Occupational safety advice 2026: Obligations, provider selection and auditable evidence

The Occupational Safety Act (ASiG) obliges every employer to appoint an occupational safety specialist (SiFa) in accordance with Section 5 ASiG and a company doctor in accordance with Section 2 ASiG. DGUV Regulation 2 specifies the required operating times and areas of responsibility, depending on the size of the company and the risk of the activity. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG) also requires a systematic risk assessment in accordance with Section 5 of the ArbSchG, annual training in accordance with Section 12 of the ArbSchG and an occupational safety-related organisation that remains verifiable in the event of damage. Occupational safety advice is therefore more than mandatory, it is the staple of an operational management system with measurable impact.

This article organises the legal bases from ASiG, ArbSchG and DGUV regulation 2, describes typical service packages of an occupational safety consultancy, explains the selection of external providers, clarifies cost structures in medium-sized companies and shows how advice leads to audit-proof evidence. You will find out which documents the auditor wants to see, how SiFa operating times are calculated correctly, when it makes sense to change consultants and how a digital workspace converts the duties into sustainable routines. CIVAC is a compliance platform and officer-as-a-service that combines external SiFa ordering and workspace licensing in one model. The auditor calls, the evidence is ready., is the benchmark of this guide for management in medium-sized companies and for compliance officers in multi-location structures.

The Occupational Safety Act (ASiG) of 1973 is the central standard for the organisation of occupational safety in Germany. Section 5 ASiG obliges every employer to appoint occupational safety specialists (SiFa), Section 2 ASiG similarly for company doctors. The obligation applies regardless of the number of employees, including small businesses with one employee, with different minimum working hours depending on size and industry. The ASiG is supplemented by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (ArbSchG) of 1996, which specifies the material obligations, as well as the Industrial Safety Ordinance (BetrSichV) for the safety when operating work equipment.

The DGUV regulation 2 is the accident insurance law specification of the ASiG and specifies the minimum deployment times for SiFa and company doctors. The operating times depend on the number of employees, industry and type of operation and are divided into two components: basic support with fixed operating times per employee per year and company-specific support with variable, event-related operating times. The calculation of the exact operating time is prone to errors in practice and is regularly checked during inspections by professional associations.

§ 5 ArbSchG requires a systematic risk assessment for each workplace, § 12 ArbSchG requires annual training, § 6 ArbSchG requires documentation of the measures taken. Experience shows that in medium-sized businesses, anyone who wants to fulfil these obligations without expert support fails at the very first unannounced inspection. The occupational safety specialist as an external consultant closes this gap with an appointment certificate, clear reporting line and documented specialist knowledge, recognised by the responsible professional association. Anyone who wants to fulfil the duties without a qualified body bears the full personal liability of the management in accordance with Section 130 OWiG, without the mitigating effect of assigning tasks to a qualified representative.

Occupational safety advice is more than just filling out an occasional checklist. A complete consultation includes six areas of responsibility. Firstly, the creation and updating of the risk assessment in accordance with Section 5 ArbSchG with all workplaces, activities and special groups of people such as pregnant employees, young people or employees with limited performance. Secondly, advising the management on the procurement of work equipment, protective equipment and the design of workplaces from an ergonomic and safety perspective.

Thirdly, inspections of the workplaces with documented findings and concrete suggestions for action, at least annually and after every accident or near-accident. Fourthly, participation in the Occupational Safety and Health Committee (ASA) in accordance with Section 11 ASiG, which is mandatory for companies with 21 or more employees to meet at least quarterly and keep minutes. Fifthly, the annual instruction of employees in accordance with Section 12 of the ArbSchG, including the creation of the instruction matrix and comprehension check.

Sixthly, the interface function with the company doctor, the hazardous substances officer, the fire protection officer and, if necessary, the supervisor of the professional association. Good occupational safety advice documents all activities in an auditable form, with a time stamp, who is responsible and a link to the measures concerned. Others run compliance like a filing cabinet. We run it like software. CIVAC bundles this activity documentation in the workspace with clear deadlines, escalation paths to management and 490 ready-to-use audit templates for inspections and ASA meetings. This means that occupational health and safety advice is transferred from the classic Excel mode into a system-supported routine that continues to run without data loss even if the consultant or location changes. The transition from an external SiFa to an internal employee is also possible in the workspace without migration because the data remains with the client and not with the service provider, with all the transition risks of a change of provider.

The SiFa can be ordered internally, i.e. by your own employee with documented specialist knowledge, or externally, i.e. by a service provider with your own SiFa qualification. DGUV Regulation 2 allows both models, with different practical implications. Internal SiFa solutions make sense for larger companies with their own personnel capacity, continuous risk situation and a strong safety culture. They require SiFa training of at least 408 hours (classic) or combined training as a safety engineer, plus continuous training.

External SiFa consulting is often the more economical solution for medium-sized companies. She brings specialist knowledge from several industries, avoids gaps in representation during vacation and illness, ensures continuous training and relieves the burden on the internal personnel budget. The cost structure is transparent via the service contract, with flat-rate compensation or hourly rates depending on the model. Pure hourly billing carries the risk of unclear expectations, which is why a flat-rate contract with a clearly defined scope of services is preferable in practice.

