The employer has a duty of care. This applies to employees, but also to third parties (visitors, passers-by, etc.). In addition, the employer can be held liable in the event of accidents under civil law. As a driver, remember that you can also be held personally liable and punishable! Examples are legion. Work protection legislation and regulations, especially with regard to working at height, is therefore a serious matter.

The general legal framework with regard to working conditions is laid down in the Working Conditions Act; short 'labor law'. This law applies to all companies, organizations and institutions that have employees work in a relationship of authority. Appropriate working conditions are important conditions for healthy and safe work. Employees must be able to do their work without incurring physical or mental problems. The Working Conditions Act gives direction to policy and working conditions that comply with it. Employer and employee are both responsible for a healthy and safe workplace. The employer must ensure safe and healthy working conditions. The employee is expected to cooperate in the safe use of these circumstances and to carry out his work in a safe manner. The Working Conditions Act forms the basis of the working conditions legislation. This contains the general provisions that apply to all places where work is performed (including associations and foundations). The Working Conditions Act is a framework law. This means that there are no specific rules in it. These are further elaborated in the Working Conditions Decree and the Working Conditions Regulation. The Working Conditions Act includes the obligations for the employer, but also the obligations for the employee.

In the Working Conditions Decree; In short, Working Conditions Decree, concrete rules are classified according to subject (for example, the use of Personal Protective Equipment; Articles 7 and 8). Often these are translations of European directives (EU Guidelines). This contains the rules that both employer and employee must adhere to in order to combat occupational risks. These rules are mandatory.

The Working Conditions Regulation is a further elaboration of the Working Conditions Decree. This concerns concrete regulations: for example the tasks of the experts, the preparation of the Risk Inventory and Evaluation and requirements and regulations with regard to VDU ​​work. This is where the policies come from. These have expired and have been replaced by sector-specific health and safety catalogues.

Working conditions can also be regulated in other places than in the Working Conditions Act. For example, for employees with a collective labor agreement, specific agreements have often been made for their sector, for example about working hours and sickness schemes. Agreements per sector have also been made in various working conditions covenants that have been drawn up in recent years. These formed the basis for the health and safety catalogs that are now available. In addition, there are social insurance schemes for employees who for various reasons no longer receive wages, such as the Sickness Benefits Act, the WIA and the Work and Care Act.

The Working Conditions Act has been simplified since 2007. This means that target regulations have been set, which employers and employees can determine themselves how they meet. These measures can be recorded in a health and safety catalogue. A health and safety catalog can be made at industry or company level. The catalog describes techniques and manners, good practices, standards and practical guides for safe and healthy work.

In a health and safety catalog employers and employees describe on their own initiative how they will meet target government regulations for safe and healthy work. A target regulation is a standard in the law that companies must adhere to. For example, the maximum noise level.

Here too it applies that in practice one may deviate provided that the same level of protection is guaranteed compared to what has been agreed in the catalogue. In the following paragraphs you will find a number of relevant rules.

The employer has the duty to minimize or rather completely eliminate the risks associated with the work. This should always be done in the following order of priority:

• Control at source;
• Measures aimed at collective protection;
• Measures aimed at individual protection;
• Provision of personal protective equipment (PPE).
• We call this the Occupational Hygiene Strategy and it forms the basis of risk management.

This rule indicates that before working with seat belts, it must first be established that other measures are insufficient or impossible.

The Working Conditions Act obliges every employer to make an inventory of all risks associated with the work and to evaluate these risks; the so-called Risk Inventory & Evaluation, abbreviated RIE. The risks are mapped out during the inventory. The evaluation is aimed at weighing the risks in terms of size, frequency and effects. The RIE is adjusted as often as experience, changed working methods or working conditions give reason to do so. The RIE must lead to a “Plan of Approach”, which indicates the measures the company wants to take to minimize and preferably eliminate the identified risks. The Plan of Approach must be consistent with the Occupational Hygiene strategy mentioned above.

In addition to a general (company) RIE, a site-specific RIE and action plan must always be worked out. Different systems are used for this. Many companies draw up fixed procedures (ISO/IRATA) and make a Task Risk Analysis (TRA), Plan of Approach and an Emergency Plan on-site. If everything is done to guarantee the safety of the employee, something can always go wrong. The residual risk must be socially acceptable and forms the starting point for setting up in-house emergency services and drawing up an emergency plan.

Employees must be demonstrably competent in the work to be performed (see also EU Directive 89/656/EEC). The appropriate path to competence is training and the only way to demonstrate this (in retrospect) is certification. The employer is obliged to provide information and training aimed at recognizing hazards, taking measures and the use of PPE. Particular attention should also be paid to rescue. See also chapter 4; requirements for the use of PPE arising from the Working Conditions Decree Articles 7 and 8.
In addition, the employer must provide for expert supervision on the work floor (application of regulations and use of PPE).

This article states that the employee also has a duty of care regarding his own safety and that of third parties.

The residual risk is the starting point for the company emergency plan. In view of the normative factors (difficult to reach for emergency services), employees who work at heights must be able to provide adequate assistance themselves. Workers must be trained and equipped to perform the following duties properly:

• Carrying out an extraction and/or evacuation (rescuing a colleague, emergency escape);
• Performing adequate first aid (minimum BLS);
• Fighting a starting fire (see RIE; in many cases a extinguishing instruction is sufficient).

This rule describes, among other things, that in the event of a fall risk of more than 2.5 meters, provisions for the risk of falling must be applied. Unless, of course, the RIE shows that the conditions are already dangerous at a lower altitude (working above water, for example). The Occupational Hygiene Strategy must be used when choosing facilities.