BIOZ Plan vs BIOZ Information: Which You Need

You drive onto a site, the main contractor waves papers around, and your head's spinning: "do I need this BIOZ plan or not?". Take it easy, we'll break it down to the basics. BIOZ simply stands for Health and Safety (Bezpieczeństwo i Ochrona Zdrowia), and so much confusion has grown around those words that half the industry doesn't know who signs what. At BudoReady we have ready-made templates for this - in the STANDARD package the BIOZ plan is already written out, you just fill in your details. But first understand what it's actually about.

Key points in brief

• The BIOZ information and the BIOZ plan (health and safety plan) are two different documents - they're not the same and different people make them.
• The BIOZ information is prepared by the designer, the BIOZ plan by the site manager - before works start.
• The BIOZ plan is required when the works are large, long or dangerous (details below) - not on every site.
• Basis: Art. 21a of the Construction Law + the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 23.06.2003.
• The subcontractor's most common mistake: "the main contractor does that, not me". Not true - your own part (ORZ, IBWR, instructions) you have to have anyway.

BIOZ - what is it in the first place

BIOZ is the abbreviation for Health and Safety (Bezpieczeństwo i Ochrona Zdrowia). The whole topic sits in Art. 21a of the Construction Law and in the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 23 June 2003 on health and safety information and the health and safety plan. Two documents, one regulation - hence all the confusion in people's heads.

On top of that comes the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 6 February 2003 on OSH (occupational safety and health) during construction work - that's the one that says how specifically to secure a trench, scaffolding, work at height. The BIOZ plan and this regulation go hand in hand: the plan describes what's dangerous on your site, and the regulation says how to deal with it.

Simplest of all: BIOZ is a paper that says "here are the hazards and this is how we protect against them". That's it. The rest is detail - but detail an inspector can pick you up on.

BIOZ information vs BIOZ plan - two different papers

This is the heart of the whole article, so read carefully. Many site bosses confuse these two things because the name is similar. And the difference is big.

BIOZ information

It's made by the designer, as part of the construction design. It arises at the design stage, before anyone puts a spade in the ground. It's the designer who has the best view of what may be dangerous in this specific building or structure - and it's they who raise the red flag. The BIOZ information is a kind of signal to the site manager: "attention, there will be particularly hazardous work here, prepare a plan".

BIOZ plan

It's made by the site manager, on the basis of that information from the designer. It arises before works start. This is already specific to the site: who, where, how they protect themselves, where the danger zones are, how evacuation runs. The BIOZ plan isn't a generic thing - it's the operating manual for this particular site.

A quick table

Feature	BIOZ information	BIOZ plan
Who prepares it	Designer	Site manager
When	At the design stage, always when the design involves works posing a safety risk	Before works start, only when the conditions are met (see below)
Scope	Indicates hazards arising from the nature of the structure - a warning signal	A specific description of the organisation of works, safeguards and procedures on site

Remember it in one sentence: the BIOZ information says "it'll be dangerous here", and the BIOZ plan says "and this is exactly how we protect against it".

When the BIOZ plan is mandatory

Not every site requires a BIOZ plan. If it did, fitting a single garage door would call for a thick binder. The BIOZ plan is mandatory when at least one of the following conditions is met:

1. The works are to last longer than 30 working days and at the same time at least 20 people work on them.
2. The labour intensity of the works exceeds 500 person-days.
3. Particularly hazardous work is being carried out - regardless of duration and number of people.

The first two conditions are a matter of scale. The third concerns the nature of the work - and it's the one that most often catches small firms who think it doesn't apply to them.

What counts as particularly hazardous work

The most common cases you'll meet on site:

• Work at a height above 5 metres - roofs, facades, structures.
• Excavations with vertical walls without shoring deeper than 1.5 m, and excavations with safely sloped walls deeper than 3 m.
• Works under or near live power lines.
• Assembly and disassembly of heavy prefabricated elements.
• Works near live utilities or in conditions posing a risk of flooding or burial.

