Procedure for the establishment and amendment of a large GIDPB

Establishment of a large GIDPB

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

The responsible employer must then contact 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 Consultation, Directorate-General for Humanisation of Labour, Ernest Blerotstraat 1, 1070 Brussels), submit the application to create the Grand GIDPB using form II.2‑2 (DOCX, 78.84 KB), available on the website, and must provide the necessary documents (Article. The responsible employer must be one of the employers involved in the GIDPB who will assume the administrative obligations regarding the large GIDPB, not only in terms of its establishment, but for as long as the GIDPB exists (for example, this employer must file all relevant documents, including the Ministerial Decree, as well as the history of the GIDPB, cf. Article II.2‑15 of the Code); the authorisation for the establishment (by Ministerial Decree) will also be in the name of this responsible employer, who will act as the main contact for FPS Employment.

If the employers wish to include a department responsible for medical supervision in a GIDPB, this automatically means that a large GIDPB must be established. All employers must also clearly indicate that they agree to the inclusion of such a department (as the department will have to (be able to) fulfil its function for all employers involved). In this case, the application must also be accompanied by accreditation from the competent authority (community/region).

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

The application is free of charge.

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

Processing of the application

Following the application for the establishment of a large GIDPB, the Inspectorate for Well-being at Work (TWW) will contact the responsible employer to assess the organisation and proposed operation of the GIDPB and, if necessary, to consult further on this in order to issue a reasoned opinion (Article II.2-11 of the Code).

The admission is granted by the minister (if admission is refused (e.g. in the event of negative advice from the General Directorate of TWW), the reasoned refusal decision will be communicated to the responsible employer by registered mail (Article II.2‑13, §3 of the Code)) by Ministerial Decree (MD) in the name of the responsible employer (Article II.2‑13, §2 of the Code). The other employers involved are not included in the decision, which allows for a more flexible procedure for employers joining or leaving the GIDPB (see below), but the admission applies to all employers listed on the list of employers involved at the time of the application (Article II.2‑14, §1 of the Code).

The Ministerial Decree may determine additional conditions and modalities under which authorisation to establish the large GIDPB is granted (Article II.2‑13, §2 of the Code), for example concerning the establishment and powers of a management committee for the GIDPB (which consists of all employers and employee representatives involved and can be charged, for example, with appointing, replacing and removing prevention advisors and determining their duration of service, the accession and withdrawal of employers to the GIDPB or the dissolution of the GIDPB, the financial management of the GIDPB, the supervision of the activities of the GIDPB, etc. cf. Article II.2‑10, §2, 4° of the Code), but also that of daily management or the manner in which employers can join or leave the GIDPB.

The time between the submission of an application and the decision whether or not to grant establishment is on average 6 months to 1 year. This processing time is an estimate and depends on the completeness and complexity of the application.

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 large GIDPB

As is the case with a small GIDPB, employers must check 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) 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, or of the management committee, if it has taken over this task under the MD) (Article II.2-13, §2 of the Code).

In principle, if the affiliated employers change (a new employer joining or an affiliated employer leaving the GIDPB), no new Ministerial Decree is required, in which case it is sufficient for the responsible employer to report this to FPS Employment using form II.2‑3 (DOCX, 71.67 KB), which is available on the website, as part of which an updated list of employers must be provided, together with an indication of the impact this change has on the organisation of the GIDPB (Article II.2-14, §1 of the Code). As long as the report (of a new affiliated employer) has not been made, this employer may not rely on the GIDPB. However, if the outgoing employer is the responsible employer, a new application and a new MD are required, since the authorisation in the MD to establish the GIDPB has been granted to the responsible employer who is the only one mentioned in the MD.

The affiliated employers may rely on the large GIDPB as long as the conditions (in both the Code and the MD) 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.2‑16 of the Code).

Dissolution of a large GIDPB

If employers no longer wish to use the GIDPB, they can dissolve it. This requires the agreement of all employers and all committees (or of the management committee if it is authorised to do so), as well as a report to FPS Employment, which will revoke the MD (Article II.2-16 of the Code).