Risk Assessment

Risk assessment is the key element in workplace occupational safety and health (OSH) provision. It forms the basis for successful, systematic safety and health management.

A woman and a man with a laptop carry out a risk assessment in a warehouse
© iStock | AnnaStills

Since 1996 the German Occupational Safety and Health Act (Arbeitsschutzgesetz, ArbSchG) has placed a duty on all employers to conduct assessments of working conditions and the risks associated with them in order to identify the measures necessary for the protection of their employees.

These pages supply information about the factors that have to be taken into consideration in risk assessments, as well as offering practical guidance.

BAuA makes the online version of its Handbook on Risk Assessment (Handbuch Gefährdungsbeurteilung) available free of charge. A Key Indicator Method developed at BAuA can also be used for the risk assessment of physical workload.

Research Projects

Project numberF 2498 StatusOngoing Project Consideration of psychosocial risks in Occupational Safety and Health. Fundamental revision of the BAuA specialist book

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Research ongoing

Project numberF 2483 StatusCompleted Project Simplified risk assessment of incoherent high-power spotlights

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Research completed

Project numberF 2399 StatusOngoing Project Project cluster: Physical inactivity in the workplace - etiology, risk assessment & prevention, Project 1a Scoping review; Project 1b Systematic review

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Research ongoing

Project numberF 2391 StatusCompleted Project Interactive guidance for the measurement of physical agents within the scope of risk assessment

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Research completed

Project numberF 2358 StatusCompleted Project Psychosocial risk management in company practice

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Research completed

Project numberF 2339 StatusCompleted Project Psychosocial risk management in the EU: Context, strategies and implementation at establishment level - a comparative European study

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Research completed

Publications

Search results

Information overload at the workplace - Health complaints in a longitudinal analysis of the BAuA working time survey

Essay 2022

Background: Mental stress is of great importance in our working world as it can have an impact on strain and thus also on …

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Risk communication for protection against hazardous substances in the workplace

Essay 2022

Hazardous substances are ubiquitous in the world of work. Employees from all sectors are exposed to different risks when working …

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Psychosocial Safety Climate - Psychosocial Safety Climate: Validating the German Questionnaire

Essay 2022

To date, there is no German translation of an instrument to assess psychosocial safety climate (PSC) - a specific component of …

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Implementation of 2013/35/EU in Germany - Risk Assessment based on Exposure Limit Values

Essay 2021

The complete article "Implementation of 2013/35/EU in Germany - Risk Assessment based on Exposure Limit Values" can be …

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A risk estimate of a SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection among grocery and drugstore retail employees

baua: Focus 2021

Approximately 780,000 employees work in grocery and drugstore retail in Germany. Due to its systemic relevance, this sector was …

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EMKG-Wheel Set

Wheel 2021

The “EMKG - Workplace & Chemicals” provides the know-how to assess the risks for activities with hazardous substances and to …

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Occupational exposure to hazardous substances & risk management measures - information obligations under REACH: An assessment of data availability & supply chain communication in chemical safety reports and safety data sheets

Essay 2020

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Adequate data in REACH exposure scenarios for successful workplace risk assessment

Essay 2020

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Psychosocial risk management in company practice

baua: Report brief 2020

The German Occupational Health and Safety Act obliges employers to design work in a way that risks to physical and mental health …

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Interventions as the centrepiece of psychosocial risk assessment - why so difficult?

Essay 2020

Purpose: Due to the "European Union Framework Directive on Safety and Health at work" (Directive 89/391/EEC, 1989), every …

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