The Central Institute for Labour Protection (CIOP) is Poland's main research institution, comprehensively dealing with the problems of improving working conditions in accordance with human psychophysical abilities. The main aim of the Institute’s research and development works is the building scientific foundations to create a system for preventing occupational hazards. The Institute’s main activities in the field of safety and health include research and implementation work, standardization, determination of exposure limits, testing and certification of machinery and manufacturing devices, personal and collective protective equipment; certification of the competence of personnel and educational bodies active in the field of OSH, promotion, implementation and certification of OSH management systems; consultations, education and  training in OSH as well as promotion, information and publishing activity in this area, and international cooperation with OSH institutes and international organizations.

CIOP-PIB is the coordinator and the main performer of the national research programme (established by the Council of Ministers in 2007) on "Improvement of safety and working conditions”. The first phase of the programme covered the period 2008-2010 with a budget ca. € 25 million. This programme is being carried out in cooperation with 20 Polish research institutions in this field. It consists of 72 research projects and 136 tasks of so-called "state services" related to implementation of the national policy on OSH. The strategic objective of the Programme is to develop and implement innovative organizational and technical solutions, focused at improvement of human resources, new products, technologies, management methods and systems, aimed at achieving a significant reduction of occupational accidents and diseases in Poland as well as related economic and social losses.

Within the framework of the above Programme, eight research projects concerning the control of major accidents and explosive atmospheres hazards have been carried out by CIOP-PIB and by several research institutes and universities. The general aim of this group of projects is to develop advanced tools for create safety management systems to minimize the risks of major accidents and explosive situations and to mitigate the potential consequences of such events for people, the environment and property. The topics of these research projects are the following:

• Computer-aided risk assessment for establishments posing a major industrial accident hazard and assessment of occupational risk facing workers at workplaces potentially at risk from explosive situations;
• Developing analytic methods and tools for computer-aided management of functional safety under a system of the creation of protection layers for industrial facilities at increased risk;
• Development of a safety management system at establishments at risk of major industrial accidents falling outside the lower-tier or upper-tier establishments;
• Developing a human and environmental risk management system related to the transportation of dangerous chemicals by rail;
• Developing a risk management programme related to the transport of dangerous chemicals by road;
• Risk assessment methods for the workstations potentially at risk from explosions and developing a model explosion-safety document;
• Method of detection of electrostatic discharge in the working environment for prevention of flammable atmosphere ignition in explosion endangered zones;
• Procedures for major accident prevention and mitigation of their consequences – development of tools supporting the realisation of the procedures, and preparation and assessment of the documents required (development and maintenance of the Internet service).