History of the Occupational Safety Research Institute

The history of the Occupational Safety Research Institute (VÚBP) is directly linked to that of the Psychotechnical Institute, established in 1920 on the initiative of the Czech Technical Academy within the 6th Department of Economic and Social Sciences of the Masaryk Academy of Labour, with its seat at Jeruzalémská 9, Prague 1. The mission of the Institute was to pursue research in the psychology and sociology of work. Alongside psychological and sociological perspectives (the selection of suitable workers for specific technical equipment and their training), the physiological perspective (human work limits) was also applied, with emphasis on preventing inattention and thoughtlessness at work (arising from a lack of awareness of occupational risks).

In 1936, the Psychotechnical Institute was transformed into the Central Psychotechnical Institute, co-founded by the Ministry of Education. Following the arrival of the German occupying forces in 1939, the Central Psychotechnical Institute was reorganized into the Institute of Human Labour, dedicated to research in the psychology, physiology, and sociology of work. This scientific approach focused on the efficiency of human labour and addressed issues such as vocational education planning, apprentice training, worker retraining, accident prevention, and technical occupational safety.

After the war, in 1947, the Institute was incorporated into the newly established Czechoslovak Institute of Labour as a research and analytical body under the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. The Occupational Safety Department, staffed by former employees of the Psychotechnical Institute, remained an integral part of the new institute. For four years, however, occupational safety remained subordinate to the social approach. In 1951, the Czechoslovak Institute of Labour was dissolved without replacement, and, through the initiative of the Central Council of Trade Unions, the Occupational Safety Institute was created out of its Occupational Safety Department. The new institution developed rapidly, and within just two years it was fulfilling six state research assignments and twelve additional research projects.

Although the name Occupational Safety Research Institute (VÚBP) began to be commonly used in correspondence between ministries and the Central Council of Trade Unions shortly after the institute’s establishment, the institute was officially created – together with its Slovak branch – as the Occupational Safety Research Institute of the Trade Union Movement Council (ROH) by decree of the Presidium of the Central Council of Trade Unions on 25 June 1954. Its mission was to contribute through systematic research and the application of scientific knowledge to improving workplace safety nationwide, enhancing productivity, and thereby raising the living standards of the workforce. The institute also operated an auxiliary facility in Ostrava, focusing on mining and metallurgy. At this time, institute staff addressed pressing occupational safety issues across the entire national economy, visiting individual workplaces and formulating principles of safe work practices on the basis of the information collected.

Shortly after the federalization of the Czechoslovak Republic and the creation of the Czech Occupational Safety Office (ČÚBP), responsibility for the VÚBP was transferred from the Central Council of Trade Unions to ČÚBP, under an agreement concluded on 12 June 1969. At this time, the State Testing Laboratory also became part of the VÚBP (since 18 June 2001 operating as Notified Body 1024), conducting testing of selected personal protective equipment for head, face, eye, hearing, and respiratory protection, as well as for body protection against chemicals, dust, mechanical influences, and water, and later also testing temporary construction structures.

With the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the creation of two independent states, the Czech Occupational Safety Office was abolished, and on 2 May 1994 the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA) became the founding authority of VÚBP. Since 2000, under an agreement between the Minister of the Environment and the MoLSA, the Institute has also included a specialized workplace dedicated to the prevention of major accidents. Pursuant to Act No. 341/2005 Coll. on Public Research Institutions, VÚBP was transformed from a state-subsidized organization into a public research institution as of 1 January 2007.

By decision of the MoLSA, at the end of 2024 VÚBP merged with the Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs, which thereby ceased to exist. As of 1 January 2025, the new entity operates under the name Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs, public research institution.

Throughout its history, the Institute’s staff have engaged in defining the psychological aspects of occupational safety (e.g. driver cabins), developing safe working procedures for specific workplaces in the national economy (e.g. casting lines in foundries) and for operating various machines and technical equipment (e.g. robots and manipulators), and studying the impact of the human factor on the reliability of technical systems (e.g. the effect of radiant heat). They became co-founders of the discipline of ergonomics (and today are accredited to conduct examinations of ergonomics specialists), developed standards and procedures in testing, and carried out specific projects such as constructing a specialized scaffolding system for the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant. They have developed innovations including an emergency breathing bag and escape breathing apparatus, a recuperative heat exchanger, a six-segment globe thermometer, anti-vibration gloves (industrial design), and a noise-reducing helmet (patent).

The Institute organizes national campaigns and competitions for various target groups, operates the BOZPinfo sectoral portal along with other occupational safety websites and social media, publishes the peer-reviewed journal JOSRA, provides services through the OSH Library, and offers training courses and certification exams for risk prevention specialists, construction site coordinators, and fire protection professionals.