Occupational Physician
Preventive checkups, workplace health assessments, return-to-work coordination, vaccination programmes. Appointed per § 3 ASiG, hours scaled to DGUV V2 headcount rules.
§ 3 ASiG · DGUV V2
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What does an occupational physician do?
The German occupational physician, called Betriebsarzt, is the licensed medical specialist appointed in writing under § 2 Abs. 1 Arbeitssicherheitsgesetz (ASiG) to support the employer on occupational safety, accident prevention and all questions of health protection. Whether an appointment is required, and how large it has to be, turns on the type of operation and its hazards, on the number and composition of the workforce, and on how the business is organised. DGUV Vorschrift 2 then sets the actual level of care. Under § 8 Abs. 1 ASiG the physician is free of instructions when applying medical expertise, answerable only to medical conscience and bound by medical confidentiality; under § 8 Abs. 2 ASiG the physician reports directly to the head of the business.
The duties are listed in § 3 Abs. 1 ASiG: advising on the planning, operation and maintenance of plant, on procurement and work processes, on ergonomics and on the assessment of working conditions; examining and medically assessing employees; walking the workplaces at regular intervals and reporting defects; investigating the causes of work-related illness; briefing employees and contributing to the deployment planning and training of first aiders. The Vorsorgekartei, by contrast, is kept by the employer under § 3 Abs. 4 ArbMedVV. It records only that, when and on what grounds medical surveillance took place. Findings do not belong in it.
Three types of surveillance are distinguished: mandatory surveillance under § 4 ArbMedVV for the triggers listed in the Anhang, for example noise at or above the upper action value of 85 dB(A) under Anhang Teil 3; offer-based surveillance under § 5 ArbMedVV, for example screen work under Anhang Teil 4 Abs. 2 Nr. 1; and request-based surveillance under § 5a ArbMedVV. Fitness-for-work examinations are separate and are not governed by the ArbMedVV. § 3 Abs. 3 Satz 3 ArbMedVV says they should not be combined with surveillance, and where operational reasons make that unavoidable the physician must disclose the two different purposes.
For management the organisational side is usually the harder part. The written appointment transfers the § 3 ASiG duties. § 3 Abs. 2 ArbMedVV entitles the physician to all necessary information about the workplace and to a site walk. A trade supervisory or Berufsgenossenschaft audit returns to the same evidence: appointment, qualification record under § 4 ASiG, the Vorsorgekartei, inspection logs and the minutes of the joint committee under § 11 ASiG.
Duties of the occupational physician
- Advise management on workplace design, equipment, substances and ergonomics under § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 ASiG.
- Contribute to the workplace risk assessment under § 5 ArbSchG, especially for biological agents (BioStoffV), hazardous substances (GefStoffV) and ergonomic load.
- Run mandatory, offer-based and request-based surveillance under §§ 4, 5 and 5a ArbMedVV and issue the surveillance certificate required by § 6 Abs. 3 Nr. 3 ArbMedVV.
- Feed the Vorsorgekartei, which the employer keeps under § 3 Abs. 4 ArbMedVV and which holds only the grounds and the date of surveillance, never the findings.
- Carry out fitness-for-work examinations on a private-law or licensing basis, for example DGUV Grundsatz G 25 or G 41, kept separate from surveillance as § 3 Abs. 3 Satz 3 ArbMedVV requires.
- Report a reasoned suspicion of an occupational disease without delay under § 202 SGB VII, and investigate the causes of work-related illness under § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 Buchstabe c ASiG.
- Walk the workplaces at regular intervals under § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 3 Buchstabe a ASiG together with the safety specialist, reporting defects to the employer.
- Take part in the joint health and safety committee under § 11 ASiG, which businesses above 20 employees must form and which meets at least quarterly.
- Contribute to the deployment planning and training of first aiders under § 3 Abs. 1 Nr. 4 ASiG; the training itself is delivered by a body authorised by the accident insurer under § 26 Abs. 2 DGUV Vorschrift 1.
- Contribute to workplace integration management under § 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX, to which the works or company physician is brought in so far as necessary.
When must an occupational physician be appointed?
