By the term “work safety”, the work safety law implies the “safety and the health protection of the employees at work”, which is to be safeguarded and improved through measures of work safety.
In Germany, the work safety is classified in a dual system. Along with regulatory work safety guidelines, such as the work safety law, the occupational safety act, the construction site ordinance, the ordinance on industrial safety and health or the ordinance on hazardous substances, the law of the professional associations is also there in the form of sector-related accident prevention regulations.
Demolition work belongs to dangerous activities in the construction sector e.g. owing to risk of crash, confinement in space, necessity of improvisation as consequence of unexpected structural conditions or mutual threat caused by different demolition work carried out at the same time.
A careful preparation of work under consideration of aspects work and health safety, which especially also include a hazard assessment, ensures an accident-free, economic and safe execution of the demolition work.
It is the duty and responsibility of all persons involved – the demolition company, the builder-owner, his architects and engineering office, the expert for work safety, the safety and occupational health coordinator (SiGeKo) to all individuals involved – to identify and minimise the work-related risks and hence provide for safety at the construction site.
Regarding the topic of work safety, the German Demolition Association works towards making available to its members high-quality information material and corresponding training programmes in the form of an attention-getting prevention campaign. Through an employer mandate in the general body meeting of the BG BAU, the DA also exerts influence there for its members.
More information about the topic of work safety is given in our member area.