Occupational safety and health protection: The GDA Hazardous Substance Check

Healthy employees are the most valuable asset an organization has. As a result, the German Occupational Health and Safety Act (“Arbeitsschutzgesetz”, the German equivalent to OSHA) obligates companies to assess risks to employees in the workplace. It’s important to note that documentation of the hazard and risk assessment is required for validity purposes. Depending on the field of activity, the employer must identify any work-related hazards and risks present or likely to be present and take protective measures. The hazard and risk assessment creates the foundation of systematic and effective occupational health and safety in the workplace.

The first step in the hazard and risk assessment is to identify the potential hazards prior to the actual use of any hazardous substances. This includes the substitute substance assessment (substitution of hazardous material), technical safety measures, organizational and personal protective measures.

In the first step, companies conduct the substances substitution assessment (“Ersatzstoffprüfung”) to look for ways to eliminate or replace hazardous substances with less hazardous or non-hazardous substances. For example, solvent-based paints can be replaced with water-based paints, or solvent-based cleaning agents can be substituted with water-based products.

Technical safety measures (“technische Schutzmaßnahmen”) are put into place if a hazardous substance substitution is not an option. This includes the extraction of vapor, or ventilation systems in the workplace. If the hazards cannot be eliminated completely by these options, additional organizational protective measures are applied: operation instructions, threshold quantities and work restrictions for at-risk persons are potential measures.

If there is a remaining residual risk, the last step is to implement personal protective measures (“personenbezogene Schutzmaßnahmen”): Personal protective equipment (PPE) such as respirators, protective clothing and safety gloves offer reliable protection against the health effects of exposure to hazardous substances. This results in a ranking of the protective measures when managing hazardous substances (= the STOP principle): substitution of the hazardous substance (S), technical safety measures (T), organizational protective measures (O) and personal protective measures (P).

The required workplace health and safety protection measures have been identified once a hazard and risk assessment has been completed according to the STOP principle. However, this is ultimately a tool of prevention, making it important to conduct regular and incident-related inspections and reviews of the existing protective measures. It’s important to note that workplace changes, legal amendments or new advances in occupational health and medicine must not be ignored in this setting.

The primary purpose of the hazard and risk assessment is to protect the health of employees. Occupational cancers represent one of the central challenges in this setting as the majority of deaths from occupational cancers occur due to exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace. A large percentage of cancer cases in Germany can be traced back to asbestos exposure, often dating back decades. This is where the fundamental idea that prompted the creation of the GDA Hazardous Substance Check comes into play: to sustainably protect employees from carcinogens and hazardous substances in the workplace.

Developed as a tool for small and medium-sized companies, the GDA Hazardous Substance Check offers help in hazard and risk assessment. The GDA Hazardous Substance Check was developed by German Social Accident Insurance Institutions as part of a work program of the Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy (Gemeinsame Deutsche Arbeitsschutzstrategie, GDA). The primary objective of the GDA Hazardous Substance Check is to assist companies in the foresighted anticipation of hazards to employees presented by carcinogens and in the taking of effective protection measures. The GDA Hazardous Substances Check provides nine components that enable companies to self-assess and define the areas in which there is a need for action. The hazards of activities associated with carcinogenic substances are communicated in an easily understandable and compact format. The GDA Hazardous Substance Check also provides detailed information on special responsibilities and measures and delivers industry-specific practical guides that derive from the companies’ descriptions.

In summary, the GDA Hazardous Substance Check is designed to send a strong signal in the fight against occupational cancer. Conducting the GDA Hazardous Substance Check ahead of time is an advantage, especially as it pertains to the inspection process by compliance safety and health officers from the German federal and regional authorities or the German Social Accident Insurance Institutions. The inspections are part of the “Safe Handling of Carcinogenic Substances” work program and are carried out regularly. They are designed to ensure occupational health and safety in companies and monitor the measures that protect employees from illnesses caused by carcinogenic substances.

If a company conducts the GDA Hazardous Substance Check internally in advance, it makes it easier to answer the questions on the technical questionnaire that is being used during the facility visits. This means, the GDA Hazardous Substance Check is not just a useful internal resource for a risk assessment and the implementation of appropriate safety measures, but it also helps facilitiate a faster and more effective process with external parties.