The duty to appoint follows from § 2 Abs. 1 ASiG: the employer must appoint occupational physicians in writing and transfer the § 3 ASiG duties to them, so far as this is necessary in view of the type of operation and its accident and health hazards, the number and composition of the workforce, and the organisation of the business. How much care that amounts to is set by DGUV Vorschrift 2, an accident prevention regulation. § 2 Abs. 2 DGUV Vorschrift 2 refers businesses with up to 10 employees to Anlage 1, § 2 Abs. 3 refers businesses above 10 employees to Anlage 2. Under § 2 Abs. 4 an owner who is actively involved in day-to-day operations may instead choose an alternative model: Anlage 4 up to 10 employees, Anlage 3 up to 50.
The contact hours for the Grundbetreuung sit in Anlage 2 Abschnitt 2 and are a combined figure for the physician and the safety specialist together: 2.5 hours in care group I, 1.5 hours in group II and 0.5 hours in group III, per employee per year. When those hours are split, each provider must receive at least 20 percent, and never less than 0.2 hours. The operation-specific part of the care comes on top, and medical surveillance is not counted against the Grundbetreuung hours.
Qualification follows § 4 ASiG: a licence to practise medicine plus the occupational medicine expertise needed for the tasks, in practice specialist recognition in Arbeitsmedizin or the supplementary qualification Betriebsmedizin. Care may be provided in house or through an inter-company service under § 19 ASiG. Note what is actually fineable: under § 20 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 ASiG the offence is disobeying an enforceable authority order issued under § 12 Abs. 1 ASiG, and § 20 Abs. 2 ASiG sets the ceiling at 25,000 EUR. Breaching DGUV Vorschrift 2 as an accident prevention regulation is an offence under § 209 Abs. 1 Nr. 1 SGB VII, punishable up to 10,000 EUR under § 209 Abs. 3 SGB VII.
- Appointment duty under § 2 Abs. 1 ASiG once the type of operation, its hazards, headcount and organisation make it necessary; scope and model follow DGUV Vorschrift 2.
- Mandatory surveillance under the ArbMedVV Anhang: hazardous substances (Teil 1), targeted work with risk group 4 agents or the pathogens named in Teil 2, noise at or above 85 dB(A) and vibration (Teil 3), respiratory protection groups 2 and 3 (Teil 4).
- Pregnant and breastfeeding employees: the maternity assessment of working conditions under § 10 MuSchG, on which the physician advises.
- Overseas assignments with unusual climatic load and infection hazard: mandatory surveillance under Anhang Teil 4 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 ArbMedVV (G 35).
- Workplace integration management under § 167 Abs. 2 SGB IX after more than six weeks of incapacity within a year, to which the physician is brought in so far as necessary.
- Changes in the risk assessment introducing new surveillance triggers under § 3 Abs. 1 ArbMedVV (new substance, new task, new PPE).
Sectors with the highest workload
- Healthcare, nursing and emergency services (BioStoffV, BGW G42, needlestick injuries)
- Construction, civil engineering and scaffolding (noise, vibration, UV, G41 for fall hazards)
- Chemicals, pharma and electroplating (ArbMedVV Annex Part 1, carcinogens)
- Metalworking and welding (welding fumes, noise, G39)
- Logistics, warehousing and forklift operations (G25 driving and supervisory tasks)
- Food production and hospitality (§ 43 IfSG hygiene briefing, cold workplaces)
- Cleaning and facility services (skin load, G24, shift work)
- Office and IT operations above 50 employees (screen work Annex Part 4 Para. 2, psychosocial load)
- Tropical, offshore and overseas assignments (G35, G42)
- Shift operations in production and transport (night work exam under § 6 Para. 3 ArbZG)
How CIVAC delivers the occupational physician role
CIVAC combines the external Betriebsarzt appointment with a workspace that enforces ArbMedVV documentation. The medical surveillance record under § 3 Para. 4 ArbMedVV stores reason and date without leaking individual findings; the split between confidential medical file (physician-side) and employer-visible surveillance proof is enforced technically.
The workspace covers all three surveillance types (mandatory, offer-based, request-based under §§ 4, 5, 5a ArbMedVV) plus fitness exams (G25, G26, G41, G42). Contact hours under DGUV V2 Annex 2 are auto-calculated per industry code, the quarterly ASA cadence is scheduled (§ 11 ASiG), BEM cases under § 167 Para. 2 SGB IX are tracked and maternity protection notices under § 27 MuSchG flagged on time. The audit trail satisfies the trade supervisory authority, the Berufsgenossenschaft and the medical chamber.
Frequently asked questions about the occupational physician
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