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Occupational Health Care

As an employee of Freie Universität Berlin, you are likely to be exposed to health hazards and stresses to a greater or lesser extent as a result of your work. If these hazards cannot be eliminated by technical or organisational measures and are likely to have harmful effects on health, the legislator provides for preventive occupational health care. The requirement for preventive occupational health care is the result of the risk assessment that every department at Freie Universität Berlin must carry out for its workplaces.

Occupational health care is regulated by Verordnung zur arbeitsmedizinischen Vorsorge (ArbMedVV) and has the following main objectives:

Occupational health and safety

  • Assessment, evaluation and early detection of health hazards or personal impairments

  • Documenting evidence in the context of recognition of an occupational disease

  • Evaluation of the findings of occupational health precautions and proposal of supplementary occupational safety measures

The scope of preventive occupational health care is derived from the type and extent of a hazardous activity and must be agreed with the employees. The primary preventive approach is the guiding principle.

The employer is only informed that an occupational health screening has taken place, but no result or assessment linked to the person.
Feedback to the employer could be given collectively as an indication to improve occupational health and safety if, for example, illnesses occur more frequently in specific work areas.

The type of preventive healthcare that applies to you depends on the risk assessment. The ArbMedVV differentiates between mandatory, optional and recommended preventive care depending on the degree of risk posed by activities:

Mandatory preventive care

"The employer must (...) organise mandatory preventive care for the employee. Mandatory preventive care must be arranged before the employee starts work and at regular intervals thereafter. (...) The employer may only allow an activity to be carried out if the employee has participated in the mandatory preventive care." (from ArbMedVV

Opional preventive care

The employer must offer preventive care for certain hazardous activities (see ArbMedVV).

Recommended preventive care

"...the employer must provide employees with regular occupational medical check-ups at their request in accordance with Section 11 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act." Every employee has the right to request occupational health advice and examinations if they suspect that their work poses a health risk.

Overview of common occupational health screenings at Freie Universität Berlin

Example of mandatory preventive measures:

  • Travel in the tropics, subtropics and other foreign countries with special climatic conditions and risk of infection. Further information can be found here: Medical advice for travellers.

Examples of mandatory or optional preventive care depending on the risk assessment:

  • Risk of infection

  • certain hazardous substances

  • Noise pollution

  • Skin exposure (wet work 2-4h/d offer precaution, >4h/d mandatory precaution)

  • Respiratory protective devices

Examples of optional preventive care:

Examples of recommended preventive care

  • complaints in connection with work

  • pregnancy related issues

  • social and psychological issues

  • for working in shifts and/or night duty

Fittness tests

In addition to and separately from occupational health care, legal provisions and company agreements regulate fitness tests, e.g.

  • Hiring

  • X-ray regulations (RöV)

  • Radiation Protection Regulation (StrSchV)

Fitness tests are concluded with the medical result "no health concerns" or "health concerns", which must be communicated to the employer. They must therefore be clearly distinguished from occupational health screening.

Occupational health service of the FU Berlin

Occupational health services are located in House I: Betriebsärztlicher Dienst der FU Berlin Campus Benjamin Franklin, Hindenburgdamm 30, Haus I, 12200 Berlin. You can find more information here.