Requirements

Under § 11 ASiG, the employer must set up an occupational safety committee in companies with more than 20 employees, unless another legal provision says otherwise. Part-time employees with regular weekly working hours of no more than 20 hours count as 0.5, and those with no more than 30 hours count as 0.75. The threshold is to be distinguished from the care models under DGUV Regulation 2 (DGUV Vorschrift 2), even though the counting method is the same.

Composition

The committee consists of: the employer or a person appointed by the employer, two members of the works council chosen by the works council, occupational physicians, occupational safety specialists and safety officers under § 22 of Social Code Book VII (SGB VII). Without a works council, its representatives are omitted; the committee must still be set up. Other people, such as the data protection officer or the representative body for severely disabled employees (Schwerbehindertenvertretung), may be brought in for specific topics.

Tasks

The committee’s task is to advise on matters of occupational health and safety and accident prevention. Topics include the status of the risk assessment, results of workplace inspections, accidents and near misses, new work equipment and processes, the organisation of occupational health check-ups, safety instruction and the effectiveness of agreed measures. The employer decides; the committee advises.

Contribution of the occupational physician

The occupational physician contributes occupational medicine findings: stress hotspots, anonymised results of check-ups, notes on inadequate protective measures under § 6 para. 4 of the Ordinance on Occupational Health Care (ArbMedVV), and proposals for work design. Personal diagnoses and findings do not belong in the committee; medical confidentiality applies here too.

Meetings and records

The committee meets at least once a quarter. A fixed agenda is useful, covering the status of measures, accidents, new hazards and open responsibilities, together with minutes that record decisions, responsible persons and dates. The law does not prescribe a form for the minutes; the documentation serves as evidence for the supervisory authority and the accident insurance institution.

Following up measures

What matters is that identified hazards lead to measures and that their implementation is checked at the next meeting. The committee replaces neither the risk assessment nor the check-ups. As part of occupational health care, we attend the meetings of the companies we look after, on site or by video, and prepare the occupational medicine items; the limits of taking part by video are described in the article Digital occupational health care. We arrange on-site appointments with companies in the Ingolstadt, Munich and Upper Bavaria area. Advice and meetings are available nationwide by video.