Help, the chandelier has fallen on my head. What sounds like an exaggerated comic extract is what employers should avoid with the risk assessment: Exposing employees to potential hazards in the workplace. In this article, you will find out what your duties as an employer require and what you must look out for in the risk assessment.
Risk assessment is a measure in HR that assesses the working conditions and potential hazards for employees and thus protects them. Appropriate measures are then derived from this assessment to avoid the hazards. The measures must be constantly monitored and adapted. In addition, the employer must document all results, progress, and the entire process.
According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, risk assessments are mandatory for every employer. They are the basis for the safety and health of employees in the workplace.
A psychological risk assessment is an important aspect of the risk assessment, focusing on the mental health of your employees.
The law does not specify precisely how a risk assessment must be carried out. However, there are principles that employers should follow according to the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA):
Scope: This depends on how your company works. Do the employees sit in an office? Or do they operate heavy machinery? Include all work processes in the risk assessment, including events and work outside regular operating hours, such as cleaning and maintenance work.
Identify all hazards: A systematic approach is essential. The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health recommends an assessment of various risk areas, including Mechanical hazards (e.g., the risk of falling), electrical hazards (e.g., electric shock), and hazards due to working environment conditions (e.g., too few escape routes). A complete list of the hazards to be assessed can be found here.
Risk assessment: Ensure simple implementation and deadlines
Risk assessment is a sensitive topic and should be taken seriously by everyone involved. Our digital risk assessment module is one way of ensuring that this can be carried out correctly.
Every activity and every workplace must be inspected: If the operating sites, workplaces, or procedures are the same for several employees, it is sufficient to assess one activity or workplace. Non-stationary workplaces, e.g., the workplace while working from Home, must also be checked.
Mandatory documentation: This ensures greater transparency and commitment on the part of the employer. It also helps you to carefully implement the risk assessment, keep track of the occupational health and safety measures, revise them if necessary and provide evidence to the supervisory authorities.
According to the BGW, the risk assessment basically consists of seven points, which you can visualise as a cycle:
In the first step, distinguish between the work-related and activity-related risk assessment. The work-related variant covers all work areas that use the same work equipment. These work areas are then broken down into individual activities.
In this step, you identify all chemical, biological and mechanical hazards. You should pay attention to how the workplace is designed, which work equipment is used for which purpose and how well your employees are trained.
What is a hazard?
A workplace hazard occurs when employees are exposed to mental or physical stress, including physically strenuous work. In 2020, the number of sick days due to mental health diagnoses increased. According to Techniker Krankenkasse, they accounted for almost 20 per cent of the total number of sick days in the first half of 2020. It is also important to pay attention to presenteeism.
Specifically, go through each work area and activity and see what hazards could arise in each case. Employee feedback and operating or work instructions can help you here.
Now categorise the hazards according to their severity. It is worth working with risk classes, e.g:
Formulate the actual state and the target state in the documentation. The latter is the goal you want to achieve with the optimisation measures.
The BGW advises eliminating hazards by implementing safety-related, organisational, personal and behavioural solutions. The safety-related measures eliminate faulty machines, for example, while the organisational measures redefine work processes. If these two steps do not deliver the desired result, you can train your employees on new personal/behavioural measures.
As the employer, you are responsible for ensuring that the defined measures are implemented by all those involved by a specific date. You can also enlist the help of the company doctor and managers, for example.
It is important that you inform your employees in detail. If employees are starting a job for the first time, initial training must take place. If an employee changes position, instruction must also take place. In case of change of safety regulations, you must inform your employees in good time. All employees must be aware of your safety objectives and which measures are intended to achieve these objectives.
Document hazards, derive measures to eliminate them and measure progress: With our digital risk assessment, you are optimally equipped.
You should check whether the measures are being implemented and are having the desired effect by the set deadlines - and on an ongoing basis.
Concentrate on these three points:
If certain hazards are still present or keep recurring, you should find the reasons for this. It is best to consult an expert (more under ‘Responsible persons and parties involved’) and introduce new measures to eliminate the hazards. The same applies here: review after a certain period of time and adjust again if necessary.
The risk assessment is a process and not a one-off exercise. It should therefore be carried out on an ongoing basis and at regular intervals. There are also some situations that you should take as an opportunity to carry it out. You will find out what these are in the next chapter.
There is no single point in time for a risk assessment that applies equally to all companies. It must be carried out on an ongoing basis to ensure the protection of your employees.
For example, you should carry out a risk assessment every time before a new activity is started - for every workplace - and before work equipment is used for the first time. You should also carry out a risk assessment when you set up and operate a new workplace.
It is also advisable to regularly review and adapt optimisation measures. You can take the following situations as an example:
The employer is responsible for the risk assessment. The employer is responsible for the organisation and implementation, but can also assign individual tasks to others. According to the VBG, these are as follows:
Above all, it is important that employees also have a say, as they are exposed to potential hazards and can give you important feedback.
Simple documentation, simple collaboration
onyo's platform allows you to complete the processes automatically.
Your risk assessment can be assessed by two parties: the accident insurance institution and the responsible state supervisory authority. During the assessment, both parties work closely together, coordinate their monitoring and advisory activities and inform each other of the results. This has been enshrined in law since October 2008 via the Joint German Occupational Health and Safety Strategy (GDA).
On the GDA website you will also find helpful checklists and can also test your status quo with regard to risk assessment.
Caution: In the event of an administrative offence, companies face fines of between €5,000 and €25,000 (ArbSchG §25). Depending on how serious the offence is, a prison sentence of up to one year may also be imposed (ArbSchG §26).
The BAuA points out that hazards are not always only to be found in the physical space. The processes and structures in the company, i.e. the way it is managed, also have an influence.
Some hazards are, for example:
Occupational health and safety is a management issue and should also have the necessary relevance here. In addition, the entire workforce should be aware of and accept occupational health and safety. Everyone should also be aware of who is responsible for which issues and who has what authority. Prevention programmes should also be in place.
The topics of health and safety should be omnipresent in your company so that every employee acts accordingly at all times.
On 1 January 2018, a new reform of the Maternity Protection Act came into force, which further protects the health and safety of expectant mothers and is even more closely aligned with the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The BAuA lists some existing and new protective measures.
Maternity protection is an integral part of occupational health and safety with the 2018 reform. Employers must therefore take (preventive) measures to protect their employees.
For example, the BAuA states that employers must expect an employee to announce their pregnancy at any time and must prepare for this possibility accordingly. These steps are important:
We would like to point out that our website is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice as such. The content of this offer cannot and is not intended to replace individual and binding legal advice that addresses your specific situation. In this respect, all information provided is without guarantee of accuracy and completeness. The content of our website - especially the legal articles - has been researched with the utmost care. Nevertheless, the provider cannot accept any liability for the accuracy, completeness and topicality of the information provided. In particular, the information is of a general nature and does not constitute legal advice in individual cases. To resolve specific legal cases, please be sure to consult a lawyer.
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