Three groups of documents must be visible in a German office: first-aid information with emergency numbers, the escape and rescue plan where one is required, and the acts subject to display duties. For the acts, German law has for several years also allowed provision through the information and communication technology usual in the business.
A display duty is the employer's statutory obligation to keep a specific text or plan available in the business so that employees can access it without asking. The term is now imprecise: most of the relevant provisions expressly permit digital provision. The printed bundle of acts on the noticeboard is one possible route, no longer the only one.
| Document | Applies from | Legal basis | Digital provision allowed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working Hours Act, collective and works agreements | first employee | section 16 paragraph 1 ArbZG | yes |
| Maternity Protection Act | more than three women | section 26 paragraph 1 MuSchG | only via an electronic directory |
| Youth Employment Protection Act, address of the authority | one young person | section 47 JArbSchG | yes |
| Working time and breaks of young people | three young people | section 48 JArbSchG | yes |
| AGG, section 61b ArbGG and complaints body | first employee | section 12 paragraph 5 AGG | yes |
| First-aid information and emergency numbers | first employee | section 24 paragraph 5 DGUV Regulation 1 | no |
| Escape and rescue plan | where location and size require it | section 4 paragraph 4 ArbStättV | no |
| Accident prevention regulations | first employee | section 12 paragraph 1 DGUV Regulation 1 | yes |
Display vs. provision: the difference that matters
Display means that a text is physically visible at a suitable point in the business. Provision means that it is accessible at any time through the information and communication technology usual in the business, for example on the intranet or in a named folder on a drive. Four of the seven office duties allow both routes.
Section 16 paragraph 1 ArbZG obliges the employer to make a copy of the Working Hours Act and of the applicable ordinances, collective agreements and works agreements available through the usual information and communication technology, or to display it at a suitable point. The same double form appears in sections 47 and 48 JArbSchG and in section 12 paragraph 5 AGG.
The digital route owes two things that are often missing: the storage location must be known to all employees, and access must not depend on a single person. The remaining test for safety records is set out in 5 marks of audit-ready safety records.
Working Hours Act: the only display duty with its own fine
The Working Hours Act is the only provision named here that attaches an administrative fine to the missing display itself. Failing to provide the display required by section 16 paragraph 1 ArbZG is an administrative offence under section 22 paragraph 1 number 8 ArbZG. The fine amounts to up to 5,000 euros under section 22 paragraph 2 ArbZG.
The duty applies from the first employee and knows no headcount threshold. Section 16 paragraph 1 ArbZG names not only the statutory text but the applicable ordinances, collective agreements and works agreements on working time. In an office with a works council, the works agreement on flexitime belongs there too.
Under section 16 paragraph 2 ArbZG, working time beyond eight hours per working day must be recorded and kept for at least two years. That is not a display duty, but inspections ask about it in the same breath.
Maternity Protection Act: above three regularly employed women
The Maternity Protection Act is the only one of the four statutory duties that does not name the digital route as equivalent. In businesses and administrations that regularly employ more than three women, the employer must under section 26 paragraph 1 sentence 1 MuSchG lay out or display a copy of the act at a suitable point for inspection.
Sentence 2 contains the exception: the duty does not apply where the employer has made the act permanently accessible in an electronic directory. The difference from the Working Hours Act is small but real. What is required is permanent access, not the mere possibility of asking for the text.
The threshold counts people, not full-time equivalents: four part-time employees trigger the duty, three full-time employees do not. The risk assessment under section 10 MuSchG applies independently from the first woman employed, see Maternity protection in the office.
Youth Employment Protection Act: two duties with two thresholds
The Youth Employment Protection Act contains two separate duties with different thresholds. Employers who regularly employ at least one young person must under section 47 JArbSchG provide or display a copy of the act and the address of the competent supervisory authority. From three young people a second duty is added.
Under section 48 JArbSchG, employers who regularly employ at least three young people must additionally provide or display information on the start and end of the regular daily working time and breaks of those young people. A young person under section 2 paragraph 2 JArbSchG is someone aged 15 but not yet 18: in an office, typically first-year apprentices and school interns.
