Source:GDA
Guidelines on the Organisation of Occupational Health and Safety
In accordance with German laws on occupational health and safety, employers must ensure that an appropriate organisation is in place to plan and implement all necessary occupational health and safety measures. They are also responsible for incorporating these activities in their leadership structures and ensuring these measures are observed across all activities. Effective occupational health and safety that aims at prevention requires corresponding processes and structures and must be seen as an integral component of corporate organisations.
To assess the organisation of occupational health and safety within companies, the National Occupational Health and Safety Conference [Nationale Arbeitsschutzkonferenz, NAK] approved the applicable, redacted version of the Guidelines on the Organisation of Occupational Health and Safety on 22 May 2017. The core content of these GDA guidelines include specifications regarding
- consultation and supervision of the organisation of occupational health and safety,
- consultation on occupational health and safety management systems and reviews of the effectiveness thereof,
- the assessment of the organisation of occupational health and safety,
- supervisory and administrative practice and
- the handling of occupational health and safety management systems.
15 elements put the companies’ legal obligation to implement an occupational health and safety organisation into concrete terms and simultaneously explain said obligation. In doing so, these guidelines take up the legal organisational obligations stated in German laws on occupational health and safety in particular, such as organising the implementation of risk assessments, assuming responsibility for the delegation of tasks and the monitoring thereof, as well as organising occupational healthcare.