What is the Occupational Health and Safety Act?
The Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG) transposes the European Framework Directive 89/391/EEC on occupational health and safety into German law. As the name suggests, the law aims to guarantee the protection and health of virtually all employees in the course of their employment or work. The full title of the law is therefore "Law on the Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Measures to Improve the Safety and Health Protection of Employees at Work," abbreviated "ArbSchG." Only a few occupational groups are not covered by this law, including domestic workers in private households and employees on seagoing vessels.
Like every law, this one is also published in the Federal Law Gazette (Part 1), abbreviated BGBl.
The text of the Occupational Health and Safety Act can be found on the websites of the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Office of Justice: gesetze-im-internet.de
What does the Occupational Health and Safety Act regulate?
Broadly speaking, the law regulates the conditions that must be met in the workplace to ensure that employees can work safely, that accidents and work-related illnesses are prevented, and that working conditions can be designed and assessed according to established principles. The central element of occupational health and safety is the so-called risk assessment.
What does occupational safety include?
Under the Employee Protection Act, there are a number of occupational health and safety regulations, directives, and other occupational health and safety laws. One such regulation is the Workplace Ordinance. It governs the fundamental requirements for setting up and operating workplaces (89/654/EEC), including smoking bans and the design of work areas, sanitary facilities, and other rooms. The Display Screen Equipment Ordinance (89/655/EEC), for example, defines what constitutes a display screen workstation and how it should be set up, while the Manual Handling of Loads Ordinance (90/269/EEC) aims to minimize health hazards such as back problems associated with the manual handling of loads. All these ordinances and regulations share one common goal: to protect the health of employees.
Duties and rights under occupational health and safety law
In addition to specific regulations regarding workplace setup and equipment, employers have a number of other obligations. These include occupational health and safety, first aid and emergency procedures, and training to ensure that work can be performed without difficulty. However, employees must also adhere to regulations. They are obligated to exercise due care towards colleagues and may only use machinery, equipment, materials, etc., as intended.
Furthermore, the Occupational Health and Safety Act regulates which breaks an employee is entitled to and how their duration is to be determined. This includes not only short breaks but also time intervals between individual shifts, the so-called rest and recovery periods. Incidentally, vacation time is not regulated by the Occupational Health and Safety Act but by the Federal Vacation Act.
What is the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy?
The Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy (GDA) is an initiative of the federal government, the states, and the statutory accident insurance institutions. The GDA was primarily launched to create incentives for compliance with occupational safety and health legislation and to strengthen the safety and health of employees. Various programs, as well as the optimization of consulting and monitoring services, support employers in this endeavor. Furthermore, one of the alliance's goals is to continuously modernize the German occupational safety and health system in the face of the ever-accelerating pace of change in the world of work.
What is statutory accident insurance?
If an employee is injured in the course of their work despite compliance with all regulations outlined in the Occupational Health and Safety Act, this may be covered by statutory accident insurance. Statutory accident insurance (GUV) falls under the social security system and aims to prevent workplace accidents and occupational diseases. If a workplace accident or occupational disease does occur, statutory accident insurance provides medical or vocational rehabilitation services, and in certain cases, pension payments, wage compensation, and similar benefits. It's worth noting that not only salaried employees are covered by statutory accident insurance, but also, among others, kindergarten children, schoolchildren, students, and blood donors.
Despite occupational health and safety laws, illnesses at the workplace
Long hours in the office, sitting in a rigid posture, and lack of exercise are causes of widespread occupational illnesses such as back pain and back problems, but also obesity, cardiovascular problems, and diabetes. Occupational health and safety legislation can do little to address these issues.
Those at risk can take preventative measures by integrating movement into their daily office routine. To avoid interrupting work for movement at the workplace, it's recommended to use office chairs that allow for intuitive movements while seated, such as the Swopper and 3Dee active chairs from Aeris. Thanks to patented 3D technology, movement in all directions is encouraged, eliminating one-sided pressure on the intervertebral discs . As an added benefit, dynamic sitting strengthens both the abdominal and back muscles. Therefore, anyone concerned that their office chair or standing aid in the factory hall might be detrimental to their back should discuss this with their supervisor or employer. After all, it's in a company's best interest to prevent employees from being absent due to illness, thus incurring more costs than the investment in an active office chair.
