Maintenance and service teams under the rules in force

The labour inspectorate recorded 41 338 findings in 2025. For designated technical equipment the figure was 8 816, which is 8.4% lower than in 2024. It is still one of the largest groups, and the report adds an assessment that matters more to service teams than the number itself.7

Three things in one sentence, and all three belong to maintenance: test dates, operating logs and guards. The report adds that this technical condition, together with poorly trained operators, is among the most common causes of accidents at work.7

In the 2025 statistics on the sources of accidents, machines caused 668 registered accidents and tools, including hand tools, a further 661. Together that is 1 329 cases, almost eighteen percent of all registered accidents.7

Government Regulation No. 392/2006 Coll. on work devices, in force since 1 July 2006 and never amended, divides the people around a machine into two categories: operation and maintenance.1

The difference between an "assigned employee" and an "authorised person" is not a matter of style. Anyone the employer assigns may operate the machine. Only someone authorised for it may carry out maintenance, repairs and modifications. Training must be demonstrable in both cases, and for maintenance it must also be separate.

• An "employee assigned to use a work device" must be demonstrably trained in proportion to the dangers of using it, under Section 8(4)(a).
• An "authorised employee" who carries out the activities under Section 6(b), that is maintenance, repairs and modifications, must be demonstrably given separate training in proportion to the dangers of that work, under Section 8(4)(b).

On inspections of work devices, the National Labour Inspectorate specifies that inspections under Section 5 may be carried out by an authorised legal person under Section 14(1)(d) of the health and safety act, or by an accredited independent type A inspection body under STN EN ISO/IEC 17020 in the field of machinery.8

Annex 1 to the regulation on work devices contains the sentence that maintenance planning starts from: where maintenance is prescribed for a work device, the maintenance dates must be observed.1 It can be prescribed by the manufacturer in the manual, by legislation or by a standard.

If nobody prescribes it, the decision does not disappear, it moves. Under Section 5(3) the employer sets the scope and frequency of inspection. On top of that, an authorised person carries out a special inspection whenever exceptional circumstances arise, in particular a modification, a fault, an accident, a natural event or a longer break in use, under Section 5(2).

The records then carry a requirement of their own, one that tends to be underrated.

The second sentence matters more to service teams than the first. A device that travels with an engineer to another site has to carry the last inspection record with it, not leave it in a folder at head office.

For forming machines, the intervals and the method of inspection are set by clause 7.3 of STN 21 0700, listed as valid in the ÚNMS SR catalogue with an edition dated 13 December 1985 and a last amendment from March 1997.9

The most dangerous moment in maintenance is not the work on the machine but the machine starting unexpectedly during it. The Slovak rules deal with that in a single sentence in Annex 1.

The rule says what has to be achieved, not how. The German trade publication DGUV Information 209-015 Instandhaltung an Maschinen und Anlagen, in its June 2026 edition, describes a concrete procedure and is one of the few current, self-contained guides on the subject.10 It gives three ways to prevent unauthorised, accidental and unexpected starting: isolation of the circuit by an electrician, a lockable main switch, and isolation of individual drives with a safety switch. It adds a sentence worth remembering: switching off without securing against reconnection does not achieve the aim.

The publication also points to what is most often forgotten during isolation: the danger from stored energy, which is still active in the system after isolation and has to be assessed separately. Capacitors, frequency converters, pressure in hydraulics and pneumatics, raised loads and tensioned springs are not discharged by throwing the main switch.

The five safety rules for electrical equipment

For work on electrical equipment the same publication gives five rules, normally to be followed in this order.10

Decree No. 508/2009 Coll., as in force since 1 September 2014, sets out which pressure, lifting, electrical and gas equipment counts as designated, and sorts it into groups A, B and C by the level of danger.4 The group decides what inspections and tests the equipment needs and who may carry them out.

For service teams that brings a second layer of duties, this time on the people side. Professional competence is confirmed by a certificate, and the details of training and education are governed by Decree No. 356/2007 Coll. as in force since 1 March 2023.5 The document is not issued for good, though.

