Contractor Coordination Officer

A Contractor Coordination Officer (Fremdfirmenkoordinator) coordinates the work of external companies on a host company's site so that overlapping activities do not create mutual hazards. The legal basis is DGUV Vorschrift 1 § 6 on cooperation between several employers. Where employees of several employers, or self-employed single operators, work at one workplace, the employers must cooperate and, so far as this is needed to avoid a possible mutual hazard, designate a person who aligns the activities with one another. DGUV Vorschrift 1 § 5 adds the duties that apply when placing orders with an external firm, BetrSichV § 13 covers work equipment shared on site, and the practical framework is set out in DGUV Regel 100-001.

The role should not be confused with the coordinator a client appoints for a construction project. The Contractor Coordination Officer is engaged by the host company for work that external firms perform on its own premises, usually while operations continue. What the role owns is the safety interface between the companies involved, not site management, not technical supervision of the trade itself.

In practice the coordinator assesses the mutual hazards arising when the contractor's work meets the host's operations, agrees protective measures with both sides, and instructs the contractor on site-specific dangers. They run the permit-to-work and access control process: hot work, work at height, confined-space entry, and energised work each require a permit confirming the safeguards are in place before the activity starts. For activities carrying special hazards, DGUV Vorschrift 1 § 5 Para. 3 additionally requires a supervising person on site, and who provides that person has to be agreed with the external firm.

The coordinator does not relieve either employer of responsibility for its own staff under § 3 ArbSchG. To avert special hazards the designated person must be given corresponding authority to issue instructions, as DGUV Vorschrift 1 § 6 Para. 1 requires. Good coordination depends on a clear record: who was instructed, which permits were issued, which hazards were identified, and which measures were agreed. That documentation is the evidence of due care toward the supervisory authority and the accident insurer if an incident occurs at the interface. It rarely fails on concept, it fails on timing: a coordinator who first hears about a job on the day the crew arrives can no longer align hazards, so the instruction collapses into a signature on a form.