Germany Overhauls Workplace Safety Rules: Higher Threshold, New Expert Roles, and Biotech Act Progress
17.06.2026 - 21:37:18 | boerse-global.de
Employers in Germany will face simplified occupational care requirements from January 1, 2026, when the threshold for basic safety support rises from 10 to the equivalent of 20 full-time employees. The change, embedded in a reform of DGUV Vorschrift 2, also applies to the so-called competence-centre model, giving small and medium-sized businesses more breathing room before they must provide structured occupational health services.
Fresh guidance on biological hazards
The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) has simultaneously updated a chapter of its risk-assessment handbook, this time focusing on work involving biological agents. The new text concretises obligations under the Biological Agents Ordinance (BioStoffV). It serves as a roadmap for employers to systematically identify and evaluate biological risks, with the technical rule TRBA 400 as a key reference. The classification of agents into risk groups 1 through 4 – reflecting infection severity – remains central.
Unlike chemical hazards, biological agents largely lack binding exposure limits, the BAuA notes. To enable objective assessment, the handbook lists methods such as determining colony-forming units, microscopic examination, and molecular biological techniques. A sample risk-assessment form compliant with § 4 BioStoffV is available from the accident insurer Unfallversicherung Bund und Bahn; it covers agent identity and pathogenicity, substitution possibilities, and technical, organisational, and personal protective measures.
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Expanded expertise and digital consultations
The DGUV Vorschrift 2 reform broadens the pool of professionals who can qualify as occupational safety specialists. Alongside engineering and safety-technical backgrounds, degrees in biology, chemistry, physics, human medicine, or work psychology are now accepted. The update also permits partial digitalisation: up to one-third of required service hours may be delivered via telephone or online consultation after an initial on-site tour. A new requirement for documented regular continuing education for both company doctors and safety specialists was written into the rules.
Parkinson recognised as occupational disease, rodenticide transition extended
National policy developments are reinforcing the trend. In late May 2026, the German cabinet approved recognising Parkinson's disease as an occupational illness when linked to professional pesticide exposure – mainly affecting agricultural, forestry, and pest-control workers. The Bundesrat followed on June 12 by extending the transition period for mandatory expertise in the use of certain rodenticides in agriculture until 2030.
EU Biotech Act advances
On June 16, European Union health ministers agreed on a joint position for the planned Biotech Act. The directive foresees sharply shorter approval timelines for clinical trials, introduces new categories for genetically modified microorganisms, and caps market-authorisation permits at ten years.
Closer ties between occupational medicine and safety
In Berlin on June 11, the Association for Safety and Health at Work (VDSI) together with several medical specialist societies signed a joint declaration aimed at integrating occupational medicine and safety more closely – a response to increasingly complex risk profiles in workplaces.
