Section 6 Para. 12 Sentence 3 GefStoffV: when an office or a fulfilment warehouse needs no hazardous substances register, and why that answer has to come from the risk assessment

The question for companies without production

Most texts on the hazardous substances register assume it has to be kept and describe its contents. For a software company, a payment service provider or an agency, a different question comes first: whether descaler, glass cleaner and toner trigger a register at all. The ordinance answers that question not with a list of products and not with a headcount, but with an assessment.

What Sentence 3 says, and what the word “only” means

Section 6 Para. 12 Sentence 3 GefStoffV looks at activities, not substances. The exemption applies where „nur Tätigkeiten mit geringer Gefährdung“, only low-hazard activities, are carried out. A single activity on the premises that crosses that threshold is enough, on the wording, for Sentence 3 to no longer hold and the duty under Sentence 1 to apply again.

Section 2 Para. 5 Sentence 1 GefStoffV defines activity broadly: „Eine Tätigkeit ist jede Arbeit mit Stoffen, Gemischen oder Erzeugnissen, einschließlich Herstellung, Mischung, Ge- und Verbrauch, Lagerung, Aufbewahrung, Be- und Verarbeitung, Ab- und Umfüllung, Entfernung, Entsorgung und Vernichtung.“ An activity is any work with substances, mixtures or articles, including manufacture, mixing, use and consumption, storage, keeping, processing, filling and decanting, removal, disposal and destruction. The word storage is decisive for online retail. A warehouse that holds labelled hazardous substances in retail packaging carries out an activity within the meaning of the ordinance, even if no bottle is ever opened. Whether that activity is low-hazard is again a question for the assessment.

The four criteria of Paragraph 13

Section 6 Para. 13 GefStoffV reads: „Ergibt sich aus der Gefährdungsbeurteilung für bestimmte Tätigkeiten auf Grund 1. der gefährlichen Eigenschaften des Gefahrstoffs, 2. einer geringen verwendeten Stoffmenge, 3. einer nach Höhe und Dauer niedrigen Exposition und 4. der Arbeitsbedingungen insgesamt eine nur geringe Gefährdung der Beschäftigten und reichen die nach § 8 zu ergreifenden Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Beschäftigten aus, so müssen keine weiteren Maßnahmen des Abschnitts 4 ergriffen werden.“ In substance: where the risk assessment shows for certain activities, on account of the hazardous properties of the substance, a small quantity used, an exposure low in level and duration, and the working conditions, overall only a low hazard to employees, and the measures to be taken under Section 8 suffice to protect them, no further measures under Part 4 need to be taken.

• “Overall” (insgesamt): the four aspects are weighed together. A small quantity on its own does not turn an activity with a highly hazardous substance into a low-hazard one.
• “The risk assessment shows” (ergibt sich aus der Gefährdungsbeurteilung): the low hazard is a result, not an assumption. Without an assessment there is no result on which Sentence 3 could rest.
• “The measures under Section 8 suffice”: the general protective measures of Section 8 remain mandatory even at low hazard. Only the further measures of Part 4 can lapse.

The assessment remains even when the register lapses

Section 6 Para. 8 Sentence 1 GefStoffV reads: „Der Arbeitgeber hat die Gefährdungsbeurteilung unabhängig von der Zahl der Beschäftigten erstmals vor Aufnahme der Tätigkeit zu dokumentieren.“ The employer must document the risk assessment, regardless of the number of employees, before the activity first starts. For low-hazard activities Section 6 Para. 10 Sentence 1 GefStoffV eases only the scope: „Bei Tätigkeiten mit geringer Gefährdung nach Absatz 13 kann auf eine detaillierte Dokumentation verzichtet werden.“ Detailed documentation may be dispensed with. Brief documentation remains; it is the only evidence that Sentence 3 applies.

Section 6 Para. 11 GefStoffV governs who may carry out the assessment: only competent persons, and an employer who lacks the knowledge must obtain competent advice. Sentence 3 names the occupational safety specialist and the company physician as examples.

Three typical businesses compared

Where Sentence 3 does not apply, Section 6 Para. 12 Sentence 2 sets the minimum content of the register, and Sentence 4 governs access: „Die Angaben nach Satz 2 Nummer 1, 2, 4 und 5 müssen allen betroffenen Beschäftigten und ihrer Vertretung zugänglich sein.“ The information under Sentence 2 Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 5 must be accessible to all affected employees and their representatives. Sentence 4 does not name the quantity ranges under No. 3.

Where CIVAC helps

Whether Sentence 3 holds is a question for the risk assessment and so for the competent person under Section 6 Para. 11. For this CIVAC provides the hazardous substances officer role on the platform: the assessment, the reasoning for or against the exemption and, where needed, the register are kept there with a date and a named owner, at 49 euros per officer role per month.