The five year period runs from the end of the previous training, not from the issue of the document. The person authorised to provide the training writes the date into the certificate itself, so checking validity is a matter of one look at the document. The act also covers temporary incapacity for work, during which the period is treated as preserved under stated conditions.2

The standard for electrical installations has changed

The operation of electrical installations is covered by STN EN 50110-1. The ÚNMS SR catalogue lists the valid edition dated 1 May 2024. The earlier editions from 2001, 2005 and 2014 have been withdrawn.9 A reference to the 2014 edition, the one most often found in internal documentation, now points to a withdrawn standard.

Maintenance often happens where nobody normally goes: on top of a machine, on a platform, on a ladder. Annex 2 to the regulation on work devices has a separate part on temporary work at height, with one principle that sets the order of solutions.1

Where temporary work at height cannot be carried out safely and in ergonomically suitable conditions from a suitable surface, the most appropriate work equipment must be selected to establish and maintain safe working conditions. Collective protective measures take precedence over individual ones. The dimensions of the work equipment must match the nature of the work and the expected load.

For maintenance planning that means a guard rail on a platform is the better answer under the rules than a harness, even though the harness is cheaper and quicker to hand.

A tool is a work device like any other, so the same duties apply: suitability for the job under Section 3(1), inspections under Section 5 and demonstrable training under Section 8.1 In the 2025 statistics on the sources of accidents, tools and hand tools stand right behind machines with 661 cases.

Compared with production, service teams have two differences that make record keeping harder.

• Most of what is issued comes back. Torque wrenches, measuring instruments, cordless tools and endoscopes go out on a job and are meant to return.
• Some tools have an expiry date of their own. Calibrated gauges and torque wrenches run out of calibration, and test instruments need checks of their own.

Protective equipment is subject to the same rules as anywhere else. The employer provides it free of charge and keeps records of what was issued under Section 6(2)(b) of the health and safety act, retains the documentation for five years from the last entry under Section 6(1)(n), and checks continuously that it is properly used under Section 9(1)(d).2 The PPE regulation adds a requirement that is hardest for teams spread over several places. Where the same item is used by more than one employee, it must be available to the employee whenever it is needed, under Section 3(3)(b).6

Besides ignored test dates and missing operating logs, the 2025 report names what lies behind them.

With protective equipment the picture is the same as in other industries. Missing, inadequate or unsuitable PPE caused eight accidents in 2025, and failure to use the PPE prescribed and issued caused eighty-four. The inspectorate names an employer control system that does not work as one of the reasons.7

International prevention work outside state supervision reaches the same conclusion. The Vision Zero strategy, led by the International Social Security Association, puts the safety of machines, equipment and workplaces as rule five and raising qualifications as rule six of seven.11

Act No. 125/2006 Coll. on labour inspection, as in force since 7 June 2026, treats as a serious breach, among other things, failure to provide a guard or a safety device or failure to keep it working.3 That is exactly the situation the inspectorate describes with machines running without their guards, which as a rule happens after maintenance.

A penalty can also be imposed on a manager who breached the duties through their own fault, up to four times their average monthly earnings. The employer's liability for the same breach is unaffected. Proceedings can be started within six months of the end of the inspection and no later than three years from the day of the breach.3

Unlike production, maintenance has few people and many items. That is why it loses track of where things are more than anywhere else. Controlled issuing settles four things at once.

• Tools are available outside the storekeeper's hours, on the night shift and at weekends, when breakdowns do not make appointments.
• Every issue and every return is tied to a named employee by card or PIN, so an item's history is complete from collection to hand-back.
• Items with their own expiry, calibrated gauges and torque wrenches, carry a date in the system and can be pulled out of circulation before anyone uses them past it.
• Protective equipment is issued from the same place, which produces the record of provision that the health and safety act requires.

From our range, service teams most often use the L40 with lockable compartments and charging for cordless tools, SZV 15 for larger items, and the X1 CAM for controlled collection of damaged tools due for replacement.

Ten questions every service team should be able to answer.

Legislation is cited as in force on the date this guide was updated, and standards according to the ÚNMS SR catalogue as at 31 August 2026. Sources that are not Slovak legislation are marked in the list and are informative. This text is for information and does not replace legal advice or an assessment of a particular site.