Documents concerning occupational safety and health take numerous forms, with each form having its own particular degree of binding legal force. This article provides an overview of the basic laws, rules and agreements governing safety and health at work.
Documents setting out the essential provisions governing occupational safety and health exist at the international, European and national levels. A distinction is drawn between two areas of legislation: product safety legislation, and that governing the safety and health of workers at work.
On the international level: conventions concerning OSH; standards as a source of information
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN). Its functions include drawing up legally binding conventions for its members. The conventions set out basic principles and rights in the workplace, such as the elimination of forced labour and child labour and assurance of a safe and healthy working environment.
Specific organisations exist in some cases for occupations in which workers’ activity takes them across national borders. An example is the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which serves seafarers. Like the ILO, the IMO is a specialised agency of the UN. One IMO convention is SOLAS, which addresses the safety of human life at sea.
No requirement exists for international standards developed by ISO or IEC to be adopted at either European or national level. Their incorporation into the European or national bodies of standards is possible, however, and may include modifications to the text. The application of standards is voluntary, except where explicit reference is made to them in legislation.
European level: product safety and minimum requirements for the safety and health of workers at work
Regulations and directives of the European Union constitute binding legislation. Regulations apply directly in all Member States; directives must first be transposed into national law by each Member State.
EU directives and regulations fully harmonise the safety of products (e.g. machinery, PPE or medical devices) within the EU and are supported by harmonised European standards. Within this structure, the European legislation sets out general objectives of protection. These are translated in harmonised standards into requirements for individual products or product groups that are suitable for application in practice. The harmonised standards are drawn up in response to a European Commission mandate and listed in the Official Journal of the EU. They give rise to a presumption of conformity: where a product manufacturer has observed the harmonised standards, market surveillance authorities are obliged to assume that the requirements of the underlying European legislation are met. The burden of proof is thus reversed.
The EU sets out minimum requirements in directives for the safety and health of workers at work. Member States are required to transpose these directives into national law; in the process, they may also adopt more far-reaching provisions than those of the EU. As a result, European standards do not have the same status with respect to the safety and health of workers at work as they do with respect to the Single Market.
All members of the European standards organisations CEN and CENELEC must adopt European standards unchanged in their national bodies of standards and withdraw any national standards that conflict with the content of these standards.
National level (Germany): a dual system for the safety and health of workers at work
In Germany, the safety and health of workers at work is governed through a dual system involving interplay between the state and the German Social Accident Insurance Institutions. On the state side, the regulatory framework as a whole comprises laws and regulations, which are binding, and a subordinate body of technical rules, which give rise to a presumption of compliance. Technical rules are drawn up by government committees and support the requirements of the occupational safety and health regulations (ordinances). An example of these are the Technical Rules for Workplaces (ASRs), which support the requirements of the German Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV).
The German Social Accident Insurance issues legally binding DGUV Regulations (accident prevention regulations). The body of DGUV rules and regulations subordinate to these DGUV Regulations comprises DGUV Rules, DGUV Informative publications and DGUV Principles. These documents are available to employers and insured persons, and serve as guidance to them in fulfilling their obligations with respect to safety and health.
Purely national standards and technical specifications published by DIN are now few in number, existing only in areas for which European standards are not available.
Fast-track standardisation documents
To keep pace with technological developments or for the rapid standardisation of research findings, standards organisations publish special fast-track standardisation documents. At national level in Germany, these documents include DIN SPECs, VDE SPECs and VDE Application Rules; at European level, CEN/CENELEC Workshop Agreements (CWAs); and at international level, International Workshop Agreements (IWAs) and ISO Publicly Available Specifications (ISO/PASs). However, the essential principles of standardisation do not apply in full to these fast-track standardisation documents (for example, a public enquiry and the involvement of all stakeholders are not mandatory). KAN’s view is that wherever possible, only standards in the strict sense should be used to define requirements or recommendations relevant to occupational safety and health, and that fast-track standardisation documents are generally unsuitable for this purpose.1
Other standard-setting bodies
In addition to the institutions and standard-setting bodies mentioned above, a multitude of other organisations exist at both international and national level that develop rules for occupational safety and health. Some of these organisations cover a broad range of topics. Examples are the World Health Organisation (WHO guidelines), the Association of German Engineers (VDI guidelines) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Standards and Test Guidelines). Other organisations specialise in the setting of technical standards for specific sectors (such as the DVGW for gas and water technology in Germany).
Katharina Schulte
schulte@kan.de
Katharina von Rymon Lipinski
vonrymonlipinski@kan.de