The project (1/2005 - 12/2006) has analysed the work of police staffs, performing their duty on board of the boats of both the German Federal and State police, taking into account questions dealing with the protection of health and danger at work. As an empirical basis 5 case studies of different departments on various boats operating in varying areas were looked at.

The work on police boats, and that is what the summarizing assessment says, comprises a large risk potential as to safety and health of the police staff, especially if assigned to difficult operations and to the service in bad weather. However, safety at work is highly significant on board of the boats which were visited and investigated. In particular with regard to the idea of "individual protection" developed by the police several positive effects on the protection of health and safety at work could be traced.

Resulting from this project an evaluation of dangers and risks and two concepts dealing with prevention and training of safety have been developed. The investigation identified 18 areas posing threats to safety and health of the crews on board of police boats. They put a risk on for example,

• the typical work on board in general (i.e. tripping and falling risk or ship movements),
• particular duties of police on board (passing over from one boat to another for inspection purposes) and
• matters involving organisation of work and development of staff on board of police vessels (for instance working time and aging crews).

All endangerments identified have been documented in a standardized way covering different departments and boats. Therefore, a new standard was developed, that could be considered as an innovative contribution to be used in practice for the assessment of dangers and risks.

Please download the complete report "Health protection and safety at work for police boats on sea and on inland waterways" (in German only).