Person with vocational training, professional experience and recent professional activity who may inspect work equipment under the BetrSichV (German Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health). Colloquially often called a Sachkundiger (expert).
A person competent to carry out inspections (zur Prüfung befähigte Person) is, under § 2(6) BetrSichV, someone who has the knowledge needed to inspect work equipment through vocational training, professional experience and recent professional activity. Colloquially, and in some accident prevention rules, people often speak of a Sachkundiger, an expert. Where Annexes 2 and 3 set further requirements for a piece of equipment, those apply on top. For installations in potentially explosive atmospheres, for example, Annex 2 requires a relevant qualification, comprehensive knowledge of explosion protection and regular continuing education.
The employer sets out in the risk assessment which qualifications the inspecting person needs (§ 3(6)). The technical rule TRBS 1203 spells this out. Whether the person works in-house or is hired externally is up to you. What matters is that the person is not subject to technical instructions from the employer during the inspection and may not be disadvantaged for inspecting (§ 14(6)). The person signs the inspection report by name, and for purely electronic transmission an electronic signature is enough (§ 14(7)).
The boundaries matter. A competent person cannot take over every inspection. Elevators, for instance, go to an approved inspection body for the main and intermediate inspections. The technician who services an installation is also not automatically qualified to inspect it, because servicing and inspecting are different activities. If a person without the required qualification inspects, the duty to inspect is, in case of doubt, not met, with consequences for the deadline, for liability and for the cost of repeating the inspection.
What matters
- Ask for proof of qualification and current continuing education before you assign anyone to inspections.
- Record in the risk assessment the requirements for the inspecting person, by type of equipment.
- For in-house inspectors, make sure in writing that nobody gives them technical instructions during an inspection.
- Get the inspection report with the inspector's name and signature.
Suppose a plant has an employee of its own carry out the inspection of a piece of equipment for which no approved inspection body is required. The employee has the right training and a continuing education record. The plant records the requirements in the risk assessment, files the record in the asset file, and makes sure management gives the inspector no direction on the result.
In the original wording
“A person competent to carry out inspections is a person who, through vocational training, professional experience and recent professional activity, has the knowledge required to inspect work equipment […].”
Unofficial translation
“Persons competent to carry out inspections under section 2(6) are not subject to technical instructions from the employer when carrying out the inspections prescribed by this Ordinance.”
Unofficial translation
Related regulations
In vi
- Inspection reports & defects: Every defect becomes a ticket with a deadline