Here you will find the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on training and consulting chief responsible electrical specialist (CRES)
The CRES should have a relevant electrical engineering qualification including a higher degree such as an engineering degree, master craftsman or technician and have sufficient professional experience and personal suitability.
A chief responsible electrical specialist (CRES) assumes the technical and supervisory responsibility in the company, a department or an area that would otherwise be the responsibility of the entrepreneur.
Normally, the employer or managing director of a company bears full responsibility, not only for electrotechnical occupational health and safety. According to Section 13 ArbschG, the employer can “appoint reliable and competent persons in writing to carry out the tasks incumbent upon him under this Act on his own responsibility”; the employer can therefore hand over this responsibility and the associated tasks. This also makes a lot of sense, especially if the employer
does not have the capacity to do this themselves,
is not electrical specialist and is not very familiar with it or
needs or wants to focus entirely on other tasks.
It is up to the employer to decide whether they want to take full responsibility for all electrotechnical safety requirements themselves or whether they want to “appoint” a suitable electrical specialist, as it is officially called.
It is not absolutely necessary to create a full-time position. It is necessary to determine in advance the approximate scope of the task of the person responsible electrical specialist (CRES). This number of hours can be assigned to an existing employee to fulfill this task as part of their area of responsibility. However, this employee must also have this scope at their disposal; this is also not a subordinate activity that “has to be done on the side”.
No, the task of CRES can also be performed by an external provider. This can also make sense for small companies in particular.
No, there are several requirements here. First of all, the person concerned must do so voluntarily; no one can be made a CRES against their will. Professional requirements must also be met. As a rule, the CRES must be at least a master craftsman, engineer or technician in electrical engineering. Particular attention must also be paid to personal suitability; electrical engineering expertise is of course very good, but is not enough on its own.
The answer here is not just “yes”, even though this is a key point. chief responsible electrical specialist has the technical and supervisory responsibility; the full entrepreneurial responsibility for all electrical work and equipment and therefore also for the entire electrical safety in occupational health and safety. This applies not only to qualified electricians, but also to electrically trained persons and all employees and visitors. If an accident occurs in connection with the failure of electrical safety, CRES is responsible. It assumes full entrepreneurial responsibility, but also has full entrepreneurial decision-making authority. This means that electrical safety is both authorized to issue instructions (to all employees, including all managers) and free of any instructions; no one can issue instructions to CRES for its area of responsibility.
To put it bluntly: if CRES says “We’re stopping production here, I can’t take responsibility for continuing to work here”, then that’s how it is. However, this is rare and the very last step and actually the worst case scenario. In addition, the limit of the decision-making power of CRES is reached where it is no longer a matter of electrical safety. The CRES cannot decide which products are manufactured or make other business decisions.
As an entrepreneur, you should sit down with a potential candidate. The chemistry must also be right, because you work together. Before you appoint someone to CRES, you should define the scope of responsibility: What is it all about anyway? Is it just one production line or the entire production? Just one location or several? Is it just the equipment or also the building installation? If an order is placed with CRES, you should also jointly define a budget that CRES can decide on independently. This creates legal and work security for both of you.