Company doctor requirement: who needs it, when and to what extent

The obligation to appoint a company doctor results from Section 2 Paragraph 1 of the Act on Company Doctors, Safety Engineers and Other Occupational Safety Specialists (ASiG) of December 12, 1973. Employers must appoint company doctors in writing and assign them the tasks specified in Section 3 ASiG. The obligation applies to every employer in Germany, regardless of the industry and usually from the first employee. The obligation is made more concrete by DGUV regulation 2, which specifies deployment times and care models, as well as the Ordinance on Occupational Health Care (ArbMedVV).

This article explains the obligations along the legal basis, the calculation of deployment times, mandatory and offered care, the consequences of a missing or insufficient appointment and the practice of appointing via an external company doctor. The focus is on the evidence that must be reliable in the audit, supervisory review or in the event of an accident at work.

The ASiG requires in § 2 the written appointment of a company doctor. Section 3 ASiG names the tasks: advising the employer and other people responsible for occupational safety and accident prevention, monitoring the implementation of occupational safety, examining employees, occupational medical assessment of the working relationships and participation in measures to ensure humane work design. The tasks cannot be delegated; their performance is the duty of the appointed company doctor.

DGUV regulation 2 specifies the operating times. It differentiates between standard care and alternative needs-based care for small businesses with up to 50 employees. The ArbMedVV supplements the obligation with specific precautionary reasons: compulsory precautionary measures for particularly hazardous activities (Appendix Part 1), offered precautionary measures for hazardous activities (Appendix Part 2), desired precautionary measures according to § 5a ArbMedVV. The receipts are in the preventive care file in accordance with Section 3 Paragraph 4 ArbMedVV, which must be kept at least for the duration of the activity.

DGUV regulation 2 divides operating times into basic care and company-specific care. The basic care depends on the industry according to the WZ code and ranges from 0.2 hours per employee per year in low-risk office jobs to 2.5 hours per employee per year in particularly high-risk industries. It is divided between the company doctor and the occupational safety specialist; A common distribution ratio is 20 to 80, but the distribution must be specifically justified and documented.

The company-specific support is added and is based on the actual burdens, reasons and risks. Triggers include, among other things, new work procedures, an increase in work accidents, maternity leave, psychological stress or special substances. Both parts together form the operational plan, which must be reviewed annually and approved by management. The occupational safety specialist and the company doctor manage the deployment plan together. Audit-proof, documented, ASiG-proof.

The ArbMedVV differentiates between three occasions. Compulsory precautions according to Section 4 ArbMedVV are a prerequisite for starting work in particularly hazardous activities, such as when handling carcinogenic hazardous substances or when carrying out activities with noise above the upper trigger levels. Precautionary measures in accordance with Section 5 ArbMedVV must be offered to the employee, for example when working on screen devices in certain constellations or when dealing with certain hazardous substances. Desired preventive care according to § 5a ArbMedVV must be made possible at the request of the employee if a connection with the activity cannot be ruled out.

The obligation to provide preventive care cannot be delegated; It is carried out by the company doctor. The evidence consists of the employee's health insurance certificate and the employer's health care record, which only contains the fact and date of the care, not the medical results. During the audit, the supervisory authority checks the existence of the file and the deadlines. The auditor calls, the evidence is ready.

The order must be placed in writing in accordance with Section 2 ASiG. A reliable appointment certificate contains the name of the company doctor, professional qualification (specialist in occupational medicine or additional title of occupational medicine), start and duration of the appointment, scope (locations, subsidiaries), tasks with reference to Section 3 ASiG, guaranteed working time, reporting line to management, freedom from instructions in the exercise of the task, obligation of confidentiality and data protection in accordance with Section 8 ASiG.

The reporting line should not be underestimated. According to Section 8 ASiG, the company doctor reports directly to the head of the company and is exempt from instructions in the application of his occupational health expertise. An order in which another area is placed upstream, such as personnel or factory management, does not correspond to the norm. The appointment certificate, signed, filed, verifiable. CIVAC maintains the appointment certificate in the workspace together with the operational plan and the reporting line as a file of the company doctor.

