Civil protection in Europe: Civil Defence in Poland

Introduction

Civil defence in Poland is regulated in line with the law of 21 November of 1967 concerning the general duty to protect the Re¬public of Poland. An independent legally relevant act, which regulates the sphere of the crisis situations in Poland, is the law of 26 April of 2007 concerning crisis management that stipulates the authorities responsible for the questions relating to crisis management as well as their tasks and the function regulations in this field.

Fundamental aims of civil defence

The aim of civil defence is to protect the population, objects of cultural value, business plants and facilities of the public sector, to rescue and provide assistance to injured persons in the event of war, as well as to assist in combating of natural disasters and dangers to the environment and remedying their consequences.

Structure of civil defence

The central body of government administration in the field of civil defence is the state head of civil defence. The local bodies of civil defence are the voivodship, district and municipal directors, as well as mayors (town president). The owners or managers are responsible for implementing the tasks of civil defence in the business plants.

Units in civil defence

The fundamental organisation units, which are entrusted with executing the tasks of civil defence, are the units in civil defence. Civil defence units are created by way of a regulation of the responsible ministers or the voivodship, district and municipal directors, as well as mayors (town presidents), whereby in particular the following is taken into account: size of the occurring threats, type of unit, their intention and personnel and internal organisation. Units in civil defence can also be created by employers.

Training in the field of protection of the population and civil defence

Training in the field of civil defence is organised on a central and local level as well as in the business plants and in the form of basic training, advanced training, special training and exercises. The training courses are organised in line with the created time tables and programmes. The youths, who attend the general education and vocational schools, are subject to the duty of participation in military service lessons – a compulsory subject that is covered by the teaching plan of the respective school. The military service lessons are a facultative subject for students at universities, that is carried out in the system of self-education and the consultation.

Crisis management

Crisis management is a task of the bodies of the public administration and an element of the management of national safety that consists of the prevention of crisis situations, the preparation for executing the control of such situations by means of previously planned acts, the fast and right reaction when a crisis situation occurs, as well as in the restoration of the infrastructure or its original character.

Crisis reaction plans

Crisis reaction plans are created on national, voivodship and municipal level which are updated at least every two years.

Working groups and centres for crisis management

The government group of crisis management is formed by the council of ministers as an opinion-forming and consultancy body for matters relating to the initiation and coordination of acts in the field of crisis management. Centres for crisis management will be created on national, voivodship and district level. Municipal working groups for crisis management will be created on municipal level.

Training courses in the field of crisis management

Training, exercises and education in the field of response to potential dangers are organised on national, voivodship, district and municipal level.

Other institutions which work in the field of crisis management

Police, border patrol, state fire service, rescue service, voluntary mountain rescue service, voluntary mountain rescue service of the Tatra, voluntary water protection units.

The state rescue and extinguishing system (Polish abbreviation: KSRG)

The state rescue and extinguishing system was organised by the state fire service. The fundamental aim of the system is to protect life, health, property and environment by combating fire and other natural disasters, as well as the technical, chemical, ecological and medical rescue service. Rescue and extinguishing units of the state fire service, units of the voluntary fire service, the plant fire services, plant rescue forces, hospitals as well as specialists from various fields of the rescue system operate within this system.