Hybrid solutions combine both: an internal person responsible for organisational control and an external SiFa consultant for the technical depth and documentation. This model works well for medium-sized companies with between 50 and 250 employees and enables high flexibility with limited personnel costs. CIVAC supports all three models and provides external SiFa with a full appointment certificate and SLA of two working days in the officer-as-a-service model. Licence the workspace for your internal representatives, or have our representatives order it. In this way, the depth of advice adapts to the changing requirements over the lifespan of a medium-sized company, from the start-up phase to the corporate group with several locations and different industry risk situations. Depending on the model, the appointment certificate is signed by the external SiFa or by the internal person responsible, always with a clear reporting line to the management.

Calculating operating times is a common stumbling block. DGUV regulation 2 divides care into two pillars. Basic care includes a fixed annual working time per employee, depending on the company's care group. Group I (high risk, e.g. construction) requires 2.5 hours per employee per year, Group II (medium risk, e.g. industry) 1.5 hours, Group III (low risk, e.g. office) 0.5 hours. The division between SiFa and company doctor is flexible within the total time, with minimum shares for each function.

Company-specific support is added and is event-related. It covers special activities such as advice on construction or renovation work, the investigation of serious accidents at work, the introduction of new work procedures or the preparation of special risk assessments for dangerous activities. The associated hours must also be documented, ideally separately from the basic care, in order to be able to provide clear evidence during an inspection by the professional association.

Small businesses with up to 50 employees can choose the alternative care model according to DGUV regulation 2, appendix 5, with shortened obligations and a flat-rate care per year. This model is cheap, but leaves little room for individual risk situations. In the workspace, the working times per employee, support group and occasion can be automatically calculated, documented and shown in the annual report for the professional association. Deadline expires as soon as we become aware of it: Anyone who falls short of the operating times risks reports of defects with subsequent sanctions, including increased insurance contributions and, in the event of damage, a reversal of the burden of proof to the employer's detriment. Clean time recording with comprehensible task allocation is therefore not an administrative effort, but rather a central compliance element and part of the audit-proof evidence provided to the professional association.

The risk assessment according to Section 5 of the ArbSchG is the methodological basis of all occupational safety. It identifies the hazards at each workplace, assesses the risk, defines the protective measures according to the STOP principle (substitution before technology before organisation before personal protection) and determines those responsible for implementation. It must be available in writing, dated, checked regularly and updated in the event of changes, especially in the case of new work equipment, new activities or safety deficiencies identified during ongoing operations.

Special risk assessments are required for activities with hazardous substances (TRGS 400), for computer screen work (ArbStättV Annex No. 6), for maternity protection (MuSchG) and for young people (JArbSchG). Since the amendment to the ArbSchG in 2013, psychological stress has also become mandatory to assess, which many medium-sized companies have not yet systematically implemented and which regularly leads to complaints during inspections. A complete risk assessment includes around 20 to 40 different types of risk per workplace type and must document the protective measures taken with an assessment of their effectiveness. This depth is hardly achievable without structured templates and can only be maintained consistently across multiple locations with a digital tool.

The update frequency is event-related, but in fact at least annually. In the event of accidents, near misses, changes in procedures or new jobs, an immediate update is required. In the CIVAC workspace, the risk assessment can be linked to the instruction matrix, operating instructions and occupational health care, so that a change in a document automatically triggers the dependent follow-up obligations. Audit-proof, documented, § 5-proof. This link is the greatest efficiency lever in occupational safety management and prevents the typical gaps between risk assessment, instruction and occupational health care, which are regularly complained about during inspections and lead to personal liability of the management in the event of damage.

The Occupational Safety and Health Committee (ASA) according to Section 11 ASiG is mandatory for companies with more than 20 employees and must meet at least quarterly. Mandatory members are the employer or an authorised representative, two members of the works council (if available), the occupational safety specialist, the company doctor and the safety representatives. The meetings must be recorded, with the agenda, resolutions, those responsible and deadlines. The protocol is often the first thing requested during inspections and is a direct indicator of the maturity of occupational safety management.

The annual instruction in accordance with Section 12 of the ArbSchG must reach all employees before starting work and at least once a year, with a documented comprehension check. Topics include: general occupational safety rules, workplace-related hazards, rules of conduct, first aid, fire and emergency plans. For special activities, specific topics are added, such as handling hazardous substances, noise protection, ergonomic stress, the obligation to wear PPE or the handling of electrical systems in accordance with DGUV V3 with associated test periods.

The occupational health care according to ArbMedVV is divided into compulsory, optional and desired care. Compulsory precautions are mandatory for certain activities, such as when dealing with carcinogenic substances, noise above 85 dB(A) or computer work above certain thresholds. The appointment of the company doctor and the documentation of the preventive measures are part of the occupational safety advice. The CIVAC workspace links risk assessment, ASA protocol, proof of training and precautionary status, so that no deadline passes unnoticed and management has status transparency at all times, even across multiple locations, with uniform reporting to the corporate headquarters. The platform logs every change with a time stamp and person responsible, so that in the event of damage, the maturity level of the system can be fully verified, even beyond the minimum retention period of five years and over several changes of consultant.

