DGUV and Berufsgenossenschaft: who covers offices

The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) is the umbrella association of the statutory accident insurance and is not itself an insurance institution. A business is covered by one of the nine commercial Berufsgenossenschaften. For pure office and administrative businesses the Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG) is responsible as a rule. Allocation follows the nature and object of the business, not the activity at the individual workstation.

What the DGUV is and what it does

The German Social Accident Insurance is the umbrella association of the nine commercial Berufsgenossenschaften and the 24 public sector accident insurance institutions. The DGUV represents its members politically, coordinates prevention and research and publishes the shared body of rules. A business, however, does not become a member of the DGUV but of its Berufsgenossenschaft.

The 24 public sector institutions comprise 16 Unfallkassen, 3 municipal accident insurance associations, 4 fire service accident funds and the accident insurance for federal government and railways. They cover employees of municipalities and federal states as well as children in day care, pupils, students and volunteers.

The most useful thing the DGUV does for office businesses is the single body of rules. Since 2014 the accident prevention regulations have carried a common DGUV numbering, so that the same regulation has the same name at every institution. Familiar examples from office life are DGUV Vorschrift 1 (principles of prevention), DGUV Vorschrift 2 (occupational physicians and occupational safety specialists) and DGUV Vorschrift 3 (electrical installations and equipment).

The difference in binding force matters. A DGUV Vorschrift only becomes binding on a business once that business's own accident insurance institution has enacted it as autonomous law under section 15 SGB VII. DGUV Regeln, DGUV Informationen and DGUV Grundsätze, by contrast, are supporting documents that create no legal duty of their own, although inspectors do use them as a yardstick.

DGUV vs. Berufsgenossenschaft vs. Unfallkasse vs. trade supervisory authority

Four institutions are routinely confused in German occupational safety, and the confusion costs time when it matters: a letter reaches the wrong desk, or a deadline runs because nobody can place the sender. The DGUV is an association, a Berufsgenossenschaft is an insurance institution, the trade supervisory authority is a state body.

Two sentences carry the distinction in practice. The Berufsgenossenschaft supervises compliance with the accident prevention regulations and advises on them under sections 17 to 20 SGB VII, while the trade supervisory authority supervises statutory occupational safety law under section 21 ArbSchG. Both may enter the premises, both may issue orders, and both work in a division of labour. Anyone who receives a letter from either will find the response steps in A letter from the Berufsgenossenschaft.

Which Berufsgenossenschaft covers office businesses

For private sector office businesses the Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft is responsible in most cases. The VBG states that it covers more than 1.8 million businesses from over 100 sectors. These include administration, consulting, law firms, tax advisers, IT companies, agencies, banks, insurers, real estate, temporary agency work and sports clubs, as well as engineering and architecture practices.

The most common mistake sits in the word office. Under section 121 SGB VII responsibility follows the nature and object of the business, not the activity at the individual workstation. The administrative arm of a construction company belongs to BG BAU, even where all the work there happens at a screen.

The allocation is not a matter of self-assessment: the accident insurance institution establishes its responsibility by written notice under section 136 paragraph 1 SGB VII, and a business in that sense already begins with preparatory work, not with its first revenue.

Establishing your Berufsgenossenschaft in six steps

Anyone who cannot find the notice of responsibility can usually settle the question in a morning. The sequence is the same for a new company and for an established business tidying its records. Two documents decide it: the notice of responsibility and the classification notice stating the risk class.

1. Write down the nature and object of the business. Describe the actual object of the business in one sentence, because under section 121 SGB VII the nature of the business decides responsibility.
2. Find the notice of responsibility. The notice under section 136 paragraph 1 SGB VII is usually filed with the incorporation papers or in accounting; failing that, the last contribution notice helps.
3. Register within one week when founding. Under section 192 paragraph 1 SGB VII a business has to be registered within one week of starting; a timely trade notification satisfies the duty.
4. Check the classification notice. Compare the tariff position and risk class with the actual object of the business, because a wrong tariff position distorts the contribution for years.
5. Clarify subsidiary parts and sites. Parts of a business with their own commercial purpose are classified separately and may belong to a different Berufsgenossenschaft.
6. Report changes within four weeks. Changes to the nature and object of the business have to be reported within four weeks under section 192 paragraph 2 SGB VII.

Step 5 is the one most often missed. A consultancy that spins off its own training arm or an online shop receives a separate classification for that part, and depending on its object a different institution.

What membership costs an office business

The contribution to the statutory accident insurance is calculated under section 167 SGB VII: gross pay multiplied by the risk class gives the contribution units, and those multiplied by the contribution rate and divided by 1,000 give the contribution. Employees pay nothing; the contribution is borne by the employer alone.

The risk class comes from the risk tariff of the relevant Berufsgenossenschaft. In the VBG risk tariff valid from 1 January 2022 the office sectors sit at the low end: financial services and insurers at 0.47, information, communication and media at 0.52, consulting and information services including law firms and tax advisers at 0.63, engineering and architecture at 0.83, education providers at 1.12 and real estate at 1.42. The VBG contribution rate for the 2025 apportionment year is 4.40 euros.

The figures are worked examples assuming 55,000 euros of pay per employee and excluding the share of the burden equalisation under sections 176 ff. SGB VII. Where the calculation produces a very low amount, the minimum contribution under section 24 paragraph 7 of the VBG statutes applies. Only the contribution notice is binding.

The contribution is therefore not the large cost item in an office business's occupational safety. Far more weight sits with occupational safety and occupational health support, whose order of magnitude is set out in What does an occupational safety specialist cost?.

What the Berufsgenossenschaft expects from an office business

A Berufsgenossenschaft is insurer and inspectorate in one. Under sections 17 to 20 SGB VII it supervises compliance with the accident prevention regulations and advises businesses on them; its inspectors may enter and inspect premises and demand information, including without prior notice. What gets examined is the organisation, not good intentions.

For a pure office business four requirements form the core: the risk assessment under section 5 ArbSchG, documented safety training under section 12 ArbSchG and section 4 DGUV Regulation 1, the first-aid organisation under sections 24 to 27 DGUV Regulation 1, and support by an occupational physician and an occupational safety specialist under the ASiG and DGUV Regulation 2. The duties quick-check shows in minutes which of these applies at which headcount.

The support hours follow from DGUV Regulation 2. Office businesses fall into support group III there, with the lowest hourly rate for basic support; the support-hours calculator works out the actual figure. Whether the Unternehmermodell is an option is covered in The Unternehmermodell under DGUV Regulation 2, and whether external support is needed at all in Does an office need an occupational safety specialist?.

How well your own organisation would hold up in an inspection can be gauged with the BG risk check. Anyone who wants to close the gaps for good needs an occupational safety specialist on site plus digital, audit-proof documentation. Common questions are answered in the FAQ, and your specific case in an initial consultation.

This article is general guidance and does not replace legal advice on your individual case. What governs is the current version of the SGB VII and the statutes and risk tariff of your accident insurance institution, together with how the Berufsgenossenschaft that covers you interprets them. Only the notice of responsibility is binding for the allocation, and only the contribution notice is binding for the contribution.