Work-related musculoskeletal, metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases affect a large share of the working-age population, yet the potential to prevent these conditions is considerable. Against the backdrop of demographic ageing and growing labor shortages, supporting workers in maintaining their health and employability has never been more important. These conditions and their prevention are therefore a central focus of the research agenda at the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA).

Musculoskeletal, metabolic, and cardiovascular diseases rarely have a single cause. They typically emerge from the interplay of occupational and non-occupational factors, and understanding this multifactorial origin is essential for developing effective workplace prevention strategies. Occupational health practice plays a key role here: it enables health risks to be identified and addressed at an early stage, before they affect workability or employability.

Unit 3.1 systematically investigates these complex interactions and translates findings into sustainable, evidence-based prevention strategies - both workplace- and policy-oriented. Our work is inherently multidisciplinary. To ensure that research findings reach and shape real-world workplace practice, we collaborate closely with federal and state authorities, scientific institutions, and field partners. 

Currently, our work focuses on the following areas:

Research and Development

• Developing and evaluating guidelines and intervention strategies for evidence-based prevention, with a focus on cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
• Advancing methods for assessing physical work demands, particularly the key indicator methods, drawing on occupational physiology laboratory research and workplace data, and supporting their transfer into practice
• Conducting studies on occupational health practices across various settings to strengthen evidence-based occupational health care
• Investigating the cognitive and physical effects of movement breaks during sedentary work, using objective psychophysiological measures such as electroencephalography (EEG) and cognitive performance testing
• Examining how working conditions - including remote work, psychosocial factors, and precarious employment - affect cardiometabolic health, drawing on data from the 15-year follow-up of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS)
• Building scientific partnerships in key areas of epidemiological research
• Providing scientific advisory support for the funding program "Promoting research and education on health in the world of work" ("Förderung der Forschung und Lehre zur Gesundheit in der Arbeitswelt", FoGA)

Scientific Policy Advisement

• Developing concepts and providing expert advice on:
  • Risk assessment for physical work demands
  • Digital applications in occupational medicine and other aspects of preventative occupational health care