Prevention advisor: your point of contact for safety and employee wellbeing at work
A safe and healthy place to work? This is what a prevention advisor can help you achieve. Your prevention advisor will provide advice, assess the risks and design a sound prevention policy.
On this page:
- What does a prevention advisor do?
- What are the differences between an internal and an external prevention advisor?
- Who can be a prevention advisor for your organisation?
- Who cannot be an internal prevention advisor for your organisation?
- What type of prevention advisor does your organisation need?
- What training is required to become a prevention advisor?
What does a prevention advisor do?
A prevention advisor helps you safeguard your employees’ health and wellbeing. Main duties and responsibilities:
- Advising on safety, ergonomics , psychosocial wellbeing, health and occupational hygiene to enable compliance with the measures specified by the Workers’ Wellbeing Act
- Identifying and assessing an organisation’s risks
- Developing a prevention policy to prevent and reduce these risks
What are the differences between an internal and an external prevention advisor?
Are you hiring your first employee? Take these two steps:
- Appoint an (internal) prevention advisor. Do you have fewer than 20 employees? Then you, the employer, can act as your own prevention advisor.
- Affiliate yourself with an External Service for Prevention and Protection at Work (ESPPW) as an employer.
Together with your internal prevention advisor, your ESPPW will help you define a wellbeing policy for your organisation.
Internal prevention advisor (IPA)
- Active within the company
- Advises employer on safety and wellbeing
- Follows appropriate training depending on the company’s risks
External prevention advisor (PA)
- Supports and advises companies without being an employee at these organisations
- Helps carry out mandatory risk assessments
- Belongs to an ESPPW
Does your company need an external prevention advisor?
IDEWE’s external prevention advisor will support your own internal prevention advisor. If necessary, we can also provide you with an internal prevention advisor.
Who can be an internal prevention advisor in your organisation?
An internal prevention advisor can be an employee or a manager. The prevention advisor must make a distinction between their role as prevention advisor and their other duties. Both these roles should be clearly defined in the employment contract. This makes it clear that the two roles are being performed independently.
Who cannot be an internal prevention advisor in your organisation?
A prevention advisor cannot be an employer or staff representative for the organisation.
How is an internal prevention advisor chosen?
Prevention advisors are appointed by the employer in consultation with the Committee for Prevention and Protection at Work (CPPW). This committee is there to ensure continued attention for employee wellbeing. In most private sectors, there are social elections during which employees elect colleagues to represent them on this committee. In companies without a prevention committee, the committee’s tasks are handled by the trade union delegation. Is there no trade union delegation? In that case, there must be direct participation in decision-making by the employees themselves on matters of wellbeing.
What type of prevention advisor does your organisation need?
How can you determine which type of prevention advisor is required for your organisation? The specific rules depend on the number of employees and the nature of the risks.
- Fewer than 20 employees – As an employer, you may act as your own prevention advisor.
- Between 20 and 200 employees and no specific risks – An internal prevention advisor (IPA) with basic training is mandatory. This role is fulfilled by one of the employees, not a consultant or an external prevention advisor. If you have 50 or more employees, you must also set up a Committee for Prevention and Protection at Work (CPPW).
- More than 200 employees or high risk – You must have both a Level 1 or 2 internal prevention advisor and a Committee for Prevention and Protection at Work.
What training is required to become a prevention advisor?
The type of prevention advisor your organisation must have is determined by the number of employees and the risks. The same applies to the prevention advisor’s training level.
Organisations are grouped into four classes, and there are three prevention advisor levels:
Group A 🏛️ Organisations with 1,000 or more employees and/or a high level of risk 🎓 ‘Prevention Advisor Level 1’ training | Group B 🏛️ Organisations with 200 to 1,000 employees and/or a medium level of risk 🎓 'Prevention Advisor Level 2’ training |
Group C 🏛️ Organisations with fewer than 200 employees and no specific risks 🎓 Basic knowledge + ‘Prevention Advisor Level 3’ training (recommended, not mandatory) | Group D 🏛️ Organisations with fewer than 20 employees 🎓 Basic knowledge + ‘Prevention Advisor Level 3’ training (recommended, not mandatory) |
Why choose IDEWE?
- Complete peace of mind: We will support you through advice, implementation and follow-up so you can concentrate on your core activities.
- Highly qualified staff: More than 1,000 experts are standing at the ready to support your organisation with tailored solutions and immediately applicable advice.
- Thorough risk assessment: We will help you to identify potential risks at your organisation so you can take targeted action.