Standards for the Protection of Minors
at Hotel Alpejski

Preamble

Taking into account:

• the obligation arising from the Act of May 13, 2016, on counteracting threats of sexual crimes and protecting minors,
• the content of the United Nations guidelines on business and human rights, recognizing the important role of business in ensuring respect for children's rights,

Hotel Alpejski adopts the Standards for the Protection of Minors for implementation. The Standards for the Protection of Children at Hotel Alpejski are implemented based on the following principles:

• Hotel Alpejski conducts its operations with respect for children's rights, recognizing that due to their age, emotional state, and mental condition, they are particularly vulnerable to harm.
• Hotel Alpejski recognizes its role in conducting socially responsible business and promoting desirable social attitudes.
• Hotel Alpejski acknowledges the importance of the legal and social obligation to report to law enforcement any case of harm, suspicion of a crime against a child, and commits to training its employees to ensure they are competent in fulfilling this obligation.

Glossary

For the purposes of this document, the meanings of the following terms have been clarified:

1. Tourist facilities – hotel facilities and other establishments where hotel services, as defined in the Act of August 29, 1997, on hotel services, tour leaders, and tourist guides, are provided.
2. Child/minor – for the purposes of these standards, a child is any person under the age of 18.¹
3. Child's guardian – the legal representative of the child: a parent or guardian; foster parent; temporary guardian (i.e., a person authorized to represent a minor Ukrainian citizen residing in Poland without adult supervision).²
4. Unrelated adult – any person over the age of 18 who is not the child’s parent or legal guardian.
5. Harm to a child – any behavior that may constitute a criminal offense against a child by any person, including an employee of an entity, or a threat to a child’s well-being, including neglect; any deliberate or unintentional act or omission by an individual, institution, or society as a whole, and any result of such action or inaction, that infringes on the rights, freedoms, and personal interests of children and/or disrupts their optimal development.
6. Forms of violence against a child:
   • Physical violence against a child refers to actions resulting in actual physical harm or potential harm to the child. This harm occurs due to actions or inactions by a parent, guardian, or another person responsible for the child, or by someone the child trusts or who has authority over them. Physical violence against a child may be repetitive or occur as a single incident.
   • Psychological violence against a child is a chronic, non-physical, harmful interaction between the child and their caregiver, including actions and omissions. This includes emotional unavailability, emotional neglect, hostile relationships, blame, defamation, rejection, developmentally inappropriate or inconsistent interactions with the child, and failure to recognize the individuality or psychological boundaries between parent and child.
   • Sexual exploitation of a child refers to involving a child in sexual activities they cannot fully understand, consciously consent to, or are developmentally unprepared for. It also includes activities that violate the legal or customary norms of a given society. Sexual exploitation occurs when such activity takes place between a child and an adult or between a child and another child in a relationship of care, dependency, or authority. This may also take the form of sexual exploitation, defined as any actual or attempted abuse of vulnerability, power imbalance, or trust for sexual purposes, including but not limited to financial, social, or political gain. Sexual exploitation poses particular risks during humanitarian crises and threatens both children and their guardians (as defined by UN Bulletin ST/SGB/2003/13).
   • Neglect of a child refers to the chronic or incidental failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs and/or to respect their fundamental rights, leading to health issues and/or developmental challenges. Neglect occurs in a relationship between the child and a person obligated to care for, raise, nurture, and protect the child.
7. Crimes against children – all offenses that can be committed against adults, as well as offenses that can only be committed against children (e.g., sexual exploitation under Article 200 of the Penal Code³). Due to the specific nature of accommodation facilities, where isolation is easily achievable, the most common offenses in such places are those against sexual freedom and morality, particularly rape (Article 197 of the Penal Code), sexual exploitation of incapacity or helplessness (Article 198 of the Penal Code), sexual exploitation of dependence or critical circumstances (Article 199 of the Penal Code), sexual exploitation of a person under 15 years of age (Article 200 of the Penal Code), and grooming (enticing a minor using remote communication methods – Article 200a of the Penal Code).
8. Other forms of harm to a child besides criminal offenses – all forms of violence against a child that do not meet the criteria for a public prosecution crime (e.g., shouting, humiliating, grabbing, insulting, neglecting needs, etc.).
9. Employee – a person employed under an employment contract or providing work under a similar agreement (e.g., mandate, B2B, specific-task contract), as well as interns, apprentices, volunteers, etc.
10. Employee working with children – any person performing or assigned to tasks related to the upbringing, education, leisure, treatment, psychological counseling, spiritual development, sports, or other interests of minors, or providing care for them.
11. Entrepreneur – the entity/person responsible for managing a facility or network of facilities and ensuring their proper formal functioning.