The market for occupational safety consulting is heterogeneous. Providers range from large TÜV houses and professional association subsidiaries to medium-sized engineering offices and individual SiFa with a local focus. The selection determines the quality of the advice and the audit security of the entire occupational safety system. Three criteria are crucial. Firstly, the specialist knowledge: documented SiFa qualification, regular training, industry experience and references. An experienced consultant brings industry knowledge that internal SiFa rarely have to this depth.

Secondly, accessibility: SLA for routine inquiries, response time in the event of incidents, replacement arrangements in the event of illness or vacation. 24-hour availability is not mandatory in medium-sized businesses, but a guaranteed response within two working days should be contractually agreed, supplemented by an emergency number for accidents and unannounced inspections by the supervisory authorities. Thirdly, documentation: digital tools instead of paper folders, transparent reporting structures, management access to the current status and audit-proof archiving with EU data residency in accordance with the GDPR standard.

Caution is advised with providers with unclear task boundaries, non-transparent hourly quotas or a lack of professional liability. Before the contract is concluded, the complete catalogue of services should be available, with a distinction between basic and company-specific support, with representation regulations, with SLA and with a clear distribution of liability. CIVAC works with documented professional liability insurance, a transparent catalogue of services, an SLA of two working days and a quarterly activity report to the management. Turning reading into an order means: Bring a list of requirements, not check advertising flyers, and ask for specific references from your own industry, ideally with current inspection results from the professional association. The reference release should be possible promptly, not after several weeks of clarification. A test inspection before signing a contract is legitimate and shows the provider's operational methods, including the actual documentation quality in practice.

The costs of external occupational safety consulting in medium-sized companies are typically between 80 and 150 euros per hour, depending on the region and specialization. For a medium-sized company with 50 employees in care group II, the calculation results in basic care of 75 hours per year (50 times 1.5 hours), plus company-specific care of 20 to 50 hours depending on the number of events. This results in annual costs of around 9,500 to 18,000 euros for SiFa advice, without a company doctor and without special reports for special occasions such as psychological stress, new production processes or the ergonomic assessment of new workplaces.

Internal SiFa solutions cost 60,000 to 90,000 euros gross per year, depending on the region, for a full-time employee, with additional personnel costs, training budget and Coverage gaps during vacation and illness. An internal SiFa only becomes economically viable for around 300 employees in care group II or for 200 employees in group I with a high risk situation. For smaller medium-sized companies, the external solution is almost always the better choice, with a clear definition of tasks and a transparent cost structure.

Hidden costs arise if the scope of advice is not clearly defined or if downstream duties such as psychological risk assessment, ASA protocol keeping or occupational health prevention coordination are calculated separately. Before the contract is concluded, the complete catalogue of services should be available, with a flat rate or clearly capped hourly quotas. CIVAC offers flat-rate models with a defined scope of services, so that management plans with a fixed annual budget instead of having to expect subsequent increases. The appointment certificate, signed, filed, verifiable, also applies to the cost side of the contract and ensures the ability to plan over several financial years, including the predictability of staff growth or location expansions, without any change triggering a subsequent contract for a fee.

Good occupational safety advice is more than an annual inspection report. It is the operational framework for risk assessment, instruction, ASA, occupational health prevention and audit preparation. The architecture only becomes resilient when consultation, workspace and clear role assignment work together. Three building blocks decide on audit security: firstly, the order with task profile and SLA, secondly, the digital documentation platform with deadline control, thirdly, the integration with the other officer roles such as hazardous materials officer, fire protection officer and company doctor without interface breaks and without double data maintenance.

CIVAC is a compliance platform and officer-as-a-service that provides this architecture as an integrated model. The workspace covers risk assessment, instruction matrix, ASA protocol templates, inspection protocols, occupational health prevention control and 490 ready-to-use audit templates. Optionally, CIVAC takes on the role of external SiFa with an appointment certificate, an SLA of two working days and a quarterly activity report to the management. Licence the workspace for your internal representatives or have our representatives order it, depending on size, industry and internal security capacity. Both models can also be operated in parallel, with a clear distribution of tasks between internal and external responsibility in the network of representatives.

The next step is a 30-minute inventory: current SiFa solution, status of the risk assessment, ASA rhythm, precautionary offers, location distribution and interfaces to other roles. This results in a concrete proposal with a module mix, ordering option and implementation plan. Turn reading into a mandate.: Write to info@civac.de or use the contact form on civac.de. Within two working days, you will receive a concrete answer instead of a non-binding advisory offer, with a clear licence and order path as well as a realistic roadmap for the first 90 days of the changeover, including a handover of the existing documents and an initial gap analysis for the upcoming inspections by the professional association and the supervisory authorities.