Risk assessment and safety delegates

Possibly the most important element of a modern occupational safety and health strategy is that of risk assessment. A risk assessment must be conducted by the employer for each workplace. The statutory accident insurance institutions have produced a variety of tools to assist them in this task.

Small and medium-sized enterprises are assisted in this way in identifying weak points in safety and in the safeguarding of health at the workplace. The prevention services of the accident insurance institutions offer comprehensive practical consultancy by which solutions can be found which are geared to the industrial sector concerned.

Safety delegates

In companies with over 20 employees, the employer must also appoint one or more safety delegates in conjunction with the employee representative council, as a function of the size of the company's workforce and the potential hazards entailed by the work concerned.

The task of the safety delegates is to support the employer in all occupational safety and health issues. For this purpose, the safety officers receive initial and further training from the accident insurance institutions at dedicated training centres.