Legally Employing a Foreign Worker: The PIP Check

You employ a crew from across the eastern border. The work is moving, the people are proven, and the residence and work papers are in your binder. You think the matter's closed? Not necessarily. Because when a PIP (Polish Labour Inspectorate) inspector drives onto the site, they don't just look at whether the person has the right to work legally. They also look at whether they have medical checks, OSH (occupational safety and health, in Polish BHP) training and whether they even understand what you told them to do. One inspection, two areas of risk. And this is where a lot of foremen come unstuck. At BudoReady we've prepared ready-made OSH documentation packages in Polish and Ukrainian - so that during such an inspection you've got everything to hand, instead of hunting for a translator in a panic. Below I explain how it works and what to actually keep on you.

Key points at a glance

• In a single inspection PIP checks BOTH the legality of employment and OSH compliance - these are two separate areas of risk.
• OSH documentation (medical checks, training, instructions) is also proof that you exercised due diligence towards the foreign worker.
• Training and instructions in a language the worker understands are an obligation, not a courtesy - not having them deepens the risk during an inspection.
• Immigration matters (permits, declarations) are handled at the provincial office (urząd wojewódzki) and the district labour office (PUP) - that's not the OSH domain, but the inspector will check both.
• From 8 July 2026 PIP remote inspections come into force - your papers must be sorted and ready to present, including in a Ukrainian version.

PIP doesn't come for one thing - it checks two areas at once

This is the crux. The Polish Labour Inspectorate operates under the PIP Act, and its inspections cover two things that are easy to confuse but are independent of each other:

• Legality of employment - whether the foreign national has a basis for legal work, whether the contract matches the terms on which you entrusted them with the job, whether you registered them where required.
• Occupational safety and health - whether they have current medical checks, OSH training, whether they know the workplace instructions and work in conditions compliant with the regulations.

The inspector doesn't pick one of the two. They come in and check both. And here lies the trap: a foreman who took care of the immigration side - because he knew it was "a serious matter" - often lets OSH slide, because it seems secondary. And in a hybrid inspection it's precisely the OSH gap that can bring the whole thing down. Missing medical checks or training is not a "lesser problem". It's a separate breach, and you're just as responsible for it.

How OSH documentation ties in with the legality of work

Many people think these are two completely separate worlds. In practice they intertwine. OSH documentation is proof that, as an employer, you exercised due diligence - and that concept also comes up when it comes to entrusting work to a foreign national.

Think of it this way. If you have paper showing that the worker:

• underwent medical checks and is fit to work in the given post,
• completed initial and job-specific OSH training,
• read the workplace instructions and confirmed it with a signature,
• received these documents in a language they understand,

- then you're showing the inspector that you didn't put a random person onto the scaffolding "off the books". That you have a process. That you treat this worker just as seriously as the rest of the crew. The same documentation that protects you in the OSH area builds you a picture of a reliable employer across the whole inspection. The basis here is the Regulation of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy of 26 September 1997 on general OSH regulations - it sets out what you must have on paper regardless of the worker's nationality.

The language barrier doesn't lift your obligations - it sharpens them

This is the point that most often wrecks inspections. Some employers think: "well, his Polish is weak, I showed him with hand gestures, he managed". No. The language barrier is not a mitigating circumstance. It's an aggravating one.

The logic is simple. If the worker doesn't understand the language in which you give orders and in which the saw's operating instructions or the work-at-height rules are written - then the risk that they'll do something dangerously is greater. And if it's greater, then your duty to make sure they understand is all the more important. OSH training and workplace instructions must be conveyed in a way that is comprehensible to them. How do you prove it during an inspection? By having those documents in a Ukrainian version, signed.

If you don't know how to assemble this for a crew from the east, I covered it separately in the post on OSH documentation for a worker from Ukraine. In short: Polish paper for the Polish inspector, Ukrainian paper for the worker's understanding. Two versions, one set.

The hybrid inspection - what to actually keep to hand

I call it a hybrid inspection because the inspector checks both the employment papers and the OSH papers in one move. So you don't run around the site empty-handed, keep it all in one place - a binder or a folder on your phone, but an organised one.

