The premiums system

As with the other forms of social insurance, the level of premiums for statutory accident insurance also varies according to the level of the total wage costs (TWC) of the insured individuals (wages and salaries) and the expenditure of the accident insurance institution concerned. The accident risk in the corresponding sector is also significant. This is expressed by the risk category (RC). The contribution base (CB) is calculated as a function of the financial requirement for a given year. It is the same for all insured employers, but must be recalculated each year.

The individual premium is calculated according to the following formula:

How is the actual statutory accident insurance premium calculated?

Example: a construction company has two operations, a decorating division and a construction division with total wage costs of €200,000 and €300,000 respectively. The total wage costs for the administration division are €100,000. At an average contribution base of €3.80 per thousand euro total wage costs, the premium for the decorating division is as follows:

The premium for the construction division is:

Owing to its low total wage costs and its low risk category, the administration division is the cheapest. Its costs are:

The company's total premium would therefore be €13,110. Because the premium for the entire company is calculated as described, it is important for the total wage costs in the individual company divisions to be indicated precisely.

The statutory accident insurance institutions may motivate companies by means of surcharges, discounts, or graded premiums, according to their particular accident situations. Investments in preventive measures may therefore pay dividends.

Adjustment for excess inherited obligations

The purpose of adjustment for excess inherited obligations is that of distributing these obligations across sectors. Adjustment is necessary owing to the fact that the statutory accident insurance system is structured along sectoral lines, and the various sectors develop differently as a function of the structural change within the economy (an example is the decline of the coal-mining industry). Since the companies in existence at the present time must also shoulder the cost of pension payments inherited from the past, excessive economic demands would be made upon certain individual BGs unless adjustment were made for these excess inherited obligations. Accordingly, each statutory accident insurance institution bears, in the first instance, its pension obligations to the degree which it would have had to do so had the structures always been the same as in the present business year. The pension obligations lying above this figure, i.e. the excess inherited obligations, are shared between all the institutions in accordance with the solidarity principle.

Where occupational diseases are concerned, it must also be considered that in many cases years or even decades may pass between harmful exposure and the resulting incidence of an occupational disease (in the case of asbestos-induced cancer, for example, the average interval is 30 years). This hiatus is also taken into account by the adjustment for excess inherited obligations.