50,000 PIP Inspections in 2026: The Statistics

I'll tell you straight: in 2026 the Polish Labour Inspectorate (PIP) plans around 50,000 inspections. Some of them will land on construction sites - including small firms, sole traders, subcontracting crews. If you have a firm under PKD 43 (specialised construction) and you're sitting on this text, that's good. Because I'm about to show you the hard numbers - without hyping them up - and tell you what they really mean for you. And if, after reading, you conclude that your OSH (occupational safety and health) folder looks weak, that's exactly what ready-made BudoReady templates are for - so you don't write papers from scratch the night before an inspection.

Key points in brief

• In 2024 PIP carried out 61,900 inspections, of which 648 concerned construction sites.
• 77% of inspected sites had failings in securing work at height.
• In construction in 2024, 49 people died - the most frequent cause was a fall from height.
• The plan for 2026: around 50,000 inspections, with firms targeted by an algorithm based on KSeF (the Polish e-invoicing system) data.
• From 8 July 2026 the inspector can slap on a fine of up to 5 000 zł without going to court.

61,900 inspections in 2024 - how many of those landed on construction sites

Let's start with the specifics. In 2024 PIP carried out 61,900 inspections across all industries. Of those, 648 were inspections on construction sites. Does 648 seem few to you? Let's count differently.

In Poland we have tens of thousands of micro construction firms. 648 inspections a year is a lottery today - one year it lands on you, the next it doesn't. But that's exactly what's ending. PIP has long said it no longer wants to walk "blindly". It wants to hit where, statistically, something is wrong. And construction has for years sat at the top of the accident list.

Why construction sites are in the crosshairs

This isn't inspectors being spiteful. It's the numbers. Construction is one of the most accident-prone industries in the country. Work at height, heavy equipment, scaffolding, excavations, haste. An inspector with limited time goes where the risk is greatest. And that's your construction site.

And one more thing. A small firm often thinks: "648 inspections for the whole of Poland, they won't find me". Except you're not competing with the whole of Poland for the inspector's attention. You're competing with firms in your district, in your industry, with your order profile. And in that narrower pool your chances of a visit are much higher than the bare number 648 suggests. The smaller the firm, the more often there are failings anyway - because there's no OSH department, no HR person, just a site boss doing everything at once.

77% of sites with failings in work at height

This is the number that should wake you up. Of the inspected sites, 77% had failings in securing work at height. Three in four. These aren't exceptions - they're the rule.

What hides under that heading? Specifics you know from your own patch:

• Scaffolding without a complete guardrail or without an acceptance inspection.
• No safety harnesses, or harnesses nobody clips in.
• No anchor points for rope work or roof work.
• No safe-work instructions for a specific job at height.
• A worker at height without current medicals and without job-specific training.

It's not just about the equipment. Half of these failings are papers that don't exist. The inspector asks about the IBWR (safe-work instructions), the BIOZ plan (health and safety plan), the scaffolding acceptance report, the training record. If you can't show them - you have a non-conformity, even if everything on site stands as it should. That's why it's worth knowing what an IBWR for work at height is and having it ready before anyone asks for it.

See how it plays out in practice. The inspector walks onto a site, sees scaffolding. First question: who accepted it and where's the report. Second: show me the IBWR for this job. Third: the training record of the person standing up there, and their medicals. If you have a paper in the folder for each of these questions - the conversation is short. If you throw up your hands at each one - you have three non-conformities from one piece of scaffolding. And that's exactly the difference between a firm that's ready and a firm that'll "sort it out somehow".

49 fatalities - it's not a statistic, it's people

In 2024, 49 people died in construction. The most frequent cause: a fall from height. This isn't a number from a report you can roll your eyes at. It's 49 times someone went out to work in the morning and didn't come back.

Now let's connect it to the previous point. 77% of sites have failings in securing work at height. The most frequent cause of death is a fall from height. This is no coincidence. It's a straight line: no safeguards leads to accidents, accidents end in death. PIP sees this, which is why work at height will be inspected hardest.

If you have even one person on site working above a metre off the ground - this topic is yours. Not your neighbour's. Yours.

The plan for 2026: 50,000 inspections and the KSeF algorithm

Now the most important part. PIP's plan for 2026 is around 50,000 inspections. But it's not just the number that changes - the way of targeting who to visit changes too.

