Germany Doubles Safety Representative Threshold as Craft Sector Battles Skills Shortage
Published on 06/26/2026 at 12:15 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The obligation for German employers to appoint in-house safety representatives now kicks in at 50 employees – up from the previous 20 – following a change that took effect at the end of May 2026. The government’s aim is to cut red tape for smaller businesses. Yet the relaxation comes at a time when the construction and scaffolding trades are facing an acute shortage of qualified workers, pushing firms to offer above-tariff pay, performance bonuses and up to 30 vacation days.
The regulatory easing does not remove your duty to conduct thorough risk assessments — a core requirement that remains unchanged. Many employers find documenting hazards cumbersome, but a free toolkit can simplify the process. It gives you 41 ready-to-use templates covering fire safety, manual handling, lone working and more. Download the free Risk Assessment Toolkit
In Hamburg alone, 14 scaffold-builder positions were simultaneously open at the end of June 2026, with companies such as Xervon and Bilfinger GreyLogix actively recruiting. Job advertisements from employers like Wisag now explicitly require VDI 6022 certification and proof of "height fitness" – a medical clearance to work at elevation. Despite the lower threshold for safety representatives, the core requirement for risk assessments remains unchanged, and the safe assembly and dismantling of scaffolding, plus all height-related work, continue to be subject to strict safety rules.
Political efforts to strengthen the skilled-crafts sector are intensifying. The Saxony state parliament unanimously adopted a dedicated action plan on 25 June 2026. Among its measures: raising the Meisterbonus (master craftsman bonus) to €3,000, allocating more funds to inter-company training centres, and expanding early career orientation programmes. The move is meant to address the needs of roughly 54,000 craft businesses in the Free State that urgently require new blood. At the national level, the Konvent der Baukultur issued a manifesto in early June calling for broader societal recognition of construction-craft training, demanding equal framework conditions for the trades.
Continuous training is becoming a make-or-break factor for safety compliance. The Berufsgenossenschaft Holz und Metall (BGHM) is holding basic seminars for entrepreneurs in Saarbrücken in early July 2026, focusing on maintaining safety standards in operations with up to 50 employees. Meanwhile, the industry is increasingly turning to career-changers. Scheidt & Bachmann, for example, is actively seeking applicants with an industrial background and training them for specialised assembly tasks in signalling and safety technology – a sign that traditional recruitment pools are no longer sufficient.
Major public projects are fuelling the demand for both labour and modern equipment. In Saxony-Anhalt, a tender has been launched for the central construction-site setup of several fire stations, including in Halle (Saale) and Dessau-RoĂźlau. The contract covers construction fences, container units, and overall site logistics security. To handle complex area scaffolding and heavy-load assembly in tight urban spaces, service providers are increasingly deploying advanced machinery such as the Liebherr MK 120-5.1E mobile construction crane, which offers a reach of up to 48 metres and helps teams manoeuvre where space is restricted.
The regulatory easing for smaller firms is intended to reduce bureaucratic burden, but it does not diminish the need for rigorous risk assessments and skilled personnel. As the craft sector pushes for greater recognition and investment in training – from the Meisterbonus to national manifestos – the gap between lighter safety-administration rules and the growing complexity of on-site work continues to widen.
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