¹ According to Polish law, a child is any person under the age of 18 (Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989). A minor is a person who has not reached the age of majority, i.e., until the age of 18, or a woman who has attained majority by marrying after the age of 16 (Article 10 § 1 and 2 of the Civil Code), which may occur with the consent of a guardianship court for valid reasons and if circumstances indicate that marriage is in the best interest of the family to be formed (Article 10 § 1 of the Family and Guardianship Code).
² Parents – Article 98 of the Family and Guardianship Code; guardian – Article 155 of the Family and Guardianship Code; foster parent – Article 112¹ of the Family and Guardianship Code; temporary guardian – Article 25 of the Act on Assistance to Ukrainian Citizens in Connection with the Armed Conflict in Ukraine.
³ Act of June 6, 1997, Penal Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2022, item 1138, as amended).

Chapter I.
Facility Employees

General Principles

1. Hotel Alpejski provides training to its employees to equip them with the skills to recognize signs and symptoms of child abuse and to respond promptly and appropriately to such situations. The facility may implement this training through various formats, such as external or internal training, e-learning, educational materials developed by the hotel and made available to employees, or free educational resources created by other organizations.
2. Each employee, before being allowed to start work, is required to familiarize themselves with the Standards for the Protection of Children and confirm this by signing a statement. Additionally, they must commit to adhering to the principles and procedures outlined in the standards.
3. Hotel Alpejski considers the needs of children with disabilities and children with special educational needs.

Employment of Persons Working with Children

1. Individuals working with children must demonstrate in their employment history that they have not harmed any child in the past.
2. Every person employed or assigned by Hotel Alpejski to work with children must be verified in the Register of Sexual Offenders. This also applies to minor employees under 18 years of age. Verification involves printing the search results from the restricted-access register and placing them in the personal file of the verified individual.
3. Additionally, every person employed or assigned to work with children must provide a criminal record certificate from the National Criminal Register covering offenses specified in Chapters XIX and XXV of the Penal Code, Articles 189a and 207 of the Penal Code, and the Act of July 29, 2005, on Counteracting Drug Addiction (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 172, and 2022, item 2600), or equivalent offenses under foreign law.
4. If the person employed or assigned holds citizenship other than Polish, they must also provide a criminal record certificate from their country of citizenship, obtained for professional or volunteer activities involving contact with children, or a general criminal record certificate if such specific certificates are not issued by the country.
5. The individual must also provide a statement, under criminal liability, declaring their countries of residence in the last 20 years other than Poland and their country of citizenship.
6. If the law of the country from which the criminal record certificate is required does not provide for issuing such a certificate or does not maintain a criminal register, the individual must submit a sworn statement under criminal liability declaring this fact.
7. Statements made under criminal liability must include the following declaration: "I am aware of the criminal liability for submitting a false statement." This statement substitutes for formal notification by authorities about the criminal liability for providing false information.
8. In the case of outsourcing services to external entities, the facility should include a clause in the contract with such an entity to ensure compliance with the required standards for verifying the safety of employees working with children. This clause must allow the facility to monitor compliance with the obligation under penalty of immediate contract termination, a contractual penalty, or other sanctions for failing to meet the contractual terms in this regard.

Scope of Competencies and Responsibilities of Individuals Responsible for Implementing the Standards for the Protection of Minors (SOM)

1. Oversight of SOM implementation is conducted by the Entrepreneur.
2. The Entrepreneur appoints a SOM Coordinator (hereinafter referred to as the "Coordinator").
3. The Coordinator is responsible for familiarizing employees with the content of SOM and monitoring its implementation at Hotel Alpejski.
4. The Coordinator organizes and documents the employee training process in recognizing signs that a child present in the facility may be harmed and methods of prompt and appropriate response to such situations, in accordance with the procedures adopted by the facility.
5. The Coordinator documents each intervention or reported incident related to child harm on the facility's premises in a dedicated record (e.g., an incident log or intervention register).
6. In cases of justified suspicion that a crime has been committed, the Coordinator is responsible for securing evidence, including surveillance recordings, and providing them upon request to the authorities in the form of copies sent via registered mail or personally delivered to the prosecutor or police.
7. The Coordinator is responsible for conducting procedures in situations where a child is harmed by a facility employee or another adult not directly employed by Hotel Alpejski but by a third party.
8. The Coordinator is responsible for monitoring and updating SOM and ensuring its availability to employees, guests, and other entities collaborating with the facility.
9. The Coordinator’s contact information is accessible to all employees and guests of the facility, including children. This information must include details on how to contact the Coordinator (email address, phone number, availability: days and hours of work).