Area	What to keep on you
Legality of employment	Contract with the worker (matching the working conditions), documents confirming the basis for the foreign national's legal work, confirmations of registrations
Medical checks	Current medical certificate of fitness to work in the given post
OSH training	Initial training record, job-specific training - in Polish and Ukrainian, signed
Workplace instructions	OSH instructions for machines and works (e.g. work at height) in a comprehensible language, with confirmation of having read them
Occupational risk assessment	Risk assessment document for the site posts, signed by the workers

Note: the first item is the immigration and legal side, the rest is OSH. The inspector will go through the whole table. If any box is empty - you have a breach. That's why it's worth having it assembled before anyone knocks.

Entrusting work to a foreign national - that's the office's domain, not the foreman's

Here I have to be honest and say it plainly: I'm not here to advise which specific permit or declaration you need for a given person. That depends on citizenship, the basis of residence, the type of work and a mass of details that change in the regulations.

What you should know in general: legally entrusting work to a foreign national rests on the right basis - a work permit or a declaration of entrusting work, depending on the situation. These documents are handled at the provincial office (urząd wojewódzki) and the district labour office (PUP). That's where you go for binding information, and in complicated cases - to a specialist in employment legalisation or a legal adviser.

My role ends at making you aware of one thing: even the best-arranged immigration papers won't cover a hole in OSH. And the reverse - the best OSH documentation won't fix a missing legal basis for work. You have to close off both areas, because PIP will check both.

The PIP reform from 8 July 2026 - papers must be ready on the spot

From 8 July 2026 changes to how the Inspectorate operates come into force, including remote inspections. In practice this means some inspections may take place without a physical site visit - the inspector will ask you to send documents or present them remotely. For you the conclusion is one: your papers must be organised, complete and ready to send at any moment. There's no longer any margin for "I'll send it over in a week once I find it".

With a multinational crew there's the added matter that some documents you have to keep in two language versions. I wrote more about how the language barrier looks under the remote inspection regime in the post on PIP remote inspections. Here I'll just stress: remote mode doesn't mean milder. It means faster. And a faster inspection punishes those who don't have things in order.

The most common mistakes that cost you during an inspection

From experience - these are the things people trip up on most often:

1. A full set of immigration papers, zero OSH. "But he has a permit" won't replace medical checks and training.
2. OSH training only in Polish for a person who doesn't know Polish. Formally it exists, in reality it means nothing - and the inspector will spot it.
3. No confirmation of having read the instructions. The instruction hangs on the wall, but nobody signed it. No proof = no instruction.
4. Out-of-date medical checks. The person is working, the certificate expired six months ago, nobody kept an eye on the deadline.
5. A mess in the papers. Everything exists, but scattered - in a remote inspection you won't manage to gather it in time.

Each of these mistakes can be removed in advance. All it takes is to assemble the documentation properly once and keep on top of it. You set up a file for each worker, inside a full set in two versions, the medical-check date in the calendar - and the matter's off your mind for a year ahead.

And one more thing from practice. The inspector doesn't just check whether the paper exists. They ask the worker. They'll walk up to the person on the scaffolding and ask whether they went through training, whether they know how to safely operate the machine. If the Ukrainian worker answers "I don't know, I don't understand" - your signed paper in Polish won't help much. That's why the Ukrainian version isn't bureaucracy for bureaucracy's sake. It's a real tool so that the person knows what they're doing, and so that in the conversation with the inspector they can confirm they were trained. The document and reality must match.

Have it ready - the FULL package from BudoReady

This is why we make BudoReady. So that you don't cobble it together from ten templates off the internet, half of them out of date and the other half with no Ukrainian version. For a micro construction firm under PKD 43 (Polish business activity code) that employs a Polish and Ukrainian crew, the FULL package for 749 zł works best - because it contains a complete set of OSH documentation in both language versions, risk assessments, workplace instructions and training ready to sign. Exactly the set the inspector will go through in a hybrid inspection.

We also have lighter packages - STARTER for 299 zł and STANDARD for 449 zł - but if you work with a crew from the east, FULL is the one that really covers the language side and gives you peace of mind during an inspection. The promotion runs until 7 July 2026, just before the PIP reform comes in - a good moment to have your papers ready before the remote inspections start.

See BudoReady packages and choose FULL →

Close off both areas before anyone knocks. The immigration side at the office, the OSH side with us. That's it.

This article is informational and does not replace legal advice or consultation with an OSH specialist. Document templates require individual adaptation to the realities of your company and specific job posts, and the current legal position is worth verifying as of the date of use.