Initial OHS Training in a Beauty Salon

Initial OHS training (szkolenie wstępne BHP) is the first formality you must close before a new stylist sits down at her workstation. It is not one course with a certificate. It has two stages: a general briefing and a workstation briefing. Both end with an entry in the initial training card, which goes into the personnel file. In a beauty salon this document shows the labour inspector that you know who was instructed, and when, about chemicals, nail drill dust and first aid.

Below you will find who it applies to, what exactly each stage includes, how to document it and where the rules are silent. The wider picture of hiring your first person is in our article on hiring the first stylist in a salon.

Key points

• An employee must complete OHS training before being allowed to work (Article 237³(2) of the Labour Code). Initial training consists of a general briefing and a workstation briefing.
• The framework programme provides for at least 3 lesson hours of 45 minutes for the general briefing. The workstation briefing takes place at the workstation and ends with a test.
• You confirm both briefings in the initial training card. Since 12 December 2025 this may be on paper or electronic.
• People on a civil-law contract (zlecenie) or B2B working in your premises are not employees, but Article 304 of the Labour Code requires you to provide them with safe working conditions.
• You also have a training duty if you employ staff. The employer is trained to the extent needed for their duties.

Who must complete initial OHS training and when

The Labour Code is explicit: the employer ensures that an employee is trained in OHS before being allowed to work, and conducts periodic training (Article 237³(2)). Training takes place during working hours and at the employer's expense (paragraph 3). The training regulation adds that the general briefing is completed before starting work by newly hired employees, as well as by students on placements and pupils in practical vocational training.

There is one exception. If an employee returns to you to the same position she held immediately before the new employment contract, you do not repeat the pre-work training.

The question that comes up most often in salons concerns people who are not on an employment contract. The table below shows what follows from the rules and what is your decision.

Who works in the salon	What the rules say
Stylist on an employment contract	Initial training (both briefings) before being allowed to work, card in the personnel file.
Pupil or student on placement	The regulation covers her with the general and workstation briefings.
Person on a civil-law contract (zlecenie)	Article 304 of the Labour Code: you provide safe and hygienic working conditions in your premises. The training regulation speaks of employees.
Stylist with her own business (B2B) in your salon	The same Article 304: it also covers people running their own business at your workplace. The duties under Article 211 rest on her.
You, if you employ staff	The employer completes OHS training to the extent needed for their duties (Article 2373(21)).

You are an employer within the meaning of the Labour Code when you employ employees (Article 3). If you work alone, or only with B2B colleagues, that training duty toward yourself does not arise from this provision. We describe the rules for working with outside businesses in the article on a B2B contract with a stylist.

What to do with colleagues who are not employees

The rules do not give a ready-made training scheme for B2B. The page on OHS training of the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP), in Polish, says that for people on civil-law contracts and people running a business at a place designated by the employer, training depends on the type of work and its hazards, and the rules are worth setting out in the contract. In a salon where everyone uses the same chemicals and equipment, the practical solution is simple: give the same briefing to everyone who works in the premises and record it in a document signed by both sides.

General and workstation briefing: what each includes

General briefing

Under the regulation, it should acquaint the employee with the basic OHS provisions of the Labour Code, the rules in force in your salon and the principles of giving first aid. The framework programme, which is an annex to the regulation, lists eleven topics, including:

• duties and rights of the employer and the employee, and liability for breaching the rules,
• accident and health hazards in the workplace and basic preventive measures,
• rules on issuing clothing and personal protective equipment,
• order and cleanliness in the workplace,
• preventive medical care,
• fire protection and what to do in a fire,
• what to do in an accident and giving first aid.

The programme sets a total of at least 3 lesson hours, and a lesson hour here is 45 minutes. The PIP page gives this as no less than 135 minutes. The general briefing is run by an OHS service employee, a person performing its tasks, an employer who performs those tasks personally, or an employee designated by the employer. A designated employee must hold a current certificate of completing the required OHS training.

Workstation briefing

You carry out this stage before the employee is allowed to work at a specific workstation. It covers working environment factors, occupational risk, ways of protection and methods of safe work. According to the framework programme, it works like a short training session at the workstation:

1. an introductory conversation between the instructor and the employee,
2. a demonstration and explanation of the whole work process,
3. a trial performance of the task under the instructor's correction,
4. independent work under supervision,
5. checking and assessing the way of working.

The briefing ends with a test of knowledge and skills. A positive result is the basis for allowing the employee to work at that workstation. For workstations with exposure to harmful, burdensome or dangerous factors, the framework programme sets at least 8 lesson hours. For administrative and office workstations the minimum is 2 hours. You adjust the time to the employee's professional preparation and length of service and to the type of hazards.

The workstation briefing is carried out by a designated person supervising employees, or by the employer if they have the right qualifications and experience and are trained in how to conduct such a briefing. You also repeat it when working conditions at the workstation change, for example when you introduce a new harmful substance or a new device.

Specific hazards in a salon: what to put in the workstation briefing

The content of the workstation briefing should follow from the occupational risk assessment. So you first do the risk assessment for the stylist's workstation, and then use it to decide what to show and check.

