How the threshold forms
The time an occupational safety specialist and a workplace physician must give to a workplace is calculated from its hazard class and headcount. When that time reaches the size calling for full-time work, the assignment becomes full-time. Carrying on with a part-time assignment past the threshold produces the same result as having no service at all.
Full-time means an in-house unit
Article 5(3) of the Occupational Health and Safety Services Regulation is explicit: "Where the workplace physician and the occupational safety specialist must be assigned full time, the employer establishes an in-house OHS unit." A full-time assignment is not only a hiring decision; it also creates the duty to set up a unit.
Other health personnel
The same paragraph brings an exemption: where a full-time workplace physician is assigned, assigning other health personnel is not compulsory. That exemption applies only where the physician is full time.
The common mistake
Leaving the assignment as it was when headcount crosses the threshold during the year. The required time is a variable tied to headcount; when the number changes the calculation is redone and the contract updated accordingly.
In Optifora
The legislation and personnel side computes the required assignment time from the workplace's hazard class and headcount, warns as the threshold approaches, and shows the current contract against the required time side by side.