Principles of Safe Employee-Child Relations

1. All employees of Hotel Alpejski, as well as other adults who have contact with children on the facility's premises with the facility's consent, are obligated to adhere to the following principles.
2. The fundamental principle of all actions taken by employees interacting with children on the premises of Hotel Alpejski is to treat children with respect, considering their dignity and needs.
3. Employees and other adults are prohibited from using any form of violence against children.
4. If any of the above-described behaviors or situations are observed among adults or children, it must be immediately reported to the person responsible for SOM implementation and oversight at the facility or to the employee’s direct supervisor.

Chapter II.
Procedure for Identifying a Child During Check-In at Reception

1. One effective way to prevent child abuse is to establish the identity of the child staying at the facility and their relationship with the accompanying adult.
2. The reception staff must take all possible steps to identify the child and their relationship with the accompanying adult.
3. To identify the child and their relationship with the accompanying adult:
   • Request an identification document for the child or another document confirming the adult’s right to care for the child. Examples of acceptable documents include: an ID card, school ID, MObywatel app, Internet Patient Account, or a court ruling. If the identification document is unavailable or the adult refuses to provide it, ask for the child's details (name, surname, address, and PESEL number).
   • If no documents indicating the child-adult relationship are provided or if the adult refuses to show them, ask both the adult and the child about their relationship.
   • If the adult is not the child’s parent or legal guardian, request a document such as a notarized parental consent for the adult to travel with the child, or a consent letter signed by the parent with details of the child, their address, a contact phone number for the parent, and the ID number/PESEL number of the person entrusted with the child’s care.
   • If the adult does not have any of the above-mentioned documents, ask them to fill out a statement prepared by the facility. The statement should include the child’s details and the accompanying adult’s details, specifying the nature of their relationship. If the adult is neither the child’s parent nor legal guardian, they should declare that the parents/legal guardians have given consent for them to care for the child.
4. If the adult refuses to present the child’s documents and/or clarify the relationship, explain that the procedure aims to ensure the safety of children staying at Hotel Alpejski and that, according to the Act of May 13, 2016, facility staff are obligated to comply with child protection laws. Once the matter is clarified positively, thank the adult for their time and cooperation in ensuring the child is under proper care.
5. If doubts persist regarding the adult’s intentions to harm the child, particularly if the adult refuses to present ID, the child lacks documentation, or the adult declines to provide a written statement, discreetly notify a supervisor and security staff (if present at the facility) in a manner that does not raise suspicion. For example, excuse yourself to access back-office equipment, asking the adult to wait with the child in the lobby, restaurant, or another area.
6. From the moment doubts arise, the child and adult should remain within the staff’s line of sight and should not be left alone if possible.
7. The supervisor informed of the situation takes over the conversation with the adult to seek further clarification.
8. If the discussion confirms suspicion of an attempted or committed crime against the child, the supervisor informs the police. The procedure then follows the steps outlined for circumstances indicating child harm (see Chapter III).
9. If employees from other departments (e.g., housekeeping, room service, bar and restaurant staff, relaxation area, security) witness unusual or suspicious situations, they must promptly notify their supervisor. If the supervisor is unavailable, they should notify a decision-maker who will take appropriate action (see points 7 and 8 above).
10. Depending on the situation and location, the supervisor assesses the validity of the suspicion of child harm. They select appropriate measures to clarify the situation or decide to intervene and notify the police.

Chapter III.
Procedure in Cases Indicating Child Harm by an Adult

1. A justified suspicion of child harm arises when:
   1. A child discloses to a facility employee that they have been harmed.
   2. An employee observes harm being inflicted on a child.
   3. The child exhibits signs of harm (e.g., scratches, bruises) and, when questioned, responds inconsistently, chaotically, or shows embarrassment, or other circumstances suggest harm (e.g., finding child pornography in an adult's room).
2. An employee who has a justified suspicion that a child staying at the facility is or has been harmed should immediately notify their supervisor/decision-maker, who will contact the police. If the child is in immediate danger, the employee who suspects harm must immediately call the police by dialing 112 and describing the circumstances. Independently, the employee must inform the Hotel Alpejski Coordinator of the incident.
3. Efforts should be made to prevent the child and the suspected perpetrator from leaving the facility.
4. Under the circumstances specified in the Criminal Procedure Code, a citizen’s arrest of the suspected individual may be conducted. In such a situation, until the police arrive, the detained individual should remain under the supervision of security personnel or other hotel employees who can carry out such actions without endangering their health or life.
5. In every case, the child’s safety must be prioritized. If possible, the child should remain under the care of an employee until the police arrive. Whenever feasible, efforts should be made to support the child emotionally.
6. If there is justified suspicion that a crime involving contact between the child and the perpetrator’s biological material (e.g., semen, saliva, skin cells) has occurred, the child should not bathe, eat, or drink until the police arrive. The reasons for these restrictions should be explained to the child.
7. After the police take custody of the child, the facility should secure surveillance footage and other relevant evidence (e.g., documents) related to the incident. These materials should be handed over to the Coordinator, who will provide copies upon request by law enforcement, either via registered mail or in person to the prosecutor or police.
8. After the intervention, the incident must be reported to the Coordinator, who will document it in the incident log or another designated record.

