland
The dependencies between the state authorities, state administration and other agencies being a part of the safety supervision system developed following the Poland accession to the EU is shown in Fig. 1 [1,3].
In Fig 1 are names of institutions (ministries, committees and offices) being a part of the state systems:
conformity of products and processes, standardisation system,
product control,
work safety supervision, technical inspection,
safety inspection in the mining sector.
As the paper is limited in scope, only the major legal acts harmonised with the EU legislation are reviewed.
Conformity of products and processes. EU legislation widely uses directives, particularly new-approach directives which set forth the requirements as to the protection of human life, health and the environment. The fundamental act supporting the integration with the EU in the field of technology and engineering is the Conformity Act of 31 August (Journal of Laws no 166, 2002, item 1360). And the Amendment to the Conformity Act (Journal of Laws no 170, 2003, item 1652) with specific regulations, which provide for:
incorporation of the new-approach directives in the legal system in Poland, specifying the requirements as to products being placed on the market,
approximation of the organisation and functioning of the conformity control system in Poland to the EU standards.
Product control system is supported by the Amendment to the Conformity Act (Journal of Laws no 170, 2003, item 1652) with specific regulations and the Product Safety Act of 12th December 2003 (Journal of Laws no 229, 2003, item 2275) and other specific
regulations.
Work safety system is supported by the State Labour Inspection Act of 6th March 1981 (Journal of Laws no 124, 2001, item 1362), other legal documents to
incorporate the EU directives.
Technical inspection (covering the inspection of ropeway installations) is supported by the Technical Inspection Act of 21st December 2000 (Journal of Laws no 122, 2000, item 1321).
Fig 1. The dependencies between the state authorities, state administration and other agencies being Constitutional Tribunal PRESIDENT SENATE PARLIAMEN T European Council EU Council European Parliament European Committee Tribunal of Justice Supreme Court Provincial and
district courts Administrative Court
Ministry of Interior and Administration
Prime Minister /Government Chief Board of Supervision Labour Protection Council State Supervision of Labour Office of Competition and Consumer Protection Central Statistical Office State Mining Authority Ministry of Social
Policy Ministry of Economy Ministry of Infrastructure Ministry of Health Ministry of Science and Information Technology
Other ministries for economy and state
functioning Ministry for Environment Office of the Committee for European Integration Polish Committee for Standardisation
Polish Centre for Accreditation
Office for Railway Transport Transport Inspection Office Technical Inspection Office Central Institute of
Labour Protection Occupational Institute of Medicine Main Sanitary Inspectorate Nation-wide ropeway transport system safety Other notified accreditation bodies, laboratories, research centres Laboratories in research and development units and universities
3.1. General information
The Polish Standardising Committee (PKN) was established in 1924 and Polish standards (Polska Norma) got the status the official documents for voluntary use. The first Polish Standard was published in 1925. After the World War II, in 1947, the Committee PKN was one of the founding members of the International Standard Organisation ISO and since then has participated in the development of international standards and their incorporation in the Polish standardisation system. Pursuant to the law of 1949, the Polish standards became mandatory. This status was retained until the Standardisation Act of 3rd
April 1993 came into force, whereby the standard was granted the status of an optional document, to conform to the European system of standardisation. Since 1991 PKN has been affiliated to several standardisation organisations in Europe: The European Committee for Standardisation CEN, and the European Committee for Standardisation in Telecommunication CENELEC. PKN applied for a full membership several years ago. The Standardisation Act of 12th September 2002 ensures the full conformity of the
standardisation system in Poland and in EU. On 1st January 2004 PKN became a full
member of the standardisation organisations in Europe. That would ensure the participation and contribution of PKN tp the standardisation processes in Europe. In 2002 and 2005 nearly 7000 Polish Standards were adopted, which are the incorporations of the EU standards, including nearly 2000 documents consistent with the new-approach directives [2, 3, 4].
