Occupational safety has only one new legal threshold at 250 employees: the special rule in section 22(1) sentence 4 SGB VII, under which a single safety officer is enough, applies only below 250 employees without a particular hazard. All other duties start earlier and then grow with headcount, above all hours, first aiders and organisation.
Anyone who does not yet have the basics should start with the main article Occupational safety in the office. This article shows what looks different in a large office with 250, 500 or 1,000 employees: which thresholds have stacked up, what follows in numbers, and why organisation matters more than any single duty.
Which thresholds apply from 20, 50 and 250 employees?
The main thresholds in an office lie at more than 20, more than 50 and from 250 employees. Almost all duties are already active by 250, and above that only the number of safety officers changes in principle. A large office therefore does not meet new duties, but the same ones on a bigger scale.
| Employees | What applies | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| from 1 | Risk assessment, training, appointment of specialist and company doctor | ArbSchG, ASiG |
| more than 20 | Safety committee, first aiders 5 percent of those present | section 11 ASiG, section 26 DGUV Regulation 1 |
| more than 50 | Standard coverage with fixed hours, large first aid kit | DGUV Regulation 2, ASR A4.3 |
| from 50 | Safety officers (at least one) | section 22(1) SGB VII |
| from 250 | Number of safety officers by five criteria | section 22(1) sentence 4 SGB VII, section 20 DGUV Regulation 1 |
Occupational safety law has no separate threshold for "large companies". How employees are counted differs between rules: for the safety committee part-time staff count by head, for hours they are weighted under DGUV Regulation 2.
How are employees counted with several sites and part-time staff?
What counts is the number of regularly employed people in the company, not at a single site. For the thresholds at 50 and 250, section 22 SGB VII counts the whole company, and part-time staff and trainees count by head. For hours, section 2(5) DGUV Regulation 2 weights part-time staff by working time, and for first aiders those present at the same time are what counts.
A business with four sites of 70 employees each therefore has 280 employees and is above the 250 threshold, even though no single site reaches it. The reverse matters just as much: those who cut posts or employ temporary staff only seasonally count by regular employment, not by a cut-off date. The figure belongs in the records with a date, so it stays clear which coverage applied when.
Standard coverage: how much specialist and company doctor time does a large office need?
From more than 50 employees, standard coverage under DGUV Regulation 2 applies, with fixed hours for the occupational safety specialist and the company doctor. For offices in care group III, basic coverage is 0.5 hours per employee per year for both roles together, with at least 20 percent for each. Company-specific coverage comes on top.
Basic coverage handles the regular tasks: advice, inspections, taking part in the safety committee, support with the risk assessment. Company-specific coverage covers occasions such as a move, new ways of working or accidents, and is set from the risk assessment. How the hours are calculated is shown in Working out hours under DGUV Regulation 2, and the care group is explained in Care group and industry code. Your own figure comes from the working hours calculator.
With several sites, a model with a fixed contact per site makes sense. The hours can be split across several specialists as long as coverage stays reliable and coordinated. How providers and models differ is covered in Coverage models compared.
Delegation of duties: who is responsible for what in a large house?
Delegation of duties is the written transfer of employer duties to reliable and qualified people under section 13(2) ArbSchG. In a business with 250 or more employees, management cannot carry out every task itself. It delegates them to site and department heads and stays responsible for selection and supervision.
A sound transfer contains four points:
- Person and role: who takes the task, with their position in the business.
- Scope: which duties exactly, such as training, inspections, remedying defects.
- Powers and means: decision rights, budget and access to specialist and company doctor.
- Control: how and when management checks that the duty is met.
Without the written form, responsibility stays with management. What that means in a liability case is covered in Management liability in occupational safety.
Committees and roles: safety committee, safety officers, first aiders
A business with more than 20 employees sets up a safety committee under section 11 ASiG, which meets at least once a quarter. From 250 employees the employer sets the number of safety officers using the five criteria in section 20 DGUV Regulation 1, and first aiders and fire wardens grow with headcount.
The roles at a glance:
- Safety committee: employer or delegate, company doctor, specialist, safety officers and two works council members. With several sites, a central committee can be complemented by site rounds. Details in Safety committee: from when is it mandatory?.
- Safety officers: buildings, shifts and professional proximity set the number, not a fixed scale. The safety officer calculator gives guidance, and the reasoning is in Number of safety officers.
- First aiders and fire wardens: in administrative and trading businesses 5 percent of those present at once as first aiders, as a rule 5 percent of employees as fire wardens. The derivation is in Number of first aiders and fire wardens.
With several buildings, spatial spread also matters: first aiders and kits must be reachable on each floor and in each part of the building, not just present in total. The first aid kit calculator gives the minimum.
Worked example: 250, 500 and 1,000 employees
The example assumes offices in care group III, 80 percent present at the same time (leave, home office, shifts) and several buildings. The figures are minimums from the sources cited, and the safety officers are guidance under the five criteria.
| Item | 250 employees | 500 employees | 1,000 employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic coverage total (0.5 h per employee) | 125 h | 250 h | 500 h |
| of which at least per role (20 percent) | 25 h | 50 h | 100 h |
| First aiders (5 percent of those present, 80 percent present) | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| Fire wardens (5 percent of employees) | 13 | 25 | 50 |
| Large first aid kits (ASR A4.3, per 300 started) | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Safety officers (guidance) | 1 to 2 | 2 to 3 | 4 to 5 |
| Safety committee | yes, four times a year | yes, four times a year | yes, four times a year |
What stands out is that specialist hours quadruple with headcount while the duties themselves stay the same. At 1,000 employees, 500 hours of basic coverage come to roughly 62 working days of eight hours. That can no longer sensibly be handled as a side task, especially as company-specific coverage comes on top.
What large offices typically get wrong
The most common mistake in large offices is that numbers and responsibilities do not keep pace with growth. A business that had everything in place at 120 employees often still has one safety officer, two first aiders and a committee without minutes at 260. Numbers and responsibilities should be reviewed once a year and reset after every acquisition, move or refit.
Typical gaps:
- Organised centrally only: sites without their own first aiders, kits and escape route plans.
- Delegation only verbal: managers do not know they carry duties.
- Hours as a lump sum: one specialist for several sites without inspections actually taking place.
- Records scattered: evidence sits in separate folders per site and cannot be found in one go during an inspection. What counts as audit-ready is shown in Five features of audit-ready documentation.
With a works council, co-determination on health protection under section 87(1) no. 7 BetrVG applies: equipment, appointments and training formats should be agreed early.
Safety Club takes over this organisation for office and administrative businesses: an occupational safety specialist on site with fixed hours and digital records in the customer portal. How getting started works is shown in the process in four steps, and an initial call can be booked directly.
This article is general guidance and does not replace legal advice on your individual case. What governs is the current version of the regulations cited, together with how your employers' liability insurance association interprets them.
