Objectives and Strategy
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Core elements of the Joint German OSH Strategy
- 3. National Occupational Safety and Health Conference (NOSHC)
- 4. Occupational Safety and Health Forum
- 5. Co-operation partners
1. Introduction
The objective of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy is to maintain, improve and promote the safety and health of workers by means of the efficient and systematic implementation of occupational safety and health – supplemented by workplace health promotion measures. The awareness of safety and health among employers and workers is also to be strengthened.
Companies and the economy save money by reducing work accidents and work-related illnesses. Occupational safety and health is intended to promote innovations, not hinder them.
The Joint German OSH Strategy is therefore making important contributions
to maintain and strengthen employability, including promoting lifelong learning
- to support general health objectives
- to relieve the social insurance systems
- to increase the competitiveness of companies.
The three bodies responsible for occupational safety and health in Germany, the German government, the federal states and accident insurance institutions, have developed the Joint German OSH Strategy in close co-operation. They agreed on a joint strategy applicable throughout Germany to prevent work accidents and work-related illnesses and their programme is to run until 2012. It was confirmed by the 84th Conference of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs of the federal states in November 2007. The AGM of the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) also committed itself unanimously to this strategy. One core element of the agreement is also the improvement of co-operation between the government occupational safety and health authorities and the accident insurance institutions, for example, with regard to concerted, work-sharing monitoring and consultancy activity as well as the implementation of occupational safety and health regulations with equal priority.
With the Joint German OSH Strategy, Germany is also taking European and international developments into account. Following on from the first European joint strategy for safety and health at work 2002-2006, the EU Commission presented a follow-up strategy for the period 2007-2012 which also includes general education and vocational training.
The statutory basis of the Joint German OSH Strategy and the co-operation of the bodies responsible are laid down in the German Occupational Safety and Health Act and the German Social Code VII.
2. Core elements of the Joint German OSH Strategy
The Joint German OSH Strategy compromises five core elements which are:
- the development of joint occupational safety and health objectives
- the establishment of priority fields of action and parameters for work programmes and their implementation according to uniform principles
- the evaluation of the objectives, fields of action and work programmes
- the establishment of a concerted procedure of the state authorities and accident insurance institutions in the consultancy and monitoring of the companies
the production of an understandable, well-arranged set of rules and regulations which have been agreed upon.
2.1 Joint occupational safety and health objectives
The occupational safety and health objectives relate to the fields of technical safety, accident prevention, health protection, workplace health promotion and the humane design of the work. This includes aspects of the work task, the design of the workplace and its environment, work organisation and staff development
The occupational safety and health objectives are laid down for a period of about three to five years during which all the bodies responsible and other players contribute towards achieving the goals through concerted action and joint measures. The first goals relate to the period up to 2012. These objectives are:
- Reduction in the frequency and severity of work accidents
- Reduction in the frequency and severity of musculoskeletal disorders
- Reduction in the frequency and severity of skin diseases.
A second objective level is assigned to the first two objectives above. This level includes in the programme development a reduction in inappropriate mental loads and the promotion of the systematic implementation of occupational safety and health in companies.
2.2 Fields of action and work programmes
The measures to achieve the objectives are to concentrate on the most important focal points. They are conducted in jointly established fields of action. The strategy provides for the following fields of action.
Work accidents are to be reduced primarily in the branches/fields of action
- Building and installation work, logistics
- Transport and traffic
- Temporary work and newcomers in the company.
The priority fields of action for the musculoskeletal disorders are
- People with office jobs (activities involving one-sided load situations or little movement)
- Workers in the health service.
The objective field, risk of skin diseases, concentrates on
- Wet work
- Handling substances harmful to the skin.
The focal topics are handled in 11 work programmes. Six of these work programmes are implemented and evaluated according to uniform criteria throughout Germany and with the participation of all the bodies responsible for the Joint German OSH Strategy (category I). The other five work programmes are also implemented and evaluated according to uniform criteria throughout Germany but obligatory participation of all Joint German OSH Strategy players is not planned (category II).
The managers of the work programmes are appointed by the National Occupational Safety and Health Conference (NOSHC). Interdisciplinary work groups with members from all the bodies responsible support the management in their planning and control tasks. The activities provided for in the programmes are implemented at federal state level by the Joint German OSH Strategy bodies themselves. For this purpose, the accident insurance institutions conclude framework agreements on the binding implementation of the specifications of the work programmes passed by the NOSHC through their joint state offices with the supreme occupational safety and health authorities of the federal states.
A steering committee looks after co-ordination and quality assurance as well as agreement on overriding issues.
2.3 Evaluation
The attainment of the objectives of the Joint German OSH Strategy is subjected to quality assurance and evaluated. The Joint German OSH Strategy overall evaluation assesses the entire process. It is conducted according to scientific criteria by an independent, external institute with the participation of the Joint German OSH Strategy bodies responsible. A steering group is used to co-ordinate the overall evaluation. It is made up of representatives of the Joint German OSH Strategy bodies and the social partners. A scientific advisory council provides the scientific quality assurance.
