Accreditation procedure for external services for prevention and protection at work

Application for accreditation

The application for accreditation is preferably submitted by email to hua@werk.belgie.be (or by post: FOD Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg, Algemene Directie Humanisering van de Arbeid, Ernest Blerotstraat 1, 1070 Brussel).

The application must be signed (e.g. electronically) by the General Manager of the external service.

The application is free of charge.

The application procedure is available in Dutch, French and English.

When submitting an initial application for accreditation, the following documents and information must be enclosed:

• an organisational chart concerning the structure of the service and the list of persons employed in the service;
• a copy of the accreditation granted by the competent authority to the department responsible for medical supervision;
• the name and surname of the person charged with managing the service, their qualifications and professional experience;
• the name and surname of the prevention advisor charged with managing the department responsible for risk management and their qualifications;
• the name and first name of the occupational health and safety advisor-occupational physician charged with managing the department responsible for medical supervision and their qualifications;
• the name and surname of other prevention advisors, as well as their qualifications and, where applicable, their professional experience;
• the declaration in which the external service undertakes to apply the principles of integral quality management or a copy of the certificate issued in accordance with the NBN EN ISO 9001 standard;
• an inventory of material resources.

An application for renewal of accreditation must be submitted no later than 1 year before the expiry of the term of the current accreditation. In that case, the external service must only provide those documents and information that have changed compared to the previous accreditation period. The service must also provide a financial report and a report on the organisation and operation of the external service during the past accreditation period.

The Minister or administration department may request any other relevant information or documents as deemed necessary.

Processing of the application

If the application for accreditation is complete, it will be assessed by the official charged with supervision of the General Directorate of TWW, who will carry out an on-site investigation and draw up a report.

The file and the report are submitted to the social partners on the Permanent Operational Commission of the High Council of Prevention and Protection at Work, which provides advice to the Minister of Employment.

It is the Minister who decides whether or not to grant accreditation. In general, the accreditation period is 5 years.

The time between the submission of an application for accreditation and the decision whether or not to grant accreditation is approximately 1 year.

Appeal against the decision taken

If the decision is contested, an appeal for annulment (and a request for suspension) may be lodged with the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Decree of the Regent of 23 August 1948, regulating the proceedings before the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State.

The conditions for accreditation are clarified in Book II, Title III of the Code on Well-being at Work.