Occupational health and safety courses

Upon request

Upon request

Upon request

Upon request

According to the Working Conditions Act, every company must organise in-house emergency assistance. The layout of the in-house emergency response organisation depends on the size and nature of the company. The law requires that everyone knows what to do in an emergency and when and how to act.

In-house emergency response is a legal requirement in the Netherlands for companies with 1 employee. The number of in-house emergency response officers / first responders per organisation is not fixed, but always ensure that enough employees are certified. This is because every employer has a general duty of care to ensure the safety and health of employees.

According to the Working Conditions Act, Article 15, the 4 duties of the first responders are: Providing first aid in the event of accidents. Restricting and fighting fires and limiting the consequences of accidents. Alerting and evacuating all employees and other persons in the company or establishment in emergency situations.

A first responder certificate is valid for one year. For the certificate to remain valid, the training should be repeated periodically to extend the period by another year.

It is the first aid provided while waiting for professional first aiders. The main purpose of this help is to prevent further imminent injury or death to the victim.

It is not compulsory to have a first aider in your organisation. On the other hand, it is compulsory for a company to have at least one certified first responder.

A first aid certificate is valid for 2 years. To renew the first aid certificate, you must demonstrate, via a 1-day refresher course, that you still have the latest knowledge and skills.

A prevention officer works to prevent health and safety risks in the workplace. The duties of the prevention officer are laid down by law in the Working Conditions Act. Besides these statutory duties, a prevention officer often performs other health and safety-related tasks. What exactly these tasks entail varies from company to company. The tasks that the prevention officer is legally required to perform are: drawing up the Risk Inventory & Evaluation (possibly with external advice), (co-)implementing the action plan arising from the RI&E, cooperating with the Occupational Health & Safety Service. The prevention officer has both an executive and an advisory role.

A in-house emergency response team leader is sometimes confused with the in-house emergency response coordinator, but these are different functions. The team leader is part of the emergency response team with a valid first responder certificate. The coordinator head of the emergency response team does not need to have one and does not need to be part of the active emergency response team, but is the person who translates the safety policy into concrete implementation, maintains an overview of it and controls its implementation. The team leader has an operational function, checks the presence and status of all required materials and ensures that the knowledge of the company’s emergency response workers is kept up to date.

The RI&E has been compulsory for all employers employing staff since 1 January 1994. The action plan is a mandatory part of the RI&E. This is stated in Article 5 of the Working Conditions Act.

The Working Conditions Act and Directive No 89/391/EEC require the employer to take measures for first aid, fire-fighting and evacuation of employees in the event of serious and immediate danger. The employer must take measures to ensure that these crisis situations are properly managed. An evacuation drill is one such measure.