The evaluations of the 11 Joint German OSH Strategy work programmes assess the respective work programme and are conducted by those responsible for the work programmes. An evaluation report is submitted for every work programme describing what objectives were planned and which objectives were achieved. It serves to examine the effectiveness of the programmes. In this way, the occupational safety and health objectives and fields of action of the Joint German OSH Strategy can be updated to allow for the evaluation results.
The overall and programme evaluations are conducted separately but are harmonised in all major aspects regarding contents, form and timing.
2.4 Optimisation of the dual system
The implementation of the objectives of the Joint German OSH Strategy requires reorganisation as regards the joint and work-sharing procedure of government occupational safety and health authorities and accident insurance institutions.
The government occupational safety and health authorities and those responsible for statutory accident insurance agreed in early 2009 on a framework agreement on the co-operation of the government occupational safety and health authorities of the federal states and those bodies responsible for statutory accident insurance as part of the Joint German OSH Strategy. This meets important requirements for the improvement of the effectiveness and efficiency of occupational safety and health in the Federal Republic of Germany. With this framework agreement a core element of the Joint German OSH Strategy has taken shape. It puts into concrete terms the same mandates of the German Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Seventh Volume of the German Social Code on close co-operation between the government occupational safety and health authorities and the public accident insurance institutions in the consultancy and monitoring of the companies as well as on ensuring the exchange of experience.
The NOSHC has agreed to this framework agreement and so it has been signed during 2009 at federal state level.
Joint principles for the monitoring and consultancy activities of the supervisory services in the companies are also to be found in the "Guideline for Risk Assessment", which has already been in use since 2008.
Strategic and action-oriented co-ordination of the activities of the federal state authorities is needed to optimise the dual system in occupational safety and health. The Conference of Minister-Presidents has already established the quality assurance of administrative measures in all states as well as performance and quality comparisons as an important task of state co-ordination. The Committee of the Laender for Occupational Safety and Health has been entrusted with these tasks as the specialised body of the Conference of Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs.
The strategic and action-oriented co-ordination of the activities of the accident insurance institutions can also make a greater contribution towards optimising the dual system. The tools include in particular framework agreements and guidelines on the design of the consultancy and monitoring activities. The results of the research projects "Quality in Prevention" and "Product Formation and Description" will lead to other tools relating to all prevention tasks which will optimise the efficiency and effectiveness of the prevention action of the accident insurance institutions in the long term.
2.5 Reorganisation of the rules and regulations in occupational safety and health
Major elements of an occupational safety and health strategy are the existence and optimisation of occupational safety and health regulations. This approach is prescribed by European and international law. Statutory regulations form the basis for the initiation and evaluation of occupational safety and health measures. This creates a sound legal foundation for companies and workers. To this end, occupational safety and health regulations must describe clearly and comprehensibility what is demanded by their target groups.
The "Specialised Concept and Occupational Safety and Health Objectives 2008 - 2012" of the Joint German OSH Strategy contains, in the area of legislation, the mandate to the Joint German OSH Strategy bodies to update the "Guideline Paper on the Future Shape of the Rules and Regulations in Occupational Safety and Health" against the background of the provisions laid down in the German Occupational Safety and Health Act and to place it on an up-to-date basis.
For this purpose, the co-ordination group "Reorganisation of Occupational Safety and Health Law" was set up at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and it commenced its consultancy work in August 2008. The co-ordination group is to create a joint fundamental understanding of the structure, function and interaction of the various statutory and professional action levels of regulations, rules and information publications. The aim is to develop a comprehensible, practicable and consistent set of rules and regulations and to avoid the duplication of provisions in national and accident insurance law.
3. National Occupational Safety and Health Conference (NOSHC)
The "National Occupational Safety and Health Conference" (NOSHC) was established as a central decision-making body for the planning, co-ordination and evaluation of the measures provided for to implement the Joint German OSH Strategy by means of the German Accident Insurance Modernisation Act (UVMG), which entered into force on 5 November 2008. Its work is supported by an office, which is located at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
4. Occupational Safety and Health Forum
An Occupational Safety and Health Forum is held every year to ensure the exchange of experience with the groups and experts involved in safety and health protection as well as health promotion and research. The task of the Occupational Safety and Health Forum, which is organised as a specialised conference, is to advise the National Occupational Safety and Health Conference on the performance of its tasks. In this way, all relevant groups and players in occupational safety and health can introduce their ideas into the decision-making process of the NOSHC. Moreover, the Occupational Safety and Health Forum offers a platform for the regular exchange of information and experience between the groups of players in the occupational safety and health system. The social partners, other social insurance funds, research facilities and specialised associations belong to the Occupational Safety and Health Forum.
The National Occupational Safety and Health Conference invites people to the OSH Forum. The chairman of the OSH Forum is also the chairman of the NOSHC.
5. Co-operation partners
The programmes for safety and health at work are all the more effective the better they can be linked to other fields of action and the more settings can be reached. Co-operation with other partners has been established for the strategic further development of the Joint German OSH Strategy and its effective implementation in the fields of action.
Joint discussion rounds were commenced with the co-operation partners, which include social insurance funds, organisations and institutions as well as networks which deal with health and safety at work. This is also linked to the expectation of systematically integrating the experience, core competences and transfer structures of the co-operation partners into the Joint German OSH Strategy work programmes and projects.