Until now it went the old way: a complaint, a tip-off, an industry plan, sometimes chance. From 2026 algorithmic targeting based on KSeF data is added - the National e-Invoicing System. In plain terms: the system looks at your invoices and picks out firms that statistically look risky.

What the algorithm can see in your invoices

• That you do construction work (PKD 43), so you sit in a high-risk industry.
• The scale and type of orders - whether it's roofs, facades, scaffolding, work at height.
• The gap between how much you invoice and how many workers you have declared.

This doesn't mean a robot will drive up to you with a fine. But it does mean that "chance" stops being your protection. If your firm's profile matches the risk pattern, the likelihood of a visit rises. More on how the new system works and what exactly changes, you'll find in the text on what the PIP reform changes.

The 5 000 zł fine from 8 July 2026

And here we come to the wallet. From 8 July 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026 item 473) the PIP inspector can impose a penal fine of up to 5 000 zł - without referring the case to court. Decision on the spot, on site.

Until now the fine was capped lower, and more serious matters went to court, which gave the firm time and room to explain. Now it's done faster and more expensively. What does this mean for a micro firm with a margin of a dozen or so percent? That one inspection with a fine can eat the profit from a whole order.

And note - 5 000 zł is the fine for a single offence. If the inspector finds several failings at once, it adds up. On top of that come orders to comply, sometimes a work stoppage, and in extreme cases referral to court. So the fine is not the ceiling of your costs - it's the bottom shelf. The most expensive is always a site standstill, when the people stand idle and the deadline runs down.

The numbers together - so you have them in one place

Indicator	Data	What it means for you
PIP inspections in 2024	61,900	The scale of the inspectorate's activity across the country
Inspections on construction sites 2024	648	Construction sites were and are a separate target
Sites with failings at height	77%	Statistically most firms have the problem
Fatalities in construction 2024	49	Most often a fall from height
Inspection plan for 2026	approx. 50,000	Targeting supported by the KSeF algorithm
Maximum fine from 8.07.2026	5 000 zł	Imposed on the spot, without a court

What these numbers really mean for your firm

Let's pull it together, site boss to site boss. Four things that follow from this data:

1. An inspection is no longer a lottery. The algorithm targets construction firms deliberately. Your PKD 43 doesn't help you hide in the crowd.
2. Work at height is number one. That's where most people die and where the biggest failings are. The inspector will go for it first.
3. No papers means a fine. Even if your equipment is good, without documentation you still have a non-conformity.
4. The cost of a mistake has gone up. 5 000 zł on the spot hurts every micro firm.

What the inspector will demand on the first visit

• Occupational risk assessment for the jobs.
• OSH training records - induction and periodic.
• Current medical examinations of workers.
• BIOZ plan and IBWR for work at height.
• Scaffolding acceptance reports and a record of PPE (personal protective equipment) allocation.

This isn't anything exotic. It's the standard set. The only question is whether you have it ready in the folder, or whether you'll be cobbling it together while the inspector is already at the gate. And cobbling in a hurry always shows - signatures missing, dates missing, the document is three years old. The inspector picks this up on the spot, because they do it every day.

The worst part is that most of these papers are repeatable. A risk assessment for a bricklayer, for a roofer, for a scaffolding erector - you don't reinvent it on every site. These are templates you just need to prepare properly once and plug in your firm's details. The trouble is a small crew has no time to write them, and buying an OSH professional's service for each job separately quickly gets expensive.

What to do about it - the STANDARD package

The point isn't to scare you so you do nothing. The point is to have you ready. And being ready in 2026 means: having a complete set of OSH documentation that answers what the inspector asks about most often.

That's why we created the STANDARD package for 449 zł - 27 ready-made files for a micro construction firm under PKD 43. It contains the risk assessment, OSH training records, a BIOZ plan, a record of personal protective equipment and handling of medical examinations. In other words, exactly the papers whose absence most often ends in a non-conformity on site.

You fill in your firm's details, print it, clip it into the folder. No writing from scratch, no fiddling, no all-nighter before an inspection. One inspection with a fine is 5 000 zł. The package is 449 zł. Do the maths yourself.

The promotion runs until 7 July 2026. See BudoReady packages and get your firm ready before the algorithm targets it first.

Because the question in 2026 is no longer "will they come". It's: "when will they come and what will you show them".

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from an OSH specialist or an assessment of the current legal state. Document templates require individual adaptation to the realities of your firm and specific jobs, and the current legal state is worth verifying as at the date of use.