Occupational Medicine

Occupational Medicine

People face significant demands in their professional lives.

They are exposed to physical, psychological, chemical, biological, and many other stressors. Heat, cold, dust, and noise affect them, and harmful substances also have their effects.

To ensure that managers in companies and authorities receive legally compliant and competent advice, both Occupational Safety Specialists and Occupational Physicians must be appointed.

We provide the legally required "Occupational Physicians" through external support relationships in all regions of Germany.

  • Assessment of Working Conditions: In cooperation with the Occupational Safety Specialist (hazard analyses)
  • Consultation on Workplace Design: Advising on workplace layout, work environment, and workflows
  • Development of Preventive Measures: Creating preventive measures for occupational health hazards
  • Advice on Procurement: Advising on the procurement of work equipment, machinery, and personal protective equipment, including their inspection and selection/testing
  • Training and Instruction: Conducting training and instruction for your employees on all health protection matters
  • Emergency Organization and First Aid Measures: Providing advice on emergency organization and first aid measures
  • Medical Examinations: Conducting occupational medical examinations and providing advisory services for employees and employers
  • Determining Employee Suitability: Assessing the suitability of employees for specific tasks
  • Regular Inspections: Conducting regular inspections to improve health protection
  • Corporate Health Promotion: Advising on reintegration measures
  • Providing addiction counseling

The occupational physician is not allowed to:

  • Check private, illness-related absences of employees
  • Dispense or provide prescription medications
  • Disclose findings from confidential employee discussions, pre-employment, and follow-up examinations to supervisors or employers
  • Issue medical certificates of incapacity for work
  • Give instructions when applying their expertise

The risk posed not only to employees but also to those responsible within a company by neglecting health protection measures is often underestimated. Responsibility always lies with the entrepreneur and often with employees in leadership positions.

For instance, fines of up to €25,000 can be imposed if you intentionally or negligently fail to meet the requirements of §§2 and 12 of the Occupational Safety Act.

If adverse working conditions arise from such "omissions" that lead to health damages for employees, claims for damages can be made against managing directors and executives by affected employees and trade associations.

This means that liability limitations arising from the company’s legal form can be circumvented (piercing the corporate veil)!

Operating without occupational health protection experts is, aside from being a legal obligation, highly risky and ultimately saves in the wrong areas.

What are the advantages of optimal organization in the areas of occupational health and safety:

  • Improved, hazard-free, and ergonomically optimized workplaces lead to higher efficiency and quality.
  • The personal well-being of employees is one of the most important foundations for increasing motivation, creativity, productivity, and quality.
  • Fewer work-related illnesses contribute to economic success.

Company Image:

  • Reliability in meeting deadlines and quality assurance through improved personnel planning with
  • fewer illness-related absences.

§ 2 Appointment of Occupational Physicians

(1) The employer must appoint occupational physicians in writing and assign them the tasks specified in § 3, as far as necessary with regard to:

  1. the type of operation and the associated accident and health hazards for employees,
  2. the number of employees and the composition of the workforce, and
  3. the organization of the operation, especially regarding the number and type of persons responsible for occupational safety and accident prevention.

(2) The employer must ensure that the appointed occupational physicians fulfill their tasks. The employer must support them in fulfilling their tasks; in particular, they are obliged to provide them with auxiliary staff, rooms, facilities, equipment, and resources as necessary for the fulfillment of their tasks. The employer must inform them about the deployment of persons employed under a fixed-term employment contract or temporarily assigned to the employer for work.

(3) The employer must enable the occupational physicians to receive the necessary training to fulfill their tasks, taking into account the operational requirements. If the occupational physician is employed as an employee, they must be released from work for the duration of the training while continuing to receive their salary. The employer bears the costs of the training. If the occupational physician is not employed as an employee, they must be released from their assigned tasks for the duration of the training.