History and development

The institution for professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities is the legal successor of the oldest sheltered workshop in Croatia called "Ivančica", founded back in 1946. The workshop is still part of the institution today and has significantly contributed to the development of sheltered employment, and in 2026. it will celebrate its 80th birthday.

URIHO is also the legal successor of the former business system called DIOZ, which was created in 1978. by merging the then independent sheltered workshops: DES for deaf and hard of hearing people, Ivančica for chronically ill people, OSVIT for disabled people and ZIRI for physically disabled people and people prone to asocial behavior. The aforementioned company, based on the agreement on the transformation and merger of 10 companies, changed its name in 1996. to URIHO, an institution for the rehabilitation of handicapped persons through professional rehabilitation and employment, and its founders were the City of Zagreb and the Croatian Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

URIHO's activities include professional rehabilitation and employment of people with disabilities and are important for society as a whole. The institution currently employs just over 500 employees, of which around 60% are people with disabilities. Sheltered employment takes place within the textile, ceramics, metal, leather, jewelry, orthopedics, cardboard and printing industries.

URIHO is the first sheltered workshop in the Republic of Croatia to have an ISO standard. The quality management system certificate ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, ISO 45001:2018 and UNI 10854:1999 confirms URIHO's compliance with strict global standards of quality business organizations. This certificate defines the quality management system, employer responsibility, resource management, product realization, measurements and analysis. For customers of URIHO's products and services and for its employees, the introduction of ISO standards means continuous improvement of work quality, innovation and flexibility.

After eight successful decades, URIHO is moving forward. Persistence, knowledge, experience, motivation and inspiration are the main driving forces in the coming period. From the very beginning, always in step with the times regardless of obstacles, through numerous projects, collaborations and activities, our goal is to create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.