Workplaces

Employers are required to ensure that workplaces do not pose any risk to employed persons. BAuA's research makes an important contribution to determining these requirements and making them applicable at the practical level.

Meeting at a construction site
© Uwe Völkner, Fotoagentur FOX

Workplaces are workspaces or other indoor or outdoor locations that are situated on an organisation’s premises or a building site, are intended for work purposes, and to which employees have access in the course of their duties.

Various other areas also belong to workplaces that are not directly required for work. These include, for example, traffic routes, escape routes, emergency exits, storerooms, machine rooms, and ancillary rooms, as well as sanitary facilities, rest break and standby rooms, first aid rooms, canteens, and accommodation.

Regardless of the actual task or production process and the risks associated with it (e.g. from hazardous substances or the use of equipment), hazards to employees’ safety and health can arise in workplaces, such as stumbling and falls on traffic routes, in particular on stairways, incipient fires, falls from parapets or floor openings, and stress caused by factors in the working environment, such as inappropriate room temperatures, lighting, the amount of space available to move around in, noise. This list of examples illustrates the range of the different hazards encountered in workplaces.

Apart from protection against such hazards, the provision of toilets, washrooms, rooms or areas for rest breaks, first aid rooms, canteens, and other facilities is integral to the human-centred design of workplaces. To ensure workplaces are set up and operated safely and healthily, appropriate protective aims are formulated in the Workplaces Ordinance (Arbeitsstättenverordnung, ArbStättV) for the prevention and/or minimisation of hazards. The concrete ways in which these aims are to be achieved are set out in the Technical Rules for Workplaces (Technische Regeln für Arbeitsstätten, ASRs).

Further Information

Research Projects

Project numberF 2542 StatusOngoing Project Occupational health and safety knowledge for workplace design - Safe and healthy workplaces through innovative planning tools supporting an occupational health and safety-compliant design in the planning and design phase of workplaces through object-oriented and machine-executable transformation of workplace requirements

To the Project

Research ongoing

Project numberF 2527 StatusCompleted Project Indoor air flow, aerosol spread and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 for selected ventilation concepts

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2475 StatusCompleted Project Interactions of indoor climate, noise and lighting in workplaces

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2471 StatusCompleted Project Feasibility study of BIM for workplaces
Development of the planning method of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for safety and health in the value chain of construction

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2302 StatusCompleted Project Lighting of workplaces: impact of AmI-based lighting systems

To the Project

Research completed

Project numberF 2159 StatusCompleted Project Need-related design and equipment of sanitation facilities at workplaces

To the Project

Research completed

Publications

Search results

Light and blue-light exposures of day workers in summer and winter

Essay 2019

Incandescent and halogen light bulbs for general lighting do not meet new energy efficiency requirements and are gradually being …

To the Publication

Photobiological safety of common office light sources

Essay 2019

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are increasingly being used for general lighting in offices and play an important role in a growing …

To the Publication

Circadian light exposures of shift working nurses

Essay 2019

Certain shift schedules result in light exposure profiles that may cause circadian disruption. Previous studies estimated …

To the Publication

Linking the non-visual effects of light exposure with occupational health

Essay 2019

In May 2018, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA, Germany) hosted "Light and Health at Work", a …

To the Publication

Regulations and Measures for Labor Protection of Workers in High Indoors Temperature Environments

Essay 2019

The complete article "Regulations and Measures for Labor Protection of Workers in High Indoors Temperature Environments" can be …

To the Publication