As an employer in the Netherlands, you must make sure your employees can work safely and healthily. The Working Conditions Act (Arbeidsomstandighedenwet, Arbowet) requires you to assess the risks in writing, take measures against them, inform and instruct your staff, and arrange expert support, including access to a company doctor. If an employee suffers damage at work, you are in principle liable unless you can show that you met your duty of care.
This article looks at those duties from both sides: what the law requires of you as an employer, and what your employees may expect of you. Our article on employer and employee duties under the Working Conditions Act sets out the framework and the employer’s instruments in more detail.
Who does the Working Conditions Act apply to?
The Act applies wherever work is performed under an employer’s authority. That includes companies, but also associations and foundations, and it covers part-time and flexible workers, on-call workers and people on zero-hours contracts.
The employer is responsible for compliance with the Working Conditions Act within the organisation. According to article 3 of the Act, you must pursue a policy aimed at the best possible working conditions. Employees have their own duties too: under article 11, they must use work equipment, hazardous substances and personal protective equipment correctly, take part in instruction and report hazards they notice.
How is health and safety legislation structured?
The rules are laid down at three levels: the Working Conditions Act, the Working Conditions Decree (Arbobesluit) and the Working Conditions Regulations (Arboregeling). Each level adds more detail to the one above it.
- The Working Conditions Act is the basis and a framework law. It sets goals rather than detailed rules on specific risks. Each organisation and sector can decide how to meet those goals, and can lay down its approach in a health and safety catalogue (arbocatalogus).
- The Working Conditions Decree elaborates on the Act. It contains the rules that employers and employees must follow to counter occupational risks, including specific rules for certain sectors and categories of employees.
- The Working Conditions Regulations elaborate on the Decree with detailed technical rules. Examples are the requirements that work equipment must meet and the way an occupational health and safety service must carry out its statutory tasks. These rules are also binding on employers and employees.
What is a health and safety catalogue?
A health and safety catalogue describes how employers and employees in a sector or company agree to meet the government’s target rules. A target rule is a standard set by law that you must achieve, for example a maximum noise level.
The catalogue describes techniques, methods, good practices and practical guidance for working safely and healthily. It can be drawn up at sector or company level. Employer and employee organisations are jointly responsible for its content and distribution.
What are your main obligations as an employer?
The Act sets general obligations that apply to every employer. How you meet them may differ by organisation and sector, but the obligations themselves are fixed. The most important are listed below.
Organise work safely and adapt it to your employees
Article 3 of the Act requires you to organise work so that it does not harm safety or health, as far as can reasonably be required. You must tackle hazards at the source and give collective protection priority over individual protection. Personal protective equipment comes last.
- Adapt the design of workplaces, working methods, work equipment and the content of the work to the personal characteristics of your employees. This also applies to employees with limitations due to illness.
- Avoid monotonous and pace-bound work as far as can reasonably be required.
- Pursue a policy to prevent and limit psychosocial workload (psychosociale arbeidsbelasting). Under article 3(2) this covers aggression and violence, discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment and work pressure.
- Where dangerous substances are involved, take measures to prevent and limit major accidents (article 6).
- Take effective measures to prevent danger to people other than your employees, such as visitors or neighbours (article 10). Insurance can cover the financial consequences, but prevention remains your duty.
Assess the risks: the RI&E and plan of action
Under article 5 of the Act, you must record in writing which risks the work entails for your employees. This is the risk inventory and evaluation (risico-inventarisatie en -evaluatie, RI&E).
The RI&E describes the hazards and the measures that limit them, including risks for specific groups of employees. It shows, for example, whether safety or health is at risk from unstable scaffolding, explosion hazards, a noisy environment or long hours behind a screen.
- Plan of action. Part of the RI&E is a plan of action (plan van aanpak). It states which measures you will take, how they relate to each other and within what period. Think of providing personal protective equipment, replacing harmful machinery or giving better information.
- Review. As a rule, a certified expert or an occupational health and safety service (arbodienst) must review your RI&E and advise on it. Article 14 of the Act makes an exception for small employers, for example those with no more than 25 employees who use a recognised industry instrument.
- Keep it up to date. You must update the RI&E whenever experience, changed working methods or conditions, or developments in knowledge give reason to do so. Every employee must be able to read it.
Inform and instruct your employees
Article 8 of the Act requires you to inform your employees effectively about their work, the risks involved and the measures that limit those risks. You must also give them practical, task-oriented instruction.
