Boards with no safety data sheet

A worker is given a task: strip out wood-based boards. In reality they are bituminous boards (asphaltplatte) — a material whose dust, when stripped dry, irritates the airways. He gets neither information about what the material is, nor a safety data sheet (sikkerhetsdatablad), nor any indication of protective equipment. He strips them for a week without a mask. After a week he goes on a month of sick leave.

The bill for one document that wasn't passed on (example amounts): • Agency replacement: ~120 PLN/h × 37.5 h × 4 weeks = 18,000 PLN. • Double cost during sick leave: in Norway the first 16 days (arbeidsgiverperioden) are covered by the employer — the company pays at once for the sick worker and for his replacement. • The new agency worker starts cold, doesn't know the project — typically 10–20% lower productivity during ramp-up. • Legal risk: a missing safety data sheet and PPE is a breach of employer duties under arbeidsmiljøloven — a potential yrkesskade (occupational injury), claims, an Arbeidstilsynet inspection. A contingent cost, but potentially a multiple of the replacement alone. Preventing it cost as much as an FFP3 mask — a few tens of złoty. Here the margin doesn't leak through botched work. It leaks through a person's health — and comes back to the company as an invoice.