Procedure for establishing or amending a small GIDPB

Establishment of a small GIDPB

A group of employers who want to establish a small GIDPB must of course first ensure that all employers meet all the conditions (Internal Service for Protection and Prevention at Work (GIDPB)) and have all necessary agreements in place.

Subsequently, one of the employers must report the establishment of the GIDPB to the General Directorate for Humanisation of Labour of FPS Employment, preferably by email at hua@werk.belgie.be (or by post: FPS Employment, Labour and Social Dialogue, FOD Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg, Ernest Blerotstraat 1, 1070 Brussel), using form II.2‑1 (DOCX, 70.26 KB) made available for this purpose on the website (Article II-2‑5 of the Code). This form contains the current list of all employers involved who (may) rely on the GIDPB.

The report must be signed (electronically or otherwise) by a person charged with the management and organisation of the company.

The report is free of charge.

The procedure is available in Dutch, French and English.

Processing of the application

The General Directorate for Humanisation of Labour registers the report and confirms this to the employer who made the report.

The time between the submission of the completed reform and the confirmation of registration is on average several weeks.

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.

Amendment to a small GIDPB

With each change to the GIDPB (for example, the departure of a prevention advisor, expansion of activities of one of the employers involved, the joining of new employers, or the departure of an employer from the GIDPB), employers must check whether all the conditions for the GIDPB are still met and, if necessary, they must adapt the organisation of the GIDPB (subject to the agreement of all employers and committees) (Article II.2-6 of the Code).

If the affiliated employers change (a new employer joining or an affiliated employer leaving the GIDPB), one of the employers must report this again to FPS Employment using the form available on the website, which requires an updated list of employers to be submitted. As long as the report (of a new affiliated employer) has not been made, this employer may not rely on the GIDPB (Article II.2-7, paragraph one of the Code).

For example, if one of the employers develops new, higher-risk activities or significantly expands its activities, resulting in many more employees, the GIDPB organisation must be reviewed to determine whether there are sufficient prevention advisors present with a sufficiently high level of training. This requires agreements from other employers and committees, but does not require a report to FPS Employment.

For example, if a new employer wishes to join the GIDPB, the organisation of the GIDPB too must be reviewed to determine whether there are sufficient prevention advisers with a sufficiently high level of training, and it must also be checked with regard to this employer whether they meet all the conditions. In this case, an additional report must also be made to FPS Employment, otherwise the new employer may not rely on the GIDPB.

If the joining of new employers into the small GIDPB results in the group of employers meeting the conditions to be considered a large GIDPB, the group of employers must submit an application for a large GIDPB in accordance with the procedure for the establishment of a large GIDPB (Article II.2-7, paragraph two of the Code).

The affiliated employers may rely on the small GIDPB as long as the conditions for this are met and they comply with the reporting obligation. If this is no longer the case, all employers must once again have their own internal service in place, as stipulated in Article 33 of the Well-being Act (Article II.2‑8, §1 of the Code).

Dissolution of a small GIDPB

If employers no longer wish to use the small GIDPB, they can dissolve it. This requires the agreement of all employers and all committees, as well as a report to FPS Employment (Article II.2‑8, §2 of the Code).