Occupational safety specialist

It is the central task of the occupational safety speciallist (FASi) to advise and support the entrepreneur or employer in the field of occupational safety - more precisely: "occupational safety and health protection and humane work design".

In Germany, the EC Framework Directive is implemented primarily by the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG), the Occupational Safety Act (ASiG) and the Seventh Book of the Social Code (SGB VII). The implementation of safety-related supervision is regulated by the Occupational Safety Act (ASiG) and specified in DGUV Regulation 2 and VSG 1.2.

The FASi should not be confused with the safety officer or with the "safety manager" (transfer of company duties; authority to issue directives, a central component of "responsibility" is generally not present in the FASi).

Position in the company

The occupational safety specialist (FASi) must be appointed in writing by the employer in accordance with §5 of the Occupational Safety Act (ASiG) with the co-determination of the works council or staff council. The FASi reports directly to the head of the company.
In the organizational chart, the FASi thus assumes a staff function of the management and reports directly to it. The FASi has no authority to issue directives. It has a purely advisory and support function.
The FASi is not subject to instructions, which means that no person in the company may give it instructions on how to carry out its activities. Conversely, the FASi is responsible for providing correct professional advice and must organize the performance of her tasks independently.

Tasks

The task of occupational safety specialists is to support the employer in occupational safety, health protection, accident prevention and in all matters relating to the humane design of work.
In particular, they have to

• advise the employer and other persons responsible for occupational health and safety and accident prevention, in particular with regard to
  • the selection and testing of body protection equipment (personal protective equipment),
  • the procurement of technical work equipment and the introduction of work procedures and working materials,
• to carry out safety inspections of operating facilities and technical work equipment, in particular prior to commissioning, and of working procedures, in particular prior to their introduction,
  • the assessment of working conditions,
• to observe the implementation of occupational safety and accident prevention and, in connection with this
  • to inspect the workplaces at regular intervals and to notify the employer or the person otherwise responsible for occupational safety and accident prevention of any deficiencies found, to propose measures to eliminate these deficiencies and to work towards their implementation,
  • to pay attention to the use of the body protection equipment,
  • the design of workplaces, work processes, the working environment and in other matters of ergonomics,
  • the planning, execution and maintenance of operating facilities and of social and sanitary facilities,
  • to investigate the causes of occupational accidents, to record and evaluate the results of investigations and to propose measures to the employer for the prevention of such occupational accidents,
  • to work towards ensuring that all employees in the company behave in accordance with the requirements of occupational safety and accident prevention, in particular to instruct them about the accident and health hazards to which they are exposed at work, as well as about the facilities and measures for averting these hazards, and to assist in the training of safety officers.

Special features

Since the last amendment of the Employer's Liability Insurance Association regulations, companies have been given more scope for decision-making. The entrepreneurs are obliged to make their decisions comprehensible on the basis of a risk assessment and to document them. As a rule, it is only after a negative event (accident) that the employers' liability insurance association (or the public prosecutor's office) checks whether the measures taken are sufficient.
As is already clear from the tasks and the position, it has no line responsibility and no authority to issue instructions to other employees of the company. This results in liability limited to the correctness of the advice. The responsibility for the implementation of occupational health and safety itself remains with the entrepreneur, who in turn may delegate it (transfer of entrepreneurial duties).

The occupational safety speciallist of the Faculty of Technology is Kay Rath , Tel. 0431 880-6052.

Further information:

Staff Office Safety Engineers

Further safety officers

Emergency brochure in german and in english.