Doing roofs? Digging deep foundation trenches? That means the BIOZ plan topic applies to you - even if the crew is you and two people.

What the BIOZ plan contains

The BIOZ plan isn't a single sheet. It's a document made up of several fixed elements. The most important ones it must have:

• Descriptive part - scope of works, order of execution, description of the site.
• List of hazards occurring during the works, indicating scale and type.
• Information on designated danger zones and how they are marked.
• The way of conducting instruction of workers before starting particularly hazardous work.
• Technical and organisational measures preventing dangers - i.e. how specifically you protect people.
• Indication of where the documentation is kept and details for quick evacuation and first aid.
• Drawing part - the site layout plan, escape routes, arrangement of zones.

It sounds serious and it's meant to. But that doesn't mean you have to write it from scratch every time. A good template already has the structure written out - you fill in what's specific to your site.

The subcontractor's most common mistake: "the main contractor does that, not me"

Here we hit the point that costs firms the most nerves at an inspection. You drive in as a subcontractor, the main contractor runs the site, the site manager is theirs - and you think to yourself: "the BIOZ plan is their business, it doesn't concern me".

And here's the mistake. It's true that one BIOZ plan for the whole site is prepared by the site manager. But this does not release you from your own OSH duties as an employer. You're responsible for your people and your section of the works. And you must have your own documentation.

What you have to have as a subcontractor

• ORZ - the occupational risk assessment for your jobs. That's your duty as an employer, regardless of whose site it is.
• IBWR - the safe-work instructions for the works you carry out. The main contractor often requires it from you before they even let the crew onto site. For details, see the separate post: IBWR - when it's mandatory.
• Job-specific OSH instructions for the machines and tools your people work with. More on that here: job-specific OSH instructions.
• Current training and medicals of workers plus records of handover of personal protective equipment.

The main contractor does the BIOZ plan for the whole - you have to show that you handle your section in line with OSH. The labour inspector won't let you off because "the manager had a plan". The inspection goes after the employer, meaning after you.

BIOZ and the PIP reform from 8 July 2026

It's worth knowing at what moment you're reading this. From 8 July 2026 the reform of the PIP (the Polish Labour Inspectorate) comes into force. Inspectors get new tools, and inspections on construction sites - especially where subcontractors work - will be more efficient and more frequent. This is not the moment to count on "it'll be fine somehow".

A small construction firm under PKD 43 (specialised construction) that doesn't have its OSH documentation in order is first in line for a fine. A BIOZ plan where required, ORZ, IBWR and job-specific instructions - it's not a whim, it's the minimum you need to have prepared before an inspection appears. After the fact you can no longer do anything.

How to sort this out without slaving away at night - the STANDARD package

I know how it looks in practice. You're a site boss, not a clerk. Writing a BIOZ plan from scratch, hunting for templates online, cobbling it together from bits - it's hours you don't have, because in the morning you're back on site anyway.

That's why we made the STANDARD package for 449 zł - 27 ready-made files of OSH documentation for a micro construction firm, including a written-out BIOZ plan. You open it, enter your details, and it's ready. No slaving away, no second-guessing whether you copied the rule correctly.

• STARTER - 299 zł - 10 files, the absolute minimum to start.
• STANDARD - 449 zł - 27 files, with a BIOZ plan. For a firm that really works on construction sites.
• FULL - 749 zł - 45 files, the full set for a firm with a bigger crew and wider scope of works.

If you do works where a BIOZ plan comes into play - roofs, excavations, height - then STANDARD is a bullseye for you. You get the BIOZ plan in the price, plus all the rest of the papers the main contractor or the inspector will demand anyway.

The promotion runs only until 7 July 2026. After that prices go up. Grab the set while it's cheaper: See BudoReady packages.

This article is for information only and does not replace advice from an OSH specialist or an analysis of the current legal state in your specific situation. 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.