External company instruction or external company briefing
Anyone who decides to use external personnel must consider in advance whether temporary workers or external companies will be used. The difference is great, because temporary workers must be treated as fully-fledged and own temporary employees, whereas employees of external companies are supposed to fulfill their orders independently and are subject to the instructions of their employer, i.e. the contractor (external company).
Both have to be instructed – because the client and the contractor have the management responsibility for the safety of their respective companies.
What is a contractor?
Work is performed by an external company that would otherwise have to be done by companies or institutions themselves.
A common practice of many companies is to hire outside workers from contractors. If the work cannot be done due to a lack of expertise or simply a lack of available personnel, an outside company is hired.
Even within a large corporation, an employee can be external – this can be for legal reasons, but also for organizational or logistical ones.
Who must instruct outside companies?
In order to keep the accident rate among own and external employees low, or to prevent accidents or even potential mutual endangerment, various protective measures and prevention are required. The client is therefore obliged to instruct the employees of the external company.
A person is appointed for the coordination to take over the program and the process organizationally. Type, scope are coordinated with each other.
At what intervals must instruction on workplace hazards take place and who is responsible for it?
Safety instructions are subject to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the rules and regulations of the DGUV and must be carried out and documented by competent persons. Starting with the initial instruction, which must take place upon hiring, when there are changes in the scope of duties and when new work equipment or technologies are introduced, this is followed by refresher training, which must take place at regular intervals. Since the time interval is based on operational requirements and the development of hazards, no general statement can be made. But nevertheless, there are special regulations according to which a semi-annual or annual instruction must take place for certain instructions.
External company instruction legal basis
Employees must be informed about safety and health hazards. The employer is legally obliged to do this.
The German Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG) stipulates that the client and contractor are jointly responsible for occupational health and safety. The employer must also ensure that personnel from other employers working for the employer have received appropriate training on the health and safety hazards of the contract work.
Software for contractor instruction
With our sycat eLU software, you can organize mandatory instructions (digital and face-to-face), continuing education and training programs for your employees as well as
Instructions for suppliers and visitors
. You keep a constant eye on the courses in progress, the instruction completed and the learning successes of your employees, freeing you from the grueling search for appointments and suitable premises.
Automatic comprehension checks and proofs as well as audit-compliant documentation make sycat eLU an indispensable component of your compliance and learning management
Still curious? Then contact us, we will be happy to answer your questions!