Below you will find brief descriptions of important topics related to occupational health and safety. The full range of these and other topics can be found in the “Occupational, Health and Environmental Protection Management System” ("Arbeits-, Gesundheits- und Umweltschutzmanagementsystem", AGUM), which is the university management's central information system for all occupational health and safety issues.
Workplaces and Risk Assessment
At first glance, many workplaces appear not to be quite so dangerous. At other workplaces, the hazards are obvious. In principle, it can be assumed that health hazards can be present at any workplace, regardless of whether it is an office workplace or, for example, a workplace with biological agents or hazardous substances.
Hazards result, among other things, from the workplace and the work processes and procedures used there. Mental stress at the workplace, which is often the result of increasing work intensification and a lack of work organization, is also becoming increasingly important.
The aim of the risk assessment is to systematically identify and evaluate all existing hazards in order to derive suitable protective measures. Risk assessments must be carried out for all workplaces without exception.
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Appointed Persons
A number of individually appointed persons are involved in the implementation of occupational health and safety measures. The official appointment of these persons is carried out centrally at TUM by Hochschulreferat 6.
Ensuring a functioning first aid system is mandatory for every organization. In addition to the provision of first aid equipment (e.g. first aid kits) tailored to the operational hazards, this also means that 10% of employees must be trained as first aiders (ArbSchG § 10, DGUV Rule 100-001 4.8). This training must be carried out by a course provider authorized by the accident insurance institution to train first aiders. Hochschulreferat 6 organizes the necessary courses, appoints the trained persons as company first aiders and helps you to keep track of the mandatory follow-up training.
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Depending on the specific conditions of the working environment, safety officers must be appointed by the respective manager. As a minimum regulation, a safety officer is required in areas with more than 20 employees on a regular basis. The safety officers support the managers in the implementation of occupational health and safety measures. They have no authority to supervise or issue instructions and may not be discriminated against for performing the tasks assigned to them (SGB VII § 22, DGUV Rule 100-001 4.2). Safety officers are appointed by the Hochschulreferat 6 with the involvement of the staff representatives. We also organize a regular exchange of experience between safety officers and advise you on the training courses offered by the Unfallkasse for safety officers.
The university, as the “party involved” in the transportation of dangerous goods, must appoint at least one dangerous goods officer to advise those responsible on the safe transportation of dangerous goods. This dangerous goods officer is appointed externally at TUM and organizationally assigned to Hochschulreferat 6.
The appointed company organizes annual training courses for persons involved in the transport of hazardous materials. These can be found in the course offerings under the keyword “Gefahrgutschulung”.
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The operation of Class 3R, 3B and 4 laser equipment requires the written appointment of a laser safety officer (before the equipment is put into operation). The laser safety officers support the managers in the implementation of laser safety measures - in particular in the preparation of risk assessments, the definition of protective measures, the selection of personal protective equipment and the organization of safe operation of the equipment (compliance with protective measures, organization of maintenance or inspections, etc.). They have the authority to supervise and issue instructions if these have been transferred (in writing) as part of the appointment. The appointment of the laser safety officer is made by the Hochschulreferat 6.
Health protection and occupational health care
Occupational physicians (Betriebsärzte) are primarily active in prevention. They help to prevent accidents and work-related illnesses by offering various services and examinations.
Legislation distinguishes between mandatory, optional and desired occupational prevention measures (Pflicht-, Angebots- and Wunschvorsorge). Mandatory prevention measures are arranged by the manager before starting work and then at regular intervals during work. Occasions for mandatory occupational health care may arise from activities involving hazardous substances, biological agents or activities in noisy areas. TUM also offers optional and voluntary preventive measures. Employees can take advantage of these on a voluntary basis.
All occupational health precautions must be explicitly commissioned by the manager on the basis of the risk assessment. The implementation of preventive care is one of the tasks of the occupational health physicians. (ArbSchG § 11, ASiG § 3, ArbMedVV §§ 2, 4, 5, GUV-I 504).
Office Ergonomics
Office work notoriously involves the risk of a prolonged static posture. Painful consequences such as neck pain but also tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome or other complaints can occur when working at a computer.
The right choice of work equipment and office chairs and their optimum adjustment to the individual needs of their users is therefore an important aspect of occupational health and safety. However, as people become accustomed to unfavorable postures (possibly over many years), correcting ergonomic deficiencies can initially be irritating and means changing “old” habits. This is where our offer to test ergonomic work equipment before purchasing it comes in, in order to avoid expensive bad purchases.
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