Update basic safety training: soon also applicable to posted workers

We informed you earlier about the introduction of compulsory basic safety training in the Joint Committee on Construction No. 124.

The aim of the eight hours training is to make employees aware of the risks they face on a construction site, to provide them with a basic knowledge of the prevention principles as well as the correct application of the appropriate prevention measures.

Today, this basic safety training is not yet mandatory for workers posted to Belgium. The reason for this is that the collective agreement introducing the training has not yet been declared “generally binding”.

This will be adapted in a Royal Decree that will be probably published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 15 April 2023. The aforementioned Royal Decree would extend the scope of the compulsory basic safety training to any person active on the construction site. More specifically, basic safety training would become compulsory not only for JC 124 (construction sector) employees, but also for, amongst others:

• the employees of JC 111 (metal sector)
• the employees of JC 149 (electricians)
• all self-employed workers (including those on a posted basis)
• the posted workers.

We will inform you about the concrete modalities of this new Royal Decree and the deadlines by which you should be in regulation as soon as we have been able to review the text of the Royal Decree.

In the meantime, you can start collecting certificates of the safety training your employees have attended in the past (either in Belgium or abroad). It is possible that these will be regarded as equivalent, so your employees may not have to fulfil the additional training obligations.

We will keep you posted!