Occupational safety for architecture firms
The duties are the same for every office and administrative business. What differs for architecture firms is where the risk assessment puts its focus.
- Architecture firms
What is different here
Part of the work happens on the building site. That takes the assessment out of the office: site supervision brings hazards that do not occur in office work at all, from fall edges through site traffic to personal protective equipment.
The four points that matter
- Site visits as an activity in their own right. Personal protective equipment, access rules and coordination with the site safety coordinator belong in the risk assessment as their own section, not as a footnote to screen work.
- Large formats in the office. Plotters, cutting equipment and model making with adhesives and scalpels. Add the storage of plan rolls and models, which frequently ends up above head height.
- CAD work on several monitors. Long, concentrated screen time at high visual detail. The focus is monitor arrangement, viewing distance, freedom from glare and the offered eyesight screening.
- Submission deadlines in competition phases. Competitions and submission dates create predictable peaks in workload. Predictable means manageable, so they belong in the assessment of mental stress under section 5 paragraph 3 ArbSchG.
What a walkthrough typically turns up
In the office itself the recurring findings are plan rolls stored above head height, overloaded power strips at plotters and large-format printers, and traffic routes blocked with models and material samples. What is regularly missing from the walkthrough is the building site: there is no record of who goes to which site how often, no arrangement for protective equipment, and no agreement on how a missing check-in during lone working would be noticed.
What that means for safety training
Safety training therefore needs two parts. The office part covers screen work, fire safety, first aid and operating the large-format equipment. The site part covers behaviour on someone else's building site: reporting to the site manager, wearing protective equipment, conduct near fall edges and in excavations, and the reporting route after an accident while out. Commuting accidents and accidents on site are reportable accidents at work like any other.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: the scope under section 6 ASiG, the three support models compared and how the number of hours is calculated.
- Regions: an occupational safety specialist on site in eight regions across Germany, with the responsible VBG district office for each.
- Occupational safety by sector: what sets law firms, IT, agencies, real estate, associations, financial services and other business types apart.
- Duties quick-check: which duties apply at your headcount, from the occupational safety committee through safety officers to the end of the Unternehmermodell.
- Support-hours calculator: your support hours under DGUV Regulation 2, including the split between specialist and physician. The cost logic is explained in What does a safety specialist cost?
- Risk assessment in the office and safety training in the office: the two duties that apply to every office business from the first employee.
- Services overview: the complete scope required by the ASiG and DGUV Regulation 2 in one contract, with every sector and location we cover.
Frequently asked questions
Do different rules apply to architecture firms?
Do we need a separate risk assessment per location?
From when do we need an occupational safety specialist?
What does support cost for a business our size?
Other business types
Worry-free occupational safety in 4 steps
A simple path from the first conversation to audit-proof documentation.
Free initial consultation
We set out what the law requires, what you don't need and what we deliver. Clarity from day one.
Contract signed
One contract, predictable annual costs, booked directly with us. First contact to signature: five working days at most.
Occupational safety specialist on site
Your specialist visits for the walkthrough, produces the risk assessment and checks: what is there, what is missing?
Audit-proof documentation in the portal
Every record sits in the client portal: digital, complete, current, easy to share.
Talk to us.
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