Hazardous substances

Grundlage der Gefährdungsbeurteilung

The requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Act that a risk assessment be conducted is rooted for hazardous substances in the Hazardous Substances Ordinance. The procedure for determining the hazard and the resulting measures are laid out more concretely in the Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances (TRGS 400).

The risk assessment must be carried out by a skilled person. This person must have adequate knowledge of the dangerous properties of the hazardous substances used and must be familiar with the working sequences and the activities to be performed. He must know the regulations, be able to assess the working conditions and be able to evaluate the protective measures during an activity as laid down.

If the employer has to offer or arrange for precautionary examinations under the Ordinance on Occupational Health Care (sections 4 and 5 ArbMedVV), special occupational medical knowledge is required. The scope and depth of the necessary knowledge will depend on the activity to be assessed. Often the expertise of a number of persons is needed to conduct a risk assessment. In the company this normally means the expertise of the specialist for occupational safety and health together with the company doctor. The employer can, however, also engage an external, skilled advisory service.

Time of the implementation

The risk assessment is conducted prior to commencement of an activity. It must be updated if

• new hazardous substances are introduced,
• activities, working procedures or protective measures are changed,
• results of the effectiveness check call for further measures,
• the Hazardous Substances Ordinance or the technical regulations are changed,
• there is new knowledge on dangerous substances properties or
• knowledge is gained from occupational health care.

Sequence of the risk assessment

The following diagram gives an overview of the steps of the risk assessment.

Documentation

The following information must be given in the documentation of the risk assessment as a minimum:

• Who performed the risk assessment and when?
• Working areas and activities involving hazardous substances.
• What hazards can arise during the activity through inhalation, skin contact or the physico-chemical properties of the hazardous substance?
• How often and for how long is the activity carried out?
• Are there influencing factors which increase the body's take-up of hazardous substances?
• What technical, organisational and personal measures must be taken?
• The check of the effectiveness of the measures?
• The result of the check for substitution possibilities.

In addition it is recommended that the competent persons and the implementation and inspection intervals be recorded in the documentation.

The documentation of the risk assessment should be kept for an extended period, especially in the case of activities involving hazardous substances of categories 1and 2 which are carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic to reproduction.

Standardised working procedures

For many sectors, products and substances there are sector-specific and activity-specific aids. These are drawn up by expert committees and give concrete recommendations for protective measures geared to certain activities, procedures and hazardous substances. This includes, alongside the Technical Rules for Hazardous Substances, the Berufsgenossenschaft rules (BGR) and information from the accident insurance institutions (BGI) as well as the practical instructions governing good working practice (federal states, BAuA). The Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Statutory Accident Insurance (BGIA) makes available in the GESTIS substances database on the Internet an extensive collection of practical instructions of the accident insurance institutions.

In TRGS 400 these recommendations are described as standardised working procedures. If the recommendations can be transferred to the activity being assessed, the measures can be taken over.

Provided risk assessment

If the manufacturer or person placing a product on the market supplies a "provided risk assessment" according to section 7 subs. 7 of the Hazardous Substance Ordinance, this can be implemented as a standardised working procedure. There is also the prerequisite that the activity corresponds to the data given by the manufacturer or person placing the product on the market. With the check list in annex 2 of TRGS 400 you can check whether the provided risk assessment takes account of all points.

If not all hazards (inhalative, dermal, physico-chemical) are considered in a standardised working procedures, these hazards must be assessed in addition.

Further obligations

Application of a standardised working procedure does not release one from:

• the obligation to keep a list of hazardous substances and to document the risk assessment
• the obligation to provide instruction and occupational-medical/toxicological advice
• the obligation to take the necessary measures in the case of accidents, incidents and emergencies
• the obligation to provide occupational health care and to lay down and implement the effectiveness check.

Easy-to-use workplace control scheme

The following subjects described below

• lack of hygiene when handling hazardous substances,
• inhalation of hazardous substances and
• skin contact with hazardous substances

are oriented on the Easy-to-Use Workplace Control Scheme for Hazardous Substances (EMKG), a set of practical instructions for the risk assessment. One major advantage is that the EMKG makes possible a systematic initial approach to the risk assessment. Skilled personnel, such as safety specialists and company doctors, can apply the EMKG without any in-depth knowledge of hazardous substances law. For this purpose easily accessible information from safety data sheets and on-site workplace inspections is used.

Further information is only available in German.