Contractor coordination is the alignment between a client and every company whose employees work in its office premises, such as cleaning, trades or facility management. Under § 8 ArbSchG both employers must cooperate on safety and health, inform each other about hazards and agree on protective measures. The client must also make sure that the contractor's employees have received adequate instructions for their work.
The duty is among the items most often forgotten in occupational safety in the office. The reason is understandable: the cleaner and the electrician are not the company's own employees, so nobody in the business feels responsible. Legally the position is clear, as this article shows: which companies are meant, which five steps are enough and who remains responsible for what.
What § 8 ArbSchG requires of the client
§ 8 ArbSchG governs the cooperation of several employers and contains two separate duties. Paragraph 1 covers joint coordination, paragraph 2 the client's assurance that the contractor's instructions are adequate.
Under § 8 para. 1 ArbSchG employers must cooperate when employees of several employers work at one workplace. Where other employees are exposed to a considerable danger, they inform each other and their employees about it and agree on protective measures. Under § 8 para. 2 ArbSchG the employer must, depending on the type of work, make sure that employees of other employers working in its business have received adequate instructions on the hazards.
The instruction of the contractor's employees for their own work is therefore owed by the contractor. The information about the client's hazards is owed by the client. That is the difference between "instruction" and "induction": the contractor instructs its people for their trade, the client inducts them into its office.
The risk assessment under § 5 ArbSchG is the right place for this. A business that keeps a "contractors" section in its risk assessment for the office has work locations, hazards and agreements in one place and can present them at once during an inspection. Self-employed persons without employees also fall under the cooperation duty of employers under § 6 DGUV Regulation 1.
Who counts as a contractor in an office building
A contractor is any company or self-employed person working in another employer's office, even if the visit lasts only an hour a month. The hazards differ widely, and so does the need for coordination.
| Contractor | Typical job | Typical hazard | What the client agrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning | daily, often evenings | wet floors, cleaning agents, ladders | access, escape routes, alarm plan, key rules |
| Electrician, building services | maintenance, faults, refurbishment | electricity, work in ceilings and floors | isolation, cordoned areas, contact person |
| Painter, drywall | renovation | dust, scaffolding, hazardous substances | closing corridors, fire protection, dust control |
| IT service, network technicians | cabling, server room | trip hazards, ladders, power strips | routing, access to the server room |
| Lift and fire alarm maintenance | yearly or twice a year | falls, false alarms | switching off alarms, informing employees |
| Security and reception service | permanent | lone work, conflicts | emergency routes, alarm plan, first aid |
| Catering, beverage service | weekly | lifting, carrying, tripping | delivery route, storage location |
Cleaning agents are usually brought by the contractor. It is then responsible for safety data sheets and for instructing its employees, as the article on hazardous substances in the office describes. The client remains responsible for the premises: storage location, escape routes and fire protection.
Five steps for coordinating contractors
A procedure of five steps meets the requirements of § 8 ArbSchG for most offices without building a separate coordination apparatus. The order matters: first clarify the hazards, then inform, then check, then document.
- Clarify the job and hazards. Before the first visit, record what the contractor will do, which rooms they enter and which hazards arise from the work and the office. This step belongs in the order, not on the day of the visit.
- Inform the contractor. Before work starts, hazards at the work location, escape routes, assembly point, first aiders and the behaviour in an alarm are communicated. The escape and rescue plan is the most important document for this.
- Check the contractor's instructions. The client obtains confirmation that the contractor's employees have been adequately instructed for their work. A short written confirmation from the contractor is usually enough.
- Appoint a coordinator. Where several companies are in the building at the same time and could endanger each other, § 6 DGUV Regulation 1 requires a person who aligns the work. This person must be given the necessary authority to give instructions.
- Keep proof. Induction, contact persons and agreements are recorded in writing, signed by both sides and updated whenever the job changes.
