Working at height in Belgium: what the Code on Well-being asks

Belgium has no fifteen-minute rule

Contractors coming over from the Netherlands often bring their own rules of thumb. The best known is the fifteen minutes you may work from a single ladder position under Dutch law. That rule does not exist in Belgium.

This is not good news, because it does not mean you may do more. It means there is no number to hide behind. In Belgium you decide, in your own risk assessment, whether a ladder is still defensible here. And you have to be able to show it on paper.

Where it is written

The rules for temporary work at height are in Book IV, Title 5 of the Code on Well-being at Work. That text comes from the Royal Decree of 31 August 2005 and implements a European directive, the same one the Dutch rules come from. The principles are therefore identical; the way they are worked out is not.

At the core is a hierarchy, and it is strict:

• First remove the height. Can the work be done from the ground? Then it is done from the ground.
• Then collective protection. A scaffold, a work platform, an aerial lift, a guardrail. Protection that works without anyone having to think about it.
• Only after that, personal protection and ladders. A ladder as a workstation is allowed where the risk is limited and the use is of short duration, or where the location does not allow anything else.

That last sentence is the whole discussion. You may use a ladder, but you must be able to explain why nothing better was there.

What short duration means in practice

The Code names no minutes. Whoever comes to inspect the site looks at the whole picture: how long it takes, how high you are, what is in your hands, and what the ladder is standing on.

The practical translation used on most sites:

• A job of a few minutes with light tools and one hand free: a ladder is defensible.
• Half a day of sanding, drilling or spraying from the same spot: the ladder is no longer a workstation but a saving, and that is how it will be read.
• In doubt? Write down why you chose the ladder. A short note in your risk assessment is the difference between a judgement and an assumption.

The risk assessment is the real difference

Where the Netherlands works with hard limits, Belgium leans heavily on the system around the decision. Every employer has a dynamic risk management system, a global prevention plan and an annual action plan. There is always an internal service for prevention and protection at work; in a small company the employer may fill that role personally.

For work at height that means three things you genuinely need in order:

• A risk assessment per type of work, not one general sentence about ladders.
• Demonstrable instruction. Who may work with what equipment, and how. A signature from your crew confirming they received the instruction is worth a lot.
• Supervision. Giving an instruction and never looking at it again does not count as supervision.

The equipment: EN 131 applies here too

Belgium has no ladder standard of its own. The European standard EN 131 applies, with the same split between professional and non-professional ladders. If you work with it, you need the professional version.

On inspection intervals Belgium is less explicit than the Netherlands, which uses NEN 2484. In Belgium you follow the manufacturer's instructions and whatever comes out of your own risk assessment. In practice that comes down to: yearly for professional use, more often for heavy use on site, and always after a fall or an impact. On top of that you run the short check before every use.

If it goes wrong anyway

Here Belgium differs clearly from the Netherlands. Every Belgian employer is compulsorily insured against occupational accidents. If someone falls, they are compensated by the occupational accident insurer regardless of who was at fault. In principle the employer enjoys civil immunity as part of that: the employee cannot simply hold them personally liable.

But it is no free pass, and that is exactly where the misunderstanding sits. The Well-being at Work inspectorate can stop the work, and breaches of well-being legislation fall under the Social Criminal Code, with fines that climb quickly and, for serious breaches, criminal prosecution. The immunity also falls away in cases of intent and where an established breach keeps being ignored.

In short: your employee is insured, your file is not.

Working in Belgium from abroad?

Two things that are often forgotten. On Belgian soil Belgian well-being legislation applies, even if your staff and your client are both foreign. And for posting workers a Limosa declaration is usually required, together with an A1 document for social security. Arrange that in advance; it is checked on site.

In short

• No fifteen-minute rule, but an obligation to explain why the ladder was there.
• Book IV, Title 5 of the Code, with scaffold before ladder as the starting point.
• Risk assessment, instruction and supervision, on paper.
• Professional EN 131 equipment, inspected yearly, checked daily.
• The insurance covers your employee, not your file.

This article is meant as practical explanation, not as legal advice. Have your prevention adviser or your external service for prevention and protection at work look at your situation.