Article 15 of the Working Conditions Act: What Does This Mean for Your Emergency Response Team?

Article 15 of the Working Conditions Act requires employers to properly organize their emergency response teams. Findwhere makes that responsibility a lot easier. The platform keeps your emergency response organization well-organized and provides continuous insight into attendance, staffing, and skills. You can also manage alerts, protocols, and reports all from one place. This way, managing your emergency response team requires less manual work, and you can easily maintain control over your organization, even as staffing changes.
Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Findwhere is the answer.

What does Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act say?

Article 15 deals with expert assistance in the area of workplace emergency response. The employer must be assisted by one or more employees who have been designated as workplace emergency responders.
The law specifies three core duties for these on-site emergency responders:
Check-markProviding first aid in the event of an accident.
Check-markTo contain and extinguish fires and mitigate the consequences of accidents.
Check-markIn the event of an emergency, alert and evacuate employees and other people on the premises.
In addition, Article 15 sets forth requirements for the structure of the emergency response organization. Emergency response personnel must be adequately trained and equipped. There must also be a sufficient number of emergency response personnel, and the emergency response organization must be structured in such a way that they can properly carry out their legal duties.
Exactly how this is organized therefore varies from one organization to another. The Dutch Labor Inspectorate refers to the RI&E as an important starting point for setting up the emergency response organization.
Office with employees. Article 15 of the Working Conditions Act, emergency response services with Findwhere.

Simply appointing emergency response team members is not enough

You’ve appointed emergency response team members, and they’ve completed training. But that’s not the end of it.
The organization behind the emergency response team must function effectively in practice—even on a busy Monday, during holidays, or on a day when many colleagues are working from home.
That means, for example, that you want to understand:
Check-markWhich emergency response team members are present and available.
Check-markWhat skills are available at a given location.
Check-markHow to quickly reach the right people in the event of an incident.
That’s exactly what makes things complicated when an organization has multiple locations, rotating shifts, or hybrid work arrangements.
Overview of emergency response team members and other emergency response roles within the corporate safety system, with each person’s response status displayed via progress bars and icons indicating whether they are on call or available.

From a Legal Requirement to an Effective Emergency Response Organization

Article 15 does not specify which software you must use. The important thing is that the emergency response organization is properly structured and able to carry out its duties effectively.
Findwhere helps organizations put that into practice.
In the platform, you assign emergency response team members and other first responders to locations, skills, and protocols. This provides an up-to-date overview of the organization. In the event of an emergency, you then activate the appropriate protocol, and the relevant first responders are alerted in a targeted manner.
Here’s how to turn written agreements into an emergency response organization that can actually be put into practice.
Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Findwhere is the answer.

How Findwhere Helps with Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

During a mass violence incident, an organization must switch from normal operations to crisis mode within a very short period of time. An effective response involves more than just sending out an alert. It requires a well-prepared process in which everyone involved knows what is expected of them.
Aanwezige mensen en bezoekers worden direct ingelicht wanneer een protocol wordt geactiveerd door calamiteiten of incidenten
1. Understanding Your Emergency Response Staffing Levels
Who is here today? And does that person have the right skills?

Findwhere provides insight into staffing levels by location and skill set. This allows you to see where shortages are occurring and where action is needed. This helps you ensure that you have sufficient on-site emergency response personnel.
Man alarmeerd verdachte situatie met de findwhere app
2. Immediately alert the appropriate emergency responders
In the event of an incident, every second counts. That’s why you don’t want to have to manually figure out which emergency response team member is available first.

With Findwhere, you can link skills to protocols. This makes it possible to call in the right team in a targeted manner in the event of an emergency.
Foto van biologie lerares die protocol krijgt met verdachte situatie melding.
3. Clear protocols for emergencies
During an incident, an emergency response team member must quickly know what to do. With Findwhere, you can digitize your existing procedures and protocols.

You tailor this to your company’s emergency plan, RI&E, locations, and risks. When the system is activated, emergency responders receive the information and tasks related to the incident.
Twee docenten wachten de politie op
4. Alerting, Communicating, and Escalating
Article 15 explicitly lists alerting and evacuating employees and other people on site as duties of the company emergency response team.

Findwhere supports the operational aspects of this. Emergency responders can be alerted in a targeted manner and communicate with one another during the incident. The protocol can also provide for scaling up operations if the response is insufficient.
Leraar evalueert na AMOC alarm
5. Reports for Insight and Evaluation
An effective emergency response organization requires attention, evaluation, and improvement.
Findwhere records information related to incident reports and protocols that have been implemented.

Reports provide insights by location and skill. This gives you concrete information you can use to evaluate and improve your emergency response organization.

From Article 15 to Everyday Practice

The law provides the framework. Your organization determines how the emergency response team is organized within that framework.
After all, an office with hybrid employees faces different risks and has a different workforce than a factory, logistics center, or healthcare organization. That is why there is no single emergency response plan that works for every organization.
Findwhere can be flexibly configured to accommodate your locations, people, skills, and protocols. As a result, the platform adapts as your organization, staffing levels, or safety policies change.
The goal remains the same: to ensure that the right help is available when it matters most.
Handle Article 15 with Findwhere.

One platform for your entire emergency response organization

Ultimately, Article 15 isn’t about paperwork. It’s about having help that’s available and well-organized when something happens.
Findwhere brings together key components of the emergency response organization:
Attendance and skills
Gain insight into available care providers per location.
Alarm
Reach the right people in a targeted manner during an incident.
Protocols
Digitize procedures and align them with your own risks.
Communication
Keep emergency responders connected during an incident.
Reports
Gain insight into staffing, incidents, and the execution of protocols.
In this way, Findwhere helps you systematically ensure the organizational aspects of your emergency response plan.
Findwhere's app and platform
Logos of clients Findwhere

Why organizations choose Findwhere

More and more organizations are choosing Findwhere because security requires a reliable and forward-looking approach.
With Findwhere, you benefit from:
Check-markAn advanced and user-friendly platform
Check-markFlexible design for any organization
Fast and secure implementation
Check-markScalability from a single location to multiple sites
Check-markSeamless integrations with existing systems
Check-markContinuous innovation and development
Veelgestelde vragen

Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act

What does Article 15 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act say?

Article 15 stipulates that an employer must be assisted by one or more designated employees in providing workplace emergency response services. Among other things, these emergency response team members provide first aid, contain and extinguish fires, and assist with raising the alarm and evacuating during emergencies.

Article 15 stipulates that the employer must be assisted by one or more employees who have been designated as emergency response team members. The exact structure of the emergency response team depends on the organization and the risks involved.

Article 15 does not specify a fixed minimum number that applies to every organization. The law states that the number of emergency response team members and the way they are organized must be such that they can perform their duties properly. The structure must therefore be tailored to the organization’s specific situation and risks.

The law specifies three core duties: providing first aid in the event of accidents, containing and fighting fires, and minimizing the consequences of accidents; and, in emergency situations, alerting and evacuating employees and other people on site.

Findwhere supports organizations in the practical management of their emergency response teams. Among other things, the platform provides insight into staffing levels and skills and supports protocols, alert systems, communication, and reporting. In this way, Findwhere helps organize and ensure the effectiveness of elements that are essential to a well-functioning emergency response organization.

Findwhere does not, in and of itself, guarantee legal compliance. The employer remains responsible for ensuring that the emergency response team is properly organized.

No. Findwhere is software designed to organize and support workplace emergency response. It does not replace the required training for workplace emergency responders.

The official Working Conditions Act can be found at wetten.overheid.nl. For legal decisions, always use the current official text of the law.

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