This may concern the use of work equipment and personal protective equipment, but also how the organisation deals with aggression, violence and sexual harassment. You must also supervise compliance with instructions and the correct use of protective equipment. For employees under 18, you must take their limited experience into account.
Arrange expert support and a company doctor
Every employer must arrange support from a certified expert or a registered company doctor (bedrijfsarts). The terms of that support must be set out in a written agreement, the so-called basic contract (basiscontract), under article 14 of the Act.
- Your employees must have effective access to a company doctor, and the company doctor must be able to visit all workplaces.
- An employee may ask for a second opinion from another company doctor. The agreement with your health and safety service or company doctor sets out how this is arranged.
- The company doctor or expert advises on and supervises employees who are unable to work due to illness. That support is part of your sickness absence policy.
- The company doctor must have an adequate complaints procedure and advises you on preventive measures.
Appoint a prevention officer
Under article 13 of the Act, you must be assisted by one or more employees with expertise in prevention and protection, usually called prevention officers (preventiemedewerkers). A prevention officer often performs this role alongside their regular job.
Their statutory tasks include helping to draw up and carry out the RI&E, advising and working closely with the works council or staff representatives on working conditions policy, and helping to carry out the measures. The works council must consent to the choice and position of the prevention officer. If you have no more than 25 employees, you may perform this role yourself, provided you have sufficient expertise.
Organise in-house emergency response
Article 15 of the Act requires you to appoint employees as in-house emergency responders (bedrijfshulpverleners, BHV). They provide first aid, fight fires and limit their consequences, and raise the alarm and evacuate in an emergency.
You must make sure there are enough emergency responders and that they are properly trained, equipped and organised for these tasks. The Act does not prescribe one specific certificate; the training must be adequate for the risks in your organisation.
Report and register occupational accidents
Under article 9 of the Act, you must report serious occupational accidents directly to the Netherlands Labour Authority (Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie). Serious means an accident resulting in death, permanent injury or hospital admission.
You must also keep a list of reported accidents and of accidents that led to more than three working days of absence. Occupational diseases are reported by the company doctor or health and safety service, not by you.
Offer periodic health examinations
Article 18 of the Act requires you to give your employees the opportunity to undergo a periodic occupational health examination (periodiek arbeidsgezondheidskundig onderzoek, PAGO). The examination focuses on the health risks of the work. Participation is voluntary for the employee.
What does the Netherlands Labour Authority check?
The Netherlands Labour Authority supervises compliance with the health and safety rules by employers and employees. Its focus is on work situations that pose serious health risks.
When it finds a violation, it can issue a warning, order compliance, halt work, impose a fine or impose a penalty payment (last onder dwangsom). Which measure it takes depends on the seriousness of the violation. Fines usually fall on the employer, but an employee who refuses to use available protective equipment can also be fined. An employer has six weeks to object to a fine.
When are you liable if an employee is harmed at work?
You are liable unless you show that you took all reasonably necessary measures, or that the damage was largely caused by the employee’s intent or deliberate recklessness. This follows from article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code (BW).
Article 7:658(1) BW requires you to arrange and maintain premises, machinery and tools, and to take measures and give instructions, as reasonably necessary to prevent your employee from suffering damage at work. The burden of proof lies with you, not with the employee. A clear, well-documented health and safety policy is therefore not only a legal duty. It is also your best evidence if something goes wrong, and it supports the long-term health and employability of your staff.
In summary
- The Working Conditions Act, the Decree and the Regulations together set the health and safety rules; the Act sets goals, the lower rules add detail.
- You must assess the risks in a written RI&E with a plan of action, and usually have it reviewed by a certified expert or health and safety service.
- You must inform and instruct your employees, arrange a company doctor under a basic contract, appoint a prevention officer and organise in-house emergency response.
- The Netherlands Labour Authority can warn, order compliance, halt work or impose fines.
- Under article 7:658 BW, you are liable for damage at work unless you prove you met your duty of care.
Frequently asked questions
Can an employee refuse to take part in a periodic health examination?
Yes. You must offer the examination, but the employee decides whether to take part.
Can I act as prevention officer myself?
Yes, if you have no more than 25 employees and you have sufficient expertise and experience for the role.
Does every RI&E need to be reviewed?
In principle, yes. Small employers that use a recognised industry instrument can be exempt from the review requirement.
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