The address of the supervisory authority is missing most often. The competent body is not the employers' liability insurance association but the state occupational safety authority. The division of responsibilities is set out in What is the DGUV.
General Equal Treatment Act: act, time limit and complaints body
Under section 12 paragraph 5 AGG, the General Equal Treatment Act, section 61b of the Labour Court Act and information on the bodies competent for complaints under section 13 AGG must be made known in the business. Display, availability for inspection at a suitable point, or the use of the usual information and communication technology are all permitted.
The provision requires three things, not one. The statutory text alone is not enough: section 61b ArbGG with the time limit for a compensation claim belongs there, and the complaints body must be named. In a small office that is often the management itself, with name and contact route.
First aid, emergency calls and the escape plan: what must actually hang
Two notices cannot be replaced by a file on the intranet, because they have to be found without anyone starting a computer. Section 24 paragraph 5 DGUV Regulation 1 requires notices or written information on first aid and emergency call options and prescribes that the details be kept current.
The first-aid notice carries the emergency number 112, the names and availability of the first aiders, the location of the first-aid kit and the competent accident insurance consultant. A fillable template is produced by the first-aid notice generator, and the remaining equipment is covered in First aid in the office.
The escape and rescue plan must be drawn up under section 4 paragraph 4 sentence 3 ArbStättV where the location, size and type of use of the workplace require it. Sentence 4 then requires display at suitable points, sentence 5 practice at appropriate intervals. When that point is reached in an office is covered in Escape and rescue plan in the office.
What three offices actually have to display
The extent of the notices depends not on total headcount but on three questions: how many women are regularly employed, how many young people, and whether an escape and rescue plan is required.
| Document | 4 employees, 2 women, no young people | 25 employees, 12 women, 1 apprentice under 18 | 80 employees, 40 women, 4 apprentices under 18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working Hours Act | required | required | required |
| Maternity Protection Act | not required | required | required |
| Youth Employment Protection Act under section 47 | not required | required | required |
| Working time of young people under section 48 | not required | not required | required |
| AGG with section 61b ArbGG and complaints body | required | required | required |
| First-aid information with emergency call | required | required | required |
None of the thresholds follows total headcount: an office with 80 employees and three regularly employed women does not need the maternity protection notice, an office with five employees and four women does. Which further duties arrive with headcount is shown by the duty check.
Reviewing your own notices in six steps
The review takes about 45 minutes and needs only a walk through the premises and access to the staff list. Doing it once a year makes sense, because statutory versions, first-aider names and emergency numbers change.
- Establish your own thresholds. Determine how many women and how many young people are regularly employed, because the Maternity Protection Act and the Youth Employment Protection Act only apply above specific thresholds.
- Walk the noticeboard. Photograph every existing notice and record it with date and version in one list, including emergency numbers and the names of the first aiders.
- Check the statutory texts for currency. For each displayed or provided statutory text, compare the version against the current version on gesetze-im-internet.de.
- Decide and document the digital route. Decide which texts are provided through the usual information and communication technology, and tell all employees the storage location in writing.
- Add the physical notices. Put up the first-aid notice with emergency numbers and, where required, the escape and rescue plan at the intended locations.
- Set the next review date. Tie the review of the notices to an existing annual date, for example the annual safety instruction.
The most common finding during an inspection is not the missing notice but the outdated one: a statutory text from 2015, a first aider who left the business long ago. Which records are otherwise asked for during the visit is set out in Top 5 questions during an inspection.
Safety Club covers the statutory scope for office and administrative businesses in a single contract: an occupational safety specialist on site plus digital, audit-ready documentation. Which notices are missing or outdated in your business is something we go through in the initial consultation.
This article is general orientation and does not replace individual legal advice. What applies are the current versions of ArbZG, MuSchG, JArbSchG, AGG and ArbStättV and the interpretation of the supervisory authority and employers' liability insurance association responsible for your business.
