Arbowet and Workplace Requirements: Complete Checklist for Offices (2026)

Search for arbo requirements for offices, and you’ll get a list of numbers: so many square meters, so many lux, so many degrees. Convenient, but there’s a misunderstanding here. Most of those numbers aren’t actually in the law.

The Dutch occupational health and safety system works with open standards: the law states that something must be “sufficient” and leaves the specifics to standards, guidelines, and your judgment. It sounds vague, but it also gives you flexibility. Below, you’ll find what’s actually in the Arbobesluit, the separate numbers associated with it, and a checklist to assess your office.

How the system works

Three layers, and it helps greatly to keep them distinct:

1. The Work and Safety Act (Arbowet) sets the main obligation: you must identify and evaluate the risks (the RI&E) and take measures based on that.
2. The Arbobesluit elaborates on this in concrete articles but primarily formulates them as open standards: "sufficient", "to such an extent that", "without danger to health".
3. NEN standards and occupational health catalogs fill in these open standards with specific numbers. They are not law themselves, but compliance with them is considered to meet the open standard.

This third layer is where most confusion lies. If you read that an office workstation must be “legally 7 m²,” that’s incorrect. The NEN 1824 standard arrives at that figure; the law only states that dimensions must be such that you can perform your work safely. You may deviate from the standard if you can demonstrably achieve an equivalent result—but then you must be able to justify it.

Space: Article 3.19 and NEN 1824

Article 3.19 of the Arbobesluit (Work Environment Decree) is the legal basis for the minimum dimensions of office workstations. What it states:

• The dimensions and air volume must be such that the employee can perform their work safely, without risk to safety, health, or well-being.
• The dimensions are such that the employee has sufficient movement space.
• If this is not possible due to the nature of the work, another space with sufficient movement freedom must be available nearby.

No specific number is mentioned in the law. Those figures come from NEN 1824:2010, the standard for floor space in office work. It calculates 4 m² as the base per workstation, scaling up to approximately 7 m² for a standard screen workstation: 4 m² base, plus 1 m² for desk and screen, 1 m² for reading and writing, and 1 m² for storage.

Important detail: the standard applies to workstations used for more than two hours per day. An occasional touchdown spot is therefore excluded. The full calculation method is in how many m² per workstation.

Climate: Chapter 6

Here too, open standards apply, and here too, it is consistently enforced.

• Temperature (art. 6.1): the temperature must not harm the health of employees. No specific degrees are mentioned. For office work, occupational health services practically apply a comfort range of around 20 to 24 degrees.
• Ventilation (art. 6.2): sufficient uncontaminated air must be available at the workplace. Ventilation systems must always be operational and have a monitoring system that detects faults, to the extent necessary for health.
• Natural and artificial lighting (art. 6.3): workstations and their direct accesses must be sufficiently and efficiently lit by natural light, artificial light, or both. Artificial lighting must be arranged to prevent accidents.

Note that there is no CO₂ limit value in the Arbobesluit. This is a striking difference with Belgium, where the Codex explicitly mentions 900 ppm or 40 m³ of fresh air per hour per person. If you want a reference point in the Netherlands, that Belgian value is a defensible practical guideline—and a CO₂ meter costs forty euros.

Screen Work: Chapter 5

The Dutch Arbobesluit sets two main requirements:

• Screen work is organized so that it is regularly alternated with other tasks or rest periods, thereby reducing the strain.
• The RI&E specifically addresses risks to vision and the physical and psychological strain of screen work.

Additionally, the decree outlines measures to protect eyesight and vision. In practice, this means offering an eye examination and, if necessary, providing computer glasses.

The spaces you easily forget

This is the area where most offices fall short, as it is not about workstations.

Rest area for pregnant employees and during lactation

Article 3.48 of the Arbobesluit is concrete here. There must be a suitable, lockable enclosed space available where there is or can immediately be provided an opportunity to rest, with a proper bed or a proper rest bench.

This is the same provision that regulates the nursing room. Combined with article 4:8 of the Dutch Working Hours Act — which grants an employee who is breastfeeding the right to interrupt her work as often and as long as necessary during the first nine months of the child’s life, up to a quarter of working time — you have a strict obligation that many offices fail to meet. The full requirements are in nursing room requirements.

A small note on what you might read elsewhere: this obligation is often incorrectly attributed online. The correct references are Arbobesluit art. 3.48 for the space and Working Hours Act art. 4:8 for the time.

Sanitary facilities, changing rooms, and break provisions

Also regulated and openly formulated: sufficient toilets, washing facilities, and a break area that is not a workspace.

Where the Arbobesluit is silent: acoustics

Occupational health and safety regulations primarily focus on hearing damage — high noise levels in industrial environments. For office acoustics, where the concern is not damage but disturbance and loss of concentration, there are no specific concrete provisions.