Several constellations require special attention. When it comes to maternity protection under the Maternity Protection Act (MuSchG), the individual risk assessment is one of the tasks that the company doctor supports. In the case of night and shift work in accordance with Section 6 of the Working Hours Act, the employer must offer employees an occupational medical examination. For young employees, the obligations under Section 32 of the Youth Work Protection Act apply with mandatory examinations.

In the case of psychological stress, a risk assessment must be carried out in accordance with Section 5 Paragraph 3 No. 6 ArbSchG, the company doctor is involved and introduces an event-related precaution. In the event of work-related accidents that require hospitalization, a report must be made to the accident insurance provider in accordance with Section 193 SGB VII. In the case of occupational diseases, the employer is obliged to report them in accordance with Section 202 SGB VII as soon as there are justified indications.

A missing order is an administrative offense according to Section 20 ASiG and can be punished with a fine. The liability of the management bodies is more serious. According to Section 130 OWiG, the management of a company is liable for breaches of supervisory duties if, with proper supervision, violations of company-related duties would not have occurred. In the event of damage, such as an accident at work, the public prosecutor's office examines violations of the ArbSchG and the StGB, including negligence according to §§ 222, 229 StGB.

In addition, there are civil law claims and recourse from the accident insurance provider if obligations have been grossly violated. The insurance coverage of D&O policies is often limited in these cases. A complete order is therefore not a bureaucratic issue, but rather part of the supervisory obligation and the personal risk situation of the management. Deadline expires as soon as we become aware of it.

The company doctor works in conjunction with other roles. The occupational safety specialist shares the working hours of DGUV regulation 2 and provides safety-related support. The fire protection officer is responsible for the fire protection organisation. The hazardous substances officer maintains the list of hazardous substances in accordance with Section 6 Paragraph 12 GefStoffV and relies on the occupational medical assessment. The hygiene officer plays a central role in hospitals and care facilities and works closely with the company doctor.

The interfaces are not informal. An occupational safety committee in accordance with Section 11 ASiG must be formed in companies with more than 20 employees and meets at least once a quarter. He formally manages the interfaces and documents the consultation results. CIVAC bundles the roles in the workspace so that occupational health and safety committee protocols, precautionary files, risk assessments and appointment certificates are in one file.

The order can be placed in three ways. Firstly, as an internal appointment of an employed company doctor, which makes sense in larger industrial companies with a high need for preventative care. Secondly, through a company medical service, such as an industry-related provider or an accident insurance provider. Thirdly, as an external appointment of a specialist in occupational medicine in the officer-as-a-service model. The choice depends on size, industry and location distribution.

For many medium-sized companies, external appointment is the only practical option because there are no suitable specialists available on the labour market. CIVAC works as a compliance platform and officer-as-a-service. Licence the workspace for your internal representatives, or have our representatives order it. The appointment certificate, the deployment plan, the precautionary index and the reporting line are maintained in the workspace, the service level is two working days, the workspace runs under EU data residency.

The obligation to have a company doctor is a basic obligation of every employer and is tested in supervisory examinations with standardised documents. Appointment certificate, working time calculation according to DGUV regulation 2, precautionary file according to ArbMedVV, occupational health and safety committee minutes and reports to the management are the five central pieces of evidence. Anyone who does not keep these five pieces of evidence in a coherent manner risks findings, fines and, in the event of damage, personal liability on the part of the management bodies.

CIVAC keeps these pieces of evidence in the workspace. The 25 representative roles have been set up, 490 audit templates are available, the ISO/IEC 27001:2022 structures secure the technical and organisational measures, and EU data residency is in place. Licence the workspace for your internal representatives, or have our representatives order it. Turn reading into an assignment. Write to info@civac.de or use the contact form on civac.de.