Newsrooms, press offices and news agencies work to the news cycle. Someone covering a trial in the morning may be standing at the edge of a demonstration by evening, while the late shift keeps editing until the last page is signed off. A good share of the hazards therefore arises outside the newsroom, and this is the share that risk assessments often leave out.
Journalism & press
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Where and when journalists work
In a newsroom, events decide when and where people work. Research and reporting often happen at short notice and alone, in places and at hours that a normal office set-up is not designed for.
For the risk assessment it pays to organise by activity rather than by room. A court reporter who spends her days in other people's buildings and a colleague on the news desk who sifts through footage from disaster zones may share the same open-plan floor. Their hazards have little in common. A separate section for each role is clearer than one long list for the whole newsroom, and easier to update when someone moves to another section.
Which accident insurance institution is responsible for a press company depends on the type of operation. The VBG's statutes name press and news agencies and journalists explicitly, and its hazard tariff also lists editorial offices. A newspaper's newsroom, by contrast, usually belongs to the publishing house and is insured with the publisher's institution: mostly the Berufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik (BGHW) for publishers without their own printing plant, the BG ETEM for those with one. What counts is the membership notice.
Newsrooms and press offices: classification and thresholds
Item
Newsroom or press office
Accident insurance institution
Press and news agencies, editorial offices, freelance journalists: VBG. Newsroom of a newspaper publisher: the publisher's institution (BGHW or BG ETEM). What counts is the membership notice.
Economic sector
WZ 58.13 publishing of newspapers, WZ 63.9 other information services (including news agencies), WZ 90.03 for self-employed journalists
Support group under DGUV Regulation 2
III for all three sectors; above 20 employees 0.5 hours of basic support per employee and year, shared between the specialist and the occupational physician, at least 20 per cent each
Sunday and public holiday shifts
Permitted for the daily and sports press, news agencies and day-to-day news work on other publications (section 10 (1) no. 8 ArbZG)
From the first employee
Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician
Above 20 employees
Occupational safety committee meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG)
Up to 50 employees
Unternehmermodell permitted as an alternative. More than 50: standard support.
From 50 employees in an office
Safety officers (section 22 SGB VII, since 29 May 2026)
Employed editors and trainee journalists are included in the headcount. Part-time staff count proportionally towards the threshold of 20: up to 20 hours a week as 0.5, up to 30 hours as 0.75. Freelancers are left out as long as they work on their own account. Whether they do depends on how far they are integrated into the newsroom in practice, for instance through fixed shifts on the rota, and not on the label in the contract alone.
What a newsroom's risk assessment has to cover
External assignments and lone working. Research on location, evening and weekend appointments, often unaccompanied. An arrangement is needed for who knows where someone is, and at what point a missing check-in is noticed.
Hostility and threats. Attacks and threats against media workers are a real hazard and belong explicitly in the assessment of mental stress, together with reporting and aftercare routes.
Distressing content. Working with violence, disaster and suffering is a mental stress within the meaning of section 5 paragraph 3 ArbSchG, even when it happens at a desk.
Shift patterns and availability. Early, late and weekend shifts as well as on-call duty affect rest periods and have to be taken into account in the assessment.
For early and late shifts, the general rule is a rest period of eleven hours (section 5 ArbZG): if the late shift ends at 11 pm, the next shift can start at 10 am at the earliest. Mental stress in the risk assessment explains how threats and distressing content can be covered in the assessment.
Typical findings when a newsroom is inspected
In the newsroom itself the findings are open-plan acoustics, blocked traffic routes and equipment in tight spaces. The decisive part usually is not on paper at all: for external assignments there is often no assessment, no arrangement for lone working, and no documented route for reporting and following up a threat. That is exactly what gets asked about after an incident.
Safety training for the newsroom and reporters in the field
Two blocks are added to the usual office training. First, external assignments: signing out and checking back in, conduct in unclear situations, criteria for calling it off. Second, dealing with hostility: who to talk to, how an incident is reported, what aftercare exists. Both belong in the record, because after an incident the question is whether the business was prepared.
If someone is threatened or attacked on assignment, the incident should be recorded and reported to the accident insurance institution, even without physical injury and even if only psychological symptoms need treatment. How the accident report works and which deadlines apply is covered in Accidents at work in the office: reporting and deadlines.
Which employers' liability insurance association covers a newsroom?
That depends on the business the newsroom belongs to. Press and news agencies, editorial offices and journalists belong to the VBG. A newspaper publisher's newsroom is insured with the publisher's institution: usually the BGHW if the publisher has no printing plant of its own, the BG ETEM if it does. What counts is the membership notice.
Is an assault on a reporter at a demonstration an accident at work?
It can be, if it happens in the course of her work. The accident insurance institution decides whether it is recognised. Report the incident even if there is no physical injury and only psychological effects need treatment. If the reporter is unfit for work for more than three days, an accident report is mandatory.
Can editors work on Sundays?
Yes. For the daily and sports press, news agencies and day-to-day news work on other publications, section 10 ArbZG permits work on Sundays and public holidays. As a rule, however, at least 15 Sundays a year must stay free, and every Sunday shift requires a substitute rest day within two weeks (section 11 ArbZG).