This does not mean it falls outside your obligations. Noise disturbance is a risk that belongs in the RI&E, and with that, you fall back on the main obligation under the Dutch Work and Safety Act (Arbowet): inventory and take measures. For implementation, there is NPR 3438, a Dutch practical guideline with target values for noise disturbance aimed at communication and concentration, and since 2021 ISO 22955 for the acoustic quality of open offices.

What you can concretely do is found in acoustic solutions.

The checklist

Go through these points one by one. If you cannot provide justification for a point, you have work to do there.

Basics

• There is an up-to-date Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E), verified where required
• Screen work is explicitly included in the RI&E
• Noise nuisance is explicitly included in the Risk Inventory and Evaluation (RI&E)
• There is a plan of action with deadlines and responsible parties

Workstation

• Workstations used for more than two hours per day meet the NEN 1824 surface area — or you can justify why a deviation is equivalent
• There is sufficient space to move around each workspace
• Desks and chairs are adjustable, and employees know how
• An eye examination is offered to screen workers

Climate and lighting

• The temperature is within the comfort range and is adjustable
• There is sufficient uncontaminated air; the ventilation system is operational and maintained.
• Every workstation has sufficient and purposeful lighting
• There is natural light, or a justified reason why that is not possible

Facilities

• There is a suitable, lockable enclosed space with a bed or rest bench for pregnant employees and during lactation
• The space is known to employees and marked on the floor plan
• There is a rest area that is not a workspace
• Sanitary facilities and washing areas are sufficient in number and clean

Acoustics

• There are spaces available for undisturbed phone calls
• There are spaces available for focused work
• Complaints about noise are recorded and followed up

Netherlands versus Belgium

If you work in both countries, here’s the key difference to remember: the Netherlands relies on open standards and refers to NEN, while Belgium includes the figures directly in the law itself.

The Belgian Code specifies a minimum of 2 m² of free surface area per employee, 10 m³ of air volume, a ceiling height of 2.5 meters, 900 ppm CO₂, and 500 lux for office work. In the Netherlands, you’ll need to gather these figures from standards documents that are not legally binding.

Practical consequence: a Belgian inspector can check off a list, while a Dutch inspector looks at your RI&E and your justification. The Belgian side is covered in Codex Welzijn op het Werk: wat betekent boek III voor je kantoorinrichting (What Book III of the Codex Well-being at Work means for your office layout).

From checklist to setup

A checklist tells you where you’re not compliant. What it doesn’t tell you is what your employees truly lack — and those two lists overlap less than you’d think. An office can fully comply with the Arbobesluit and still be a place where no one can concentrate.

That’s why we start not with the standards but with the people. The impactscan surveys employees and translates the results into zones, quantities, and spaces; then follows the design. Legal requirements serve as the minimum, not the goal.

The questionnaire to start with is fully provided in employee survey on the workplace.

Frequently Asked Questions about Occupational Health and Safety Requirements for Offices

How many m² should an office workstation be according to the Work and Safety Act (Arbowet)?

The Work and Safety Decree (Arbobesluit) does not specify a number. Article 3.19 only states that dimensions and air volume must be such that the employee can perform their work safely. NEN 1824:2010 supplements this with a minimum of 4 m², scaling up to approximately 7 m² for a standard screen workstation. This standard is not law itself, but compliance with it is considered to meet the open standard.

Are NEN standards legally mandatory?

No. NEN standards fill in the open standards of the Arbobesluit. Following them is considered to meet the legal requirement. You may deviate from them if you can demonstrably achieve an equivalent level of protection, but you must be able to show that justification.

What temperature does the Dutch Working Conditions Act prescribe for the office?

None at all. Article 6.1 of the Working Conditions Decree only states that the temperature must not harm employees’ health. In practice, a comfort range of approximately 20 to 24 degrees Celsius is maintained for office work.

Is there a CO₂ limit for Dutch offices?

The Arbobesluit does not specify a limit value; article 6.2 only requires sufficient uncontaminated air. For comparison: the Belgian Codex sets a concrete requirement of usually below 900 ppm, or at least 40 m³ of fresh air per hour per person. This value serves as a useful practical guideline in the Netherlands.

Is a movement space mandatory under the Work and Safety Act (Arbowet)?

Yes. Article 3.48 of the Arbeidsomstandighedenbesluit (ArboBesluit) requires a suitable, lockable enclosed space with a proper bed or rest bench for pregnant employees and employees during lactation. Article 4:8 of the Arbeidstijdenwet (Working Hours Act) regulates the time: during the first nine months of life, as often and as long as necessary, up to a quarter of the working time.

Last updated on 24 October 2026 by Stijn Belmans