3.2. Legal framework of the standardisation system in Poland
The legal framework of the standardisation system in Poland includes:
Standardisation Act of 12th September 2002 (Journal of Laws no 169, 2002, item
1386),
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to standardisation activities in relation to the defence system and state security (Journal of Laws no 239, 2002, item 2038), came into force on 1st January 2003,
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to functioning of the national system of notification of standards and legal documents (Journal of Laws no 239, item 2039), came into force on 15th January 2003,
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to cooperation between the PKN and the state authorities (Journal of Laws no 239, item 2040), came into force on 1st January 2003,
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to the procedures of elections of members of the Council for Standardisation within PKN (Journal of Laws no 239, item 2041), came into force on 1st January 2003,
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to the competition procedure in the elections of the President of PKN (Journal of Laws no 239, item 2049), came into force on 1st January 2003,
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 23rd December 2002 relating to the granting of the emblem evidencing the conformity to the Polish standard (Journal of Laws no 241, item 2077),
Regulation of the Council of Ministers of 16th December 2002 granting the status of the PKN (Monitor Polski no 61, item 874), came into force on 1st January 2003.
3.3. The Polish Standardising Committee (PKN)
PKN is the national standardisation organisation financed from the state budget. The Committee enjoys an exclusive right to use the abbreviation “PKN” and the registered graphic mark. Tasks and responsibilities of PKN include the organisation and conducting the standardisation process on the national level:
determining the status and directions for standardisation,
organisation and supervision of activities associated with the development and dissemination of Polish Standards and other normative documents by general surveys of draft proposals, the general survey involves the publication of titles, dates and procedures to get acquainted with the contents of these draft proposals,
approval and withdrawal of Polish standards and other normative documents,
representing the Republic of Poland before international and regional standardisation agencies, participation in the activities of these agencies and acting in all issues having relevance to standardisation,
initiating and conducting the training, editorial, activities, promotional and information campaigns in the matters relating to standardisation,
passing opinions on legal acts having relevance to standardisation.
PKN takes part in the national system of notification and recognition of standards and normative acts. The Polish Standardising Committee in headed by the President of PKN. The responsibilities of the President include:
nomination and removal of technical committees,
on behalf of PKN, approval and withdrawal of Polish standards and other normative documents, following the proposals from the technical committees and adhering to the principles of national standardisation,
making decisions in the issues related to the activities of PKN, issuing the internal regulations of PKN,
collaboration with the Standardisation Council,
submitting the yearly report to the Council and the Prime Minister no later than 30th
June of the following calendar year,
representing the PKN before all parties and organisations, management of PKN assets.
competition procedure. The Council has a right to propose one candidate only. The competition is conducted by the Standardisation Council.
3.4. Standardisation Council
The Standardisation Council is closely associated with PKN. The term of office of the Council is 4 years. The Council approves the yearly reports submitted by the President of PKN.
The responsibilities of the Council include passing the opinions in the issues relating to: current status and direction for the development of standardisation,
proposals as to nomination and removal of technical committees,
internal regulations of PKN having relevance to the development of normative documents,
draft proposals of normative documents developed by PKN, following the procedures specified in the internal documents of PKN.
The Council competences include:
submitting a resolution to nominate or remove a President of PKN, organising a contest to select the President.
The Council members include the representatives from: organs of state authorities,
universities and research units, nation-wide employers’ organisations,
nation-wide professional organisations and research centres, business organisations,
organisations responsible for consumer rights protection [4].
3.5. Technical Committees
Technical committees are collegial bodies conducing the work related to standardisation in the specified subject matter. They are called up by the President of PKN on application from the Director of the Standardisation Group, the Standardisation Council having passed the positive opinion.
The committees are responsible for developing the Polish standards and other normative documents within the specified domain, by participation of their representatives in the activities of international and regional standardisation agencies. Technical committees are nominated and called off by the President of PKN having sought the opinion of the Council. The offices of technical committees are managed by PKN or the office management might be assigned to other units by contract agreements, at their cost.
Committee members are specialists representing the organs of state authorities, business corporations, employers’ and consumers’ organisations, professional organisations, research and development units, universities and employees of PKN. All the interested parties have a right to be represented, taking into account the needs of national economy. Presently there are 271 technical committees in Poland, pursuing their activities in 9 PKN teams. In accordance with the recent data published by PKN, the number of experts employed in the technical committees is as high as 5016, among them are 706 persons holding posts in the organisations (president, vice-presidents, secretaries), the remaining 4310 are the committee members [4].
