Occupational Safety and Protection Against Infection in Times of the Pandemic: Challenges for Human Factors and Regulation

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic had a tremendous impact on societies, economies and individuals. The increased spreading of the virus in the society led to new challenges for occupational safety and health, and, thus, for fast reactions. In Germany federal regulations and technical rules for health care and activities within the scope of the biological agents ordinance were in place already, but companies in other domains, e.g. production and services, implemented only own solutions to the best of their knowledge. This led to confusion and uncertainty. Soon it became clear that official standards and mandatory federal technical rules were required to identify suitable protective methods and means. Moreover, they were required for legal certainty. This led to the early publication of the German SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Safety Standard and the subsequent development of sectoral rules of the German Social Accident Insurance. Soon afterwards, the mandatory SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Safety Technical Rule provided further details about background of the pandemic, central aspects and definitions, protective technical means and methods, and preventive occupational healthcare. The development was coordinated by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) and elaborated by the Advisory Committees of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). The committees have a pluralistic composition, which ensure that the relevant groups in society have a good specialist representation. This has been very important for acceptance and compliance in the working environment.