The proof is the step that counts in inspections and after accidents. An induction that took place only verbally cannot be proven later. The occupational safety checklist tool for offices helps tick off the contractor items together with the other duties.
Worked example: an office with 40 employees and four contractors
The effort for coordination is manageable when the induction is standardised. The following calculation is a planning example for an office with 40 employees, not a legal requirement. The times are assumptions for a one-page induction sheet.
| Contractor | Job | Induction per visit | Visits per year | Effort per year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cleaning (4 people) | daily | 20 minutes initial induction | 1 plus 1 per staff change | 40 minutes |
| Building services | monthly | 10 minutes | 12 | 120 minutes |
| Lift maintenance | yearly | 10 minutes | 1 | 10 minutes |
| Electrician (refurbishment, 5 days) | one-off | 30 minutes | 1 | 30 minutes |
| Total | about 3.3 hours |
About 3.3 hours a year means less than one working day of coordination effort for four contractors. Against this stands a risk that cannot be measured in hours: a cleaner who does not know the escape route, or an electrician who switches off a fire alarm system without agreement, can endanger lives in an emergency.
Who is liable for what
The client remains responsible for the safety of its own employees and the condition of its premises, the contractor for its own employees. § 8 ArbSchG does not redistribute responsibility, it adds mutual duties of information and coordination.
| Duty | Client | Contractor |
|---|---|---|
| Risk assessment of the work | no | yes, for its own employees |
| Risk assessment of the premises and interfaces | yes | contributes |
| Instruction for the work | no | yes |
| Induction on hazards, escape routes and alarm plan | yes | attends |
| Assurance about the instructions (§ 8 para. 2 ArbSchG) | yes | confirms |
| Accident insurance cover of own employees | for its own employees | for its own employees |
| Appointing a coordinator where mutual endangerment is possible | yes, if necessary | cooperates |
If an accident occurs, the Berufsgenossenschaft and the public prosecutor examine whether the coordination duties were met. Recourse against responsible persons is possible under § 110 SGB VII, and for negligent injury the criminal law provisions §§ 222 and 229 StGB come into consideration. More on personal responsibility is in the article on the liability of management in occupational safety.
A contract with the contractor does not replace coordination. A clause such as "the contractor complies with all occupational safety rules" does not shift the client's duties under § 8 ArbSchG. It is still useful as an annex to the order because it fixes the induction and the confirmation of instruction contractually.
Special cases: several tenants and refurbishments
In buildings with several tenants, § 8 ArbSchG applies between the employers in the building, not only towards service providers. Shared corridors, stairwells, escape routes and assembly points require coordination between the tenants and the property manager. Maintenance of the fire alarm or lift that affects the whole floor is announced by the landlord, and each tenant passes the information on to its employees.
For refurbishments with employees of several employers on the same construction site, the Construction Site Ordinance applies in addition. Under § 3 para. 1 BaustellV the client must then appoint a suitable coordinator and may delegate this task to a third party. For larger refurbishments the occupational safety specialist clarifies whether the Construction Site Ordinance applies.
What the occupational safety specialist takes on
Under § 6 ASiG the occupational safety specialist supports the employer in all matters of occupational safety, and contractor coordination is part of this. The specialist is not liable in the employer's place, they advise and supply the documents.
In practice they draw up the induction sheet for the office, add a "contractors" section to the risk assessment, check during inspections whether inductions exist and advise on refurbishments. Without a specialist, a business usually lacks exactly this routine: nobody checks whether the new cleaning company was inducted at all.
Contractor coordination with Safety Club
Safety Club provides the occupational safety specialist on site who drafts the induction sheet for your office, adds contractors to the risk assessment and stores the proof digitally in the customer portal. You can arrange the first conversation about scope via the initial call, and the section on the process describes how it works.
From first contact to signature: five working days at most. Start of on-site support: within ten working days.
This article is a general overview and does not replace legal advice in individual cases. The current version of each provision cited, together with its interpretation by courts and authorities, is authoritative.
