Occupational safety for law firms and lawyers
The duties are the same for every office and administrative business. What differs for law firms is where the risk assessment puts its focus.
- Law firms & lawyers
What is different here
Confidentiality during the walkthrough. The specialist passes rooms with client files and open screens. This has to be settled in advance, otherwise the visit is either cancelled or incomplete.
The four points that matter
- Files and archives. Shelf stability, the stability of mobile shelving and the lifting of files. Paper files have not disappeared with electronic case handling; they are simply stored more tightly.
- Deadlines and night work. Filing deadlines create peaks that run late into the evening. Anyone alone in the building then needs an arrangement for how an emergency would be noticed.
- Court appointments away from the office. Court hearings, prison visits and site meetings are field work. Commuting accidents on the way there are reportable accidents at work.
- Clients in the office. Outsiders in the building change the assessment: traffic routes have to be safe for people unfamiliar with them and escape routes signed accordingly. In contentious matters, handling tense conversations is added.
What a walkthrough typically turns up
The recurring findings are files above head height, mobile shelving with no documented stability check, and escape routes in the archive used as interim storage. On top of that comes the power strip under the desk carrying monitor, docking station, shredder and kettle at once. On paper, what is usually missing is an arrangement for lone working in the evening.
What that means for safety training
Three points are added to the office standard: lifting and setting down files, operating the mobile shelving including its brake, and the rules for lone working in the evening, meaning signing out and checking back in. Where clients come to the office, handling tense conversations belongs in it, including who calls for help and how.
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 law 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.
Book a slot directly, or write to us using the form.