Area	What you show at the workstation	Where the content comes from
Chemicals	Where products are kept, how to open and store them, what to do after a spill or splash	Safety data sheets, the SDS of lash glue
Ventilation and dust	Switching on the extraction, working with the nail drill, when to stop work	Ventilation and chemical substances in OHS
Biological risk	What to do after a cut, rules for tools and surfaces	The salon's sanitary procedure
Ergonomics	Setting the chair, lamp and hand rest, breaks in work	Risk assessment for the workstation
Accident and fire	Location of the first aid kit, emergency number, escape route	First aid kit and first aid in the salon

Written workstation instructions that the employee keeps at hand are a separate document. We describe it in the article on the OHS instruction in a beauty salon.

Documenting initial training: card, programme, test

The employee confirms completing the general and workstation briefings in the initial training card, and the head of the organisational unit confirms that she may start work, which in a small salon is usually you. The template of the card is Annex 2 to the regulation. You keep the card in the employee's personnel file.

Since 12 December 2025 an amendment to this provision has been in force. The confirmation may be on paper or electronic. With the electronic form, you make a note in the card where the signature goes and attach to the card the electronic document with the confirmation or its reproduction.

Also put in the training folder:

• the training programme the instructor worked from (the regulation requires you to keep programmes of current training),
• the result of the workstation briefing test,
• the confirmation that the employee has read the OHS rules and principles, which she gives on paper or electronically (Article 237⁴(3) of the Labour Code).

For bilingual teams, a training plan in Polish and Ukrainian is useful. We describe one in the article on training a new stylist from Ukraine. The documents you need for such a hire are in the text on hiring a stylist from Ukraine.

Online training: when it is allowed

Here we have to be honest about the limits of what we checked. The training regulation has no provision that expressly allows or forbids running the general briefing online. One thing is clear: the workstation briefing takes place at the workstation, so you cannot do it entirely online. According to the PIP page, remote initial training, except for the workstation briefing, was allowed during the state of epidemic threat, which was lifted on 1 July 2023. We found no later official position on an online general briefing.

What this means in practice:

• before buying an online course, ask the seller who by name runs the briefing and on what basis,
• remember that the employee designated for the general briefing must hold a current OHS training certificate,
• always carry out the workstation briefing in the salon separately, at the workstation,
• if in doubt, ask the regional labour inspectorate (okręgowy inspektorat pracy).

Owner's training and periodic training

If you employ staff, you have your own training too. An employer who personally performs the tasks of the OHS service may do so with up to 10 employees, provided they have completed the relevant training (Article 237¹¹(1) of the Labour Code). The training takes the form of a course or seminar. The alternative is to entrust these tasks to a specialist from outside the salon. The employer repeats periodic training as a course, seminar or guided self-study at least once every 5 years, and completes the first within 6 months of starting work in that position.

For employees in manual worker positions, periodic training in the form of a briefing takes place at least once every 3 years. The regulation does not list a stylist as an example of a position, so you set the frequency for your team after consulting employees and record it in the programme.

Frequently asked questions

Does initial OHS training have to be repeated?

Initial training takes place once, before the employee is allowed to work. After that, periodic training applies. You also repeat the workstation briefing after changes at the workstation, for example after introducing a new harmful substance or a new device.

Can I conduct the briefing for a new stylist myself?

The general briefing can be run by an employer who personally performs the tasks of the OHS service, if they hold the required certificate. You can run the workstation briefing if you have the right qualifications and experience and are trained in how to conduct such a briefing.

Does a B2B stylist need an initial training card?

We found no rule requiring an initial training card for a person running their own business. However, Article 304 of the Labour Code requires you to provide safe working conditions in your premises. We recommend giving the same briefing and recording it in a document signed by both sides.

Can the training card be electronic?

Yes. Since 12 December 2025 the confirmation of the briefing may be on paper or electronic. In the electronic form you make a note in the initial training card and attach the electronic document or its reproduction.

How long does initial OHS training in a salon take?

The framework programme in the regulation indicates at least 3 lesson hours of 45 minutes for the general briefing and at least 8 lesson hours for the workstation briefing at workstations with exposure to harmful factors. You adjust the length of the workstation briefing to the employee's experience and the hazards at the workstation.

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Legal status as of: 2 November 2026
Legal basis: Articles 3, 237³(1)-(3), 237⁴(3), 237¹¹(1)-(2), 304 and 304¹ of the Labour Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2026, item 1245); Regulation of the Minister of Economy and Labour of 27 July 2004 on health and safety training (consolidated text: Journal of Laws 2024, item 1327, §§ 1a, 2-15 and Annexes 1-2) with the amendment from the regulation of 24 November 2025 (Journal of Laws 2025, item 1640, in force from 12 December 2025; we found no later amendments in Journal of Laws 2026); PIP page "OHS training". Not checked: the retention period for personnel files, case law and ministry interpretations on an online general briefing after 2023, course offers on the market, OHS service qualifications beyond the scope for an employer, or the grouping of positions in individual salons.
Last reviewed: 2 November 2026