The statutory mandate

The statutory accident insurance institutions in Germany and their umbrella association, the DGUV, offer qualification measures in all areas of prevention, in accordance with their statutory mandate. Volume 7, Article 23 of the German Social Code (SGB VII) places the following requirements upon the statutory accident insurance institutions in this context:

(1) The accident insurance institutions must assure the necessary initial and further training of persons within companies who are encharged with performing measures for the prevention of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and work-related health hazards, and with first aid. The accident insurance institutions may also implement relevant measures for the company physicians and OSH professionals who are not company staff and who are to be appointed in accordance with the legislation governing company physicians, safety engineers and other OSH professionals. It is the task of the accident insurance institutions to encourage employers and insured individuals to attend courses of initial and further training.

(2) The accident insurance institutions must bear the immediate costs of their initial and further training measures and the necessary costs of travel, board and lodging. Where initial and further training measures for first-aiders are conducted by third parties, the accident insurance institutions are required to bear only the course fees.

(3) Persons who have lost working hours owing to attendance of training courses are entitled to claim continued payment of their salaries from their employers.

(4) The regional authorities responsible for occupational safety and health must be involved in the training of safety officers and OSH professionals.

Source of the German text: German Social Code (SGB VII)