General information on occupational safety
Productive employees are essential for the success of a company. However, only healthy employees and a health-oriented working environment make it possible to achieve the best possible performance. The aim of occupational health and safety is to protect the health of all employees and includes all measures, means and methods to prevent health and safety hazards.
All about occupational safety
Current legal regulations on occupational safety
Occupational health and safety in Germany is regulated by numerous laws, ordinances, and guidelines.
Occupational Health and Safety Act ArbSchG
The Occupational Health and Safety Act is the central law for occupational health and safety in the operational context. In particular, it regulates the rights and obligations of both employers and employees. In particular, it establishes the obligation for employers to
- assess potential health and safety hazards at the workplace and
- to derive suitable protective measures from this
In the course of this, the employer must also ensure a functioning occupational health and safety organization in the company and integrate these structures and processes.
The Occupational Health and Safety Act initially only provides employers with room for maneuver. It is supplemented and concretized by further occupational health and safety regulations.
These include:
- Workplace Ordinance ArbStättV
- Construction Site Ordinance
- German Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health BetrSichV
- Noise and vibration health and safety regulations
- Hazardous Substances Ordinance
Occupational Safety Act ASiG
The Occupational Safety Act regulates the requirements for employers to appoint company doctors, safety engineers and other specialist personnel. In addition, their respective tasks are defined and corresponding cooperation with regard to occupational health and safety is regulated. The main objective of the law is accident prevention.
Hazard Assessment
At the heart of the ArbSchG is the employer's obligation to carry out a risk assessment at the workplace. As part of the risk assessment, all potential hazards should be identified in order to subsequently derive suitable measures to protect employees.
As part of the risk assessment, the entire workplace as well as the individual workplace should be analyzed for sources of physical and mental stress.
How such a risk assessment is to be carried out is not defined in detail and should therefore be based on each individual case. The respective type and size of business should be decisive.
However, the following general steps are recognized as standard:
- Preparation of the risk assessment
- Determining hazards
- Assessing hazards
- Define specific protection measures
- Implementation of measures
- Checking the implementation
- Continuation of the risk assessment
Regardless of the type or size of the company, the Occupational Health and Safety Act also stipulates the obligation to document the risk assessment. The documentation must contain the results of the risk assessment, the measures derived from it and the results of the review of the measures.
Various institutions can support employers in carrying out their assessment tasks. Companies are supported, for example, by
- Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA)
- the state labor protection authorities and
- the institutions of statutory accident insurance
- Different commercial providers
Occupational safety training
Workplace accidents are mostly caused by human error. The German Occupational Health and Safety Act takes this into account by obligating employers to adequately instruct their employees on safety and health protection at work. This applies in particular
- before taking up employment for the first time,
- when switching to a new area of responsibility or
- if new work equipment is to be used.
The instruction by the employer should always aim to create awareness of possible hazards in the workplace and to encourage employees to behave in a safety-conscious manner.
Occupational safety measures
Occupational health and safety measures must be taken at different levels. A basic distinction is made between the following areas
- Technical occupational safety
- Social occupational health and safety
Technical occupational safety
Technical occupational health and safety includes all areas that affect the safety and health of employees at work. Consequently, the following areas fall under technical occupational health and safety:
- Safety in workplaces
- Noise and vibration protection
- Work equipment
- Radiation
- Hazards from electromagnetic fields
For the design, furnishing and equipping of office spaces, the first two points are of primary importance.
Safety in workplaces
The Workplace Ordinance provides employers with regulations on how workplaces must be set up and operated in order to ensure the safety and health of employees. The provisions of the ordinance serve as general guidelines and do not provide any detailed information.
For practical application, they are supplemented by Technical Rules for Workplaces (ASR), which specify the general requirements of the German Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV).
The workplace includes all locations on the company premises, inside or outside of buildings. Escape routes, sanitary facilities and break rooms as well as the individual workplace are part of the workplace.
The following information, among others, can be found in the Workplace Ordinance:
- General requirements
- Dimensions of rooms
- Floors, walls, ceilings, roofs
- Windows, skylights
- Doors, gates
- Traffic routes
- Working conditions
- Movement area
- Arrangement of workplaces
- Equipment
- Lighting and visual connection
- Room temperature
- Ventilation
- Noise
- Measures for the design of VDU workstations
- General requirements for display screen equipment workstations / Ergonomics at the workplace
- General requirements for screens and display screen equipment
- Requirements for display screen equipment and work equipment for stationary use at workplaces
- Requirements for portable display devices for mobile use in workplaces
- Requirements for the user-friendliness of VDU workstations
Noise and vibration protection
Especially in the manufacturing sector, physical influences such as noise and machine vibrations can have a strong impact on the health of employees. However, even in the office, considerable noise pollution can quickly arise from work equipment, colleagues on the phone or similar. As a result, noise-induced hearing loss has been at the top of the list of occupational diseases for many years. The aim of the Noise and Vibration Occupational Health and Safety Ordinance (LärmVibrationsArbSchV) is to ensure that employers take suitable measures to comply with limit values for noise and vibrations.
Social occupational health and safety
Some people and professional groups are particularly vulnerable, especially young people, (expectant) mothers, and employees in the field of passenger and freight transport. In order to protect them from overwork and damage to their health, there are further regulations. Together with the regulations on working hours, these form the area of social protection at work.