Guide: Occupational health & safety in the office

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

Workplace Ergonomics
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Lighting
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Office & workplace spaces
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Volume & Noise Control
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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

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:

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:

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

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

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

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:

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:

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.