What you need to know now about the SCC standard

SCC („Safety Certificate Contractors“) is an international standard for safety, health and environmental management for technical service providers and loan-employment agencies, which become active in the client’s premises. This standard defines also requirements placed on sub-contractors in a uniform manner. SCC is a certification procedure for safety management systems while considering relevant health and environmental aspects. The Certificate acc. to SCC can be acquired along with the Certificates acc. to ISO 9000ff, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, EN 13816 and SMS §39 EisbG EU RL 2004/49/EG.

What you need to know now:

The national programm will be called SCC VAZ 2021 A or SHE VAZ 2021 A in the future.

By the decision in April 2023, it was determined that from May 1^st, 2023 personal certificates according to SCC 2011 will only have a validity of 5 years. The future certificate period for personal certificates according to SCC VAZ 2021 A will also be 5 years.

Old SCC 2011 personal certificates with a 10-year validity will remain valid until May 1^st, 2028 at the latest.

Upon customer request, certification organizations can issue personal certificates issued in the last 12 months (effective date May 1^st, 2022) with a validity of 5 years.

Validity of qualityaustria certificates – we clarify:

It is a fact that Quality Austria has valid accreditations both in the field of system certification (SCC*, SCC**, SCCP, SCP) and for personal certification (SHE operative manager, operative staff) according to the valid model SCC:2011.

The accreditations at Accreditation Austria are also not limited in time in this respect until transitional rules are published. Therefore, SCC certificates issued by Quality Austria do not expire either and are not limited in time.

Outlook– what happens next?

Similar to the SCC regulations in the Netherlands and Germany, the Austrian SCC:2011 regulations are also being revised. The Austrian programme owner FVMI will join the transition to the new set of rules SCC-VAZ 2021 (SCC-VAZ model from Germany) (see below).

Therefore, we are sending you the current information (as translation of the original text) of the SCC Sector Committee (Austria) on this, which you are welcome to pass on to partners and customers:

"The “Verband akkreditierter Zertifizierungsgesellschaften e.V.“ (VAZ e.V.) has been the new program owner of the German SCC regulations since September 2021. With the takeover, the previous SCC version 2011 was replaced by SCC-VAZ 2021.

The Austrian program owner FVMI will join the changeover to the new set of rules SCC-VAZ 2021. The recognition of the conversion to the new set of rules SCC-VAZ 2021 at the Austrian accreditation body "Akkreditierung Austria" is currently under review.

After positive completion of the examination, SCC certificates for organizations and SHE personnel certificates will be issued exclusively according to the new SCC-VAZ 2021 A set of rules. The content of the new SCC-VAZ 2021 regulations does not differ from the SCC 2011 regulations. Currently, Austrian certificates are still issued according to the accreditation valid in Austria under the SCC 2011 rules. These certificates therefore retain their validity both in Austria and abroad, as the underlying set of rules is considered equivalent."

Source (translation from Quality Austria): WKO-SCC Austria - Gültigkeit von Zertifikaten, page view from April 11^th, 2023

What are the benefits of SCC?

The benefits for SCC-certified companies are manifold and include the following:

• The standard increases safety awareness among all employees.
• Through the processes and specifications, operational safety and health protection are continuously reviewed or optimized where necessary.
• At the same time, the frequency of accidents is reduced, which can result in a demonstrable competitive advantage.

Further links for you:

• General Information SCC
• SCC Sektor Comitee Austria
• SCC Information Quality Austria