In 2024, 2.4 per cent of all employees in the Netherlands had a workplace accident with physical injury or psychological harm, according to the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey by Statistics Netherlands and TNO (in Dutch). That is roughly 200,000 people in a single year. Although the number is falling compared with previous years, the risk remains high in sectors such as construction, agriculture and transport. Behind every figure is a person who did not belong in the statistics. That is exactly where the safety expert's work begins.
Most people know the occupational physician as the face of healthy and safe work. But the safety expert plays an at least equally valuable role, and is anchored in law as one of the four core experts in the Working Conditions Act (Arbowet). Even so, the role remains abstract for many employers and employees. What does a safety expert really do in the workplace? Which tasks do they carry out, and when do you bring this professional in? In this article we explain it clearly, so that as an employer, HR professional or employee you know exactly where you stand.
The safety expert: a core expert anchored in law
The safety expert is not a nice-to-have. According to Arboportaal (in Dutch), the Working Conditions Act names four core experts: the occupational physician, the occupational hygienist, the occupational and organisational expert and the safety expert. All these professionals must be certified, and together they ensure a healthy and safe workplace. Within that, the safety expert focuses specifically on promoting safety and preventing accidents and emergencies. That sounds straightforward, but practice is much richer than that one sentence suggests.
There are three levels: the Basic Safety Expert (BVK), the Intermediate Safety Expert (MVK) and the Senior Safety Expert (HVK). The senior safety expert has the broadest competences and also advises organisations on the most complex risk issues. In daily practice you come across both intermediate and senior safety experts, often as an external adviser or hired in through an occupational health service.
The safety expert's tasks in daily practice
So what does a safety expert do in concrete terms? The core of the work revolves around recognising hazards, assessing risks, advising on measures and securing safe ways of working. That goes much further than an occasional look around the floor. Think of machine safety, fall hazards, internal transport, working with tools, dangerous situations in production environments and incident investigation after an accident.
The safety expert's main tasks at a glance:
- Carrying out and reviewing the risk inventory and evaluation, including the action plan
- Examining workplaces, processes and working methods for safety risks
- Advising on technical and organisational measures to control risks
- Guiding and investigating incidents and (near) accidents
- Drawing up and maintaining safety policy and management systems
- Providing internal safety training and information to employees
- Supervising compliance with safety rules on the floor
All these tasks share one goal: reducing risks before something goes wrong, not afterwards.
The risk inventory and evaluation: the hub of safety work
One of the safety expert's most visible tasks is reviewing the risk inventory and evaluation. The Working Conditions Act requires every employer (in Dutch) to record the risks employees run in a risk inventory and evaluation, including an action plan describing how employees are protected against those risks. In companies with more than 25 employees, that risk inventory and evaluation must then be reviewed by a certified core expert, such as a safety expert.
In practice this regularly goes wrong. Many organisations use outdated documents or generic formats that do not match the actual situation on the floor closely enough. A safety expert looks with fresh, expert eyes and spots blind spots that are easily overlooked internally. That is the added value: not ticking off a checklist, but tracking down what is really dangerous.
A common misconception about the safety expert
A stubborn misunderstanding is that a safety expert is only needed in heavy industrial environments, such as factories, building sites or chemical plants. That is not right. Safety risks exist in every sector: from a distribution centre with forklift trucks to a care institution with lifting risks, and from an office with unsafe escape routes to a hospitality business with a slippery kitchen floor. The nature of the risks differs, but the need for structural safety advice is universal.
A second misconception: the safety expert and the prevention officer are the same. They are not. The prevention officer is an internal employee who supports the employer with working-conditions policy. The safety expert is a certified external core expert with much broader and deeper professional knowledge, and holds the legal authority to review the risk inventory and evaluation.
Cooperation between safety expert and occupational physician
The safety expert does not work in isolation. Together with the occupational physician, the occupational hygienist and the occupational and organisational expert, they form a network of expertise around the workplace. When an occupational physician suspects that the working environment contributes to health complaints, they bring in a fellow core expert. If there is a safety risk that threatens the physical integrity of employees, the safety expert is the right person to investigate and resolve it.
At Dokter Beter we work from exactly this model. Our occupational physicians signal, connect and refer on when the situation calls for it. That way everyone plays to their strengths, and you as an employer benefit from integrated working-conditions advice rather than separate islands of expertise.
When do you bring in a safety expert?
Not every company needs a full-time safety expert in house permanently. But there are clear moments when bringing one in is sensible or legally required. Use the following indications as a guide:
- Your risk inventory and evaluation has to be drawn up or reviewed (compulsory with more than 25 employees)
- A (near) workplace accident has occurred and you want to know how it could happen
- You are introducing new machines, working methods or hazardous substances
- There are structural complaints about unsafe situations from employees or the works council
- The Netherlands Labour Authority has announced an inspection or imposed a demand for compliance
- You want to build a safety culture and make employees more aware of risks
Bringing one in early is always cheaper than repair after an incident, in human as well as financial terms.
A safety expert does not solve problems after they arise, but makes sure they do not arise.
Safety in the workplace does not begin by chance, but with conscious choices. The safety expert helps your organisation to underpin those choices with knowledge, translate them into daily practice and secure them in policy that works, even when nobody is watching.
Key takeaways
- The safety expert is one of the four legally recognised core experts in the Working Conditions Act and focuses on preventing accidents and promoting safety.
- The safety expert's tasks include reviewing the risk inventory and evaluation, incident investigation, safety training and drawing up safety policy.
- In companies with more than 25 employees, review of the risk inventory and evaluation by a certified core expert is legally required.
- The safety expert is relevant not only in industry or construction, but in every sector where people work and run risks.
- A safety expert and a prevention officer are two different roles: the first is a certified external expert, the second an internal employee.
- Cooperation between the safety expert and the occupational physician leads to integrated working-conditions advice that goes further than separate pieces of advice.
- Bringing in a safety expert early prevents incidents and saves costs, absence and human suffering in the long run.
Want to know how Dokter Beter can support your organisation with safety expertise, alongside the work of our occupational physicians? Feel free to get in touch with us. We are happy to think along with you, concretely and without detours.