DGUV Regulation 3: Electrical Installations and Equipment

DGUV Regulation 3 is an accident prevention regulation. Under Book VII of the Social Code, the Berufsgenossenschaften and Unfallkassen may issue such regulations as statutory rules of their own. They bind the companies insured with them. The version that applies to you is the one from your accident insurance carrier, and the DGUV publishes the wording. DGUV Regulation 4 (formerly GUV-V A 3) is a parallel regulation with the same title that applies to other accident insurance carriers.

In scope, § 1 covers electrical installations and equipment as well as non-electrical work near them. The term equipment is broad. Under § 2(1), it includes objects for generating, distributing and consuming electrical energy, and equally objects of telecommunications and information technology. An installation is formed by connecting items of equipment.

The duty holder is the employer (Unternehmer). It remains responsible when it hands inspection or maintenance to an outside company. The regulation does not require a monitoring body as the BetrSichV does. It requires inspection by a qualified electrician. The BetrSichV also applies in parallel, because electrical installations and devices are work equipment and their inspection derives from the risk assessment. The DGUV announced in July 2026 that it is revising Regulations 3 and 4. Until a new version exists, the current text governs.

Under § 5(1), electrical installations and equipment are to be inspected twice over their life: before first commissioning and, after a modification or repair, before restart, each time by a qualified electrician or under their direction and supervision, and after that at certain intervals. The inspection must follow the electrotechnical rules (§ 5(2)). The first inspection is not needed if the manufacturer or installer confirms that the installation meets the provisions of the regulation (§ 5(4)). According to the implementing instructions, usually only the installer can give that confirmation, because only the installer knows the conditions of use.

The text of the regulation contains no fixed numbers. It requires the intervals to be set so that defects that must be expected are found in time. The employer therefore sets the intervals itself and must be able to justify them. The implementing instructions offer tables of guideline values for this (see the next question). If you deviate from them, derive the deviation from the risk assessment and record it.

The inspection checks for proper condition. How to inspect is determined by the electrotechnical rules that § 5(2) refers to. The regulation itself names no measurement methods.

The implementing instructions to § 5 give guideline values for normal stress. Fixed electrical installations and equipment count as adequately inspected with an inspection by a qualified electrician every four years, and every year in locations, rooms and installations of a special kind (Table 1A). Users operate the test device of residual-current protective devices in stationary installations every six months and in non-stationary installations every working day. A qualified electrician or an instructed person checks the effectiveness of protective measures with residual-current devices in non-stationary installations every month. Portable equipment has a guideline value of six months, three months on construction sites (Table 1B). As maximum values, the table gives one year in manufacturing sites and workshops and two years in offices.

The failure rate decides. If the share of tested items with deviations is at most 2 percent, the interval can be regarded as sufficient and extended accordingly. If it is higher, shorten it. Where equipment is only lightly stressed, longer intervals are justified, according to the DGUV statement of 17 July 2026. Fixed installations can also be monitored continuously by qualified electricians if they are continuously maintained and monitored by measurement. This replaces the recurring inspection but does not apply to portable equipment.

The tables are guideline values, not mandatory intervals. Document the failure rate per operating area so that you can support an extension.

The regulation distinguishes two qualification levels. Under § 2(3), a qualified electrician is someone who, based on technical training, knowledge, experience and knowledge of the relevant provisions, can assess the work assigned to them and recognize possible hazards. The qualification relates to the work assigned, not to a title.

Under § 3(1), the qualified electrician carries out the installing, modifying and maintaining, or directs and supervises it. That applies to service technicians who work on an installation as well. The same goes for inspections: § 5(1) requires a qualified electrician or their direction and supervision. The implementing instructions allow instructed persons to inspect as well if suitable measuring and testing devices are available and a qualified electrician directs and supervises. Responsibility for proper execution stays with the qualified electrician. For portable equipment, an instructed person may take on that responsibility if they use suitable measuring devices.

Users perform the test of residual-current protective devices with the test button themselves. Ask inspection service providers to prove the qualifications of the people they send, and record who inspected under whose supervision.

If a defect has been found in an electrical installation or piece of equipment, meaning it does not or no longer meets the electrotechnical rules, the employer must ensure that the defect is corrected without delay (§ 3(2)). If there is an urgent danger until then, the device or installation may not be used in its defective condition. A device that failed is therefore locked out, clearly marked and taken out of circulation until it has been repaired and inspected again.

After a repair, § 5(1) requires another inspection before restart. A repair without a following inspection is not enough. That also applies to parts a service technician has replaced.

The regulation does not prescribe an inspection sticker, but it is common practice, as the DGUV itself describes. If you use stickers, apply them only once the defects found have been corrected. Otherwise, the sticker shows a device as inspected that is not yet in order.

When you inspect many items, it is easy to lose track of which devices failed and what follows. vi reads such inspection logs, finds the failed devices and creates a ticket for each one.

The regulation requires an inspection logbook with certain entries only on request of the Berufsgenossenschaft (§ 5(3)). The text names no format and no retention period. In practice, the log holds, per installation or device, the inspection date, the inspector, the rules applied, the measured values, the result and the next due date. If you want to extend intervals, you also need the failure rate per operating area. Under the BetrSichV, the documentation of the risk assessment and the inspection result come on top.

Violations of § 3, § 5(1) to (3), § 6 and § 7 are administrative offenses under § 209 of Book VII of the Social Code, according to § 9 of the regulation. The fine can be up to 10,000 euros (§ 209(3) SGB VII). The supervisory officers of the accident insurance carriers can order in individual cases which measures the employer must take to meet its duties. They may enter business premises, inspect documents and examine work equipment (§ 19 SGB VII).

The DGUV names the background: every year, companies report about 2,500 occupational accidents involving electric current, some of them fatal. Complete records help during supervision and, if an accident happens, in clarifying responsibility.