3.6. Technical committee no 163 for wire ropes and cableway transport
In accordance with the resolution 5/94 the PKN established the Standardisation Topic Committee no 163 for wire ropes and cableway transport. Accordingly, the President, secretary and committee members are appointed. Pursuant to the Standardisation Act of 12th September 2002 the committee name was change to the Technical Committee no 163
for wire ropes and cableway transport, in order to conform to the CEN nomenclature. The secretary office is located on the premises of the AGH University of Science and Technology in Cracow, in the Department of Ropeway Transport. The official address: 30-059 Kraków, Al. Mickiewicza 30, tel: (012) 634-35-37, 617-31-42, fax: 636-01-44. The President of the Technical Committee is Prof. Józef Hansel and Dr Wacław Oleksy holds the post of a secretary.
The scope of subjects covered by the Committee includes: wires and wire ropes, rope drives and their components, equipment for cableway installations and maintenance, cableways, ski-lifts, lifting installations. Topic designations in accordance with ICS: 21.200.20; 45.100; 45.120; 77.140.60; 77.140.70; 93.100.
The scope of subjects includes the standards developed by:
a) International Standardisation Organisation ISO: Technical Committee ISO/TC 82 Mining (Sub-committee: S.C. 3 Hoisting Ropes), Technical Committee ISO/TC 105 Steel wire ropes (Sub-committees: S.C.1 Nomenclature and symbols, S.C.2 Steel wires, S.C. 3. Requirements for general-purpose wire ropes),
b) European Committee for Standardisation CEN: Technical Committee CEN/TC 168 (Ropes and lines), Technical Committee CEN/TC 242 (Safety requirements for cableway installations designed to carry persons),
The Standardisation Team within PKN: The Team for Mechanics.
The members of the Technical Committee no 163 for Steel wire ropes and cableway installations are the representatives of the following institutions:
Polish Standardising Committee, the Team for Mechanics, Warsaw, Technical Inspection Office for Transport, Warsaw,
Technical Inspection Office for Transport, regional division in Cracow, Company CZG Stal Ltd, factory in Zabrze,
Company CZG Stal Ltd, factory in Sosnowiec, Central Mining Institute, Katowice,
Department of Power and Mechanical Engineering of the Central Mining Office, Katowice,
Research and development centre for lifts and transport facilities DETRANS- Bytom, DRUMET - rope and wire manufacturer, Włocławek,
Underground Mining Supervision and Inspection Centre-Mysłowice, Technical Inspection Office, Cracow,
Polish Cable Railways Ltd, Zakopane, Polish Association of Ropeway Transport.
4. Final remarks
Proper understanding and careful observance of the Polish law, consistent with the EU standards, is a necessary condition for the integration to become a new opportunity instead of a threat for the Polish economy.
It is justified to postulate that the EU legislation having relevance to the safety of technical systems and Ey Directives have to be well known not only to those involved in business activities in EU members states, but also to academic teachers and university graduates.
The new Standardisation Act ensures full conformity of the Polish standardisation system with the one in EU. On 1st January 2004 PKN became a full member of CEN and
CENELEC and hence might contribute to the standard-making process in Europe.
Bibliography
1. Hansel J. Wcisło A.: Approximation of the Polish Law relating to Safety of Machine
Operations to the EU Legislation. (KTL) Journals of the Department of Ropeway Transport.
Vol 27, Cracow, 2002.
2. Hansel, J. Oleksy, W.: Polish standardisation system. (KTL) Journals of the Department of Ropeway Transport. Vol 32, Cracow, pp 124-132, 2003.
3. Hansel J.: Ropeway Transport in the Light of Polish and EU Legislation. Journals of the Silesian Polytechnics. Series: Transport. Vol. 58, Gliwice, 2005.
This study is supported through the research grant 4 T12A 016 29 “Methodology of ropeway installations safety control in Polish collieries”.
