Occupational safety and health

What duties does your council have in occupational safety and health? Who needs to be involved, and how can your council influence prevention in practice? Our courses combine legal foundations with practical tools for organising your council’s OSH work.

Our open programme offers two courses: OSH I, covering rights, duties and OSH organisation, and OSH II, which builds on these foundations and focuses on risk assessment.

OSH I – Occupational safety and health: rights, duties and organisation

This course introduces the statutory OSH framework, the employer’s preventive duties and your council’s monitoring, participation and co-determination rights. We examine how laws, ordinances and accident prevention regulations interact and what they mean for your council’s everyday work.

Your council learns how OSH is organised and how the employer, occupational safety specialists, occupational physicians and employee representatives work together. A particular focus is the Occupational Safety and Health Committee (ASA): its composition, tasks and working methods, and your council’s role within it.

Through practical examples, we explore how your council can obtain information, monitor compliance, negotiate works agreements and use its enforcement options.

OSH II – Risk assessment: the central instrument of preventive OSH

Building on OSH I, this course focuses on your council’s role in shaping and monitoring risk assessment. We work through the process from identifying hazards and assessing risks to selecting protective measures, reviewing their effectiveness, documenting results and updating the assessment.

We examine physical and technical hazards, including mechanical risks, noise, lighting, workplace ergonomics and hazardous substances. Your council learns about relevant assessment methods and the principles for selecting technical, organisational and personal protective measures.

Psychosocial factors are another central focus: workload, time pressure, autonomy, leadership, social relationships and constant availability. We discuss suitable assessment methods, their requirements and common pitfalls, and explore how findings can be translated into effective preventive measures.

Using co-determination and securing effective measures

Your council learns how to initiate and shape risk assessment, develop proposals for works agreements and monitor the implementation of protective measures. We also examine what your council can do when the employer fails to act, including the roles of the conciliation committee, labour courts, supervisory authorities and statutory accident insurance institutions.

Case studies and exercises help your council develop its own positions, prepare negotiations and consider how employees can be involved throughout the process.

In-house training tailored to your council

Your council can also book in-house training, with content and depth adapted to its existing knowledge, questions and workplace situation. The focus can be on OSH organisation, participation rights or risk assessment, with practical examples and exercises linked to your council’s priorities.