Chapter IV.
Procedure in Case of Suspected or Confirmed Child Harm by an Employee or Another Adult

1. In the case of suspected child harm by an employee or another adult not directly employed by Hotel Alpejski but by a third party, the individual who becomes aware of this information must immediately inform the Coordinator or, in their absence, another designated person.
2. If the child’s life or health is at risk, the individual who becomes aware of the situation must immediately notify the police by calling the emergency number 112, providing their own details, the child’s details (if possible), the child’s location, and a description of the circumstances. They must also notify their supervisor/decision-maker, who will inform the child’s guardians/parents. Additionally, the individual must inform the Coordinator, at a minimum in written or email form.
3. If an employee has harmed a child in a way that does not constitute a criminal offense, the Coordinator, upon receiving the information, must investigate all circumstances of the case, particularly by listening to the employee suspected of harm and other witnesses to the incident. If the harm to the child is significant, particularly in cases of discrimination or violation of the child’s dignity, the Coordinator should recommend appropriate personnel actions against the employee to the facility's management.
4. If the individual responsible for harming the child is not directly employed by Hotel Alpejski but by a third party (e.g., outsourcing), it should be recommended that they be banned from entering the premises of Hotel Alpejski, and, if necessary, the contract with the third party should be terminated.

Chapter V.
Procedure in Case of Identified Other Forms of Violence Against a Child by a Parent/Legal Guardian or Another Adult

1. In cases of identified harm to a child by a parent/legal guardian or another adult accompanying the child at the facility, any employee witnessing such harm should respond firmly.
2. If the child’s life or health is at risk, the individual who becomes aware of the situation must immediately notify the police by calling the emergency number 112, providing their own details, the child’s details (if possible), the child’s location, and a description of the circumstances. The individual must also notify their supervisor/decision-maker. Additionally, the incident must be reported to the Coordinator, at a minimum in written or email form.
3. If a facility employee witnesses physical violence against a child (e.g., slapping, pulling, shouting, or other acts described in the definition of physical violence), they should attempt to stop the harm and respond.
4. In situations where a child under 7 years of age is left unattended, the employee who becomes aware of this incident must notify their supervisor. The supervisor, once informed, decides on further actions, taking into account the circumstances and the context of the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and the Petty Offenses Code.⁴ Based on this, the supervisor attempts to locate the parent/legal guardian or another adult accompanying the child at the facility and explains that the child cannot be left unattended. If locating the parent/legal guardian or another adult is not possible, or if the parent/legal guardian/other adult refuses or is unable to assume care of the child, the supervisor informs the police. In all cases, the child’s safety must be ensured.

⁴ Criminal Code: Article 160 § 1 and § 2; Article 210 § 1; Petty Offenses Code: Article 106.

Chapter VI.
Monitoring and Evaluation of the Standards for the Protection of Minors

1. The Entrepreneur appoints a Coordinator responsible for the Standards for the Protection of Minors (SOM) implemented at Hotel Alpejski and ensures that their contact information is easily accessible to employees and hotel guests, including children.
2. The Entrepreneur defines the scope of tasks and competencies of the Coordinator regarding the preparation of employees to apply SOM provisions, the principles of preparing employees, and the method of documenting these activities.
3. The Coordinator, as mentioned in the previous point, conducts monitoring and evaluation of SOM every two years.
4. Monitoring and evaluation include verifying the implementation of the Standards, responding to reports of rule and procedure violations, and proposing amendments to the document, particularly to adapt it to current needs and ensure compliance with applicable regulations.
5. Every two years, the Coordinator conducts a survey among Hotel Alpejski employees to assess the level of SOM implementation.
6. In the survey, employees may propose changes and report violations of SOM rules and procedures within the facility.
7. The Coordinator analyzes the surveys completed by employees and prepares a monitoring report, which is then submitted to the Entrepreneur. The Entrepreneur implements necessary changes to the document and communicates the updated version of the Standards for the Protection of Minors to employees.

Final Provisions

1. The Standards for the Protection of Minors come into effect on August 15, 2024.
2. The Standards for the Protection of Minors are made available to all employees through publication on the Hotel Alpejski website and at the hotel reception.
3. The Standards for the Protection of Minors are made available to guests through publication on the Hotel Alpejski website and at the hotel reception.
4. The Standards for the Protection of Minors are provided in a simplified and child-friendly version in a location accessible to children staying at Hotel Alpejski.