Occupational safety specialist for offices in Hanover and Lower Saxony
Safety Club supports office and administrative businesses in Lower Saxony with an occupational safety specialist on site, in Hanover as well as in Braunschweig, Göttingen, Oldenburg and Osnabrück. State supervision lies with ten state trade supervisory offices, six of which cover the cities on this page. At the VBG, three district offices are responsible for these cities, none of them based in Lower Saxony.
Safety Club provides the external occupational safety specialist for office businesses in Hanover and Lower Saxony: one contract with predictable annual costs, a specialist from the network on site, physician, travel, risk assessment and safety briefings in the price, and audit-proof documentation on our platform, the client portal. See in a few clicks what you pay within this full package, in the quote calculator.
Hannover
Braunschweig
Oldenburg
Osnabrück
Wolfsburg
Göttingen
Salzgitter
Hildesheim
Delmenhorst
Wilhelmshaven
and more
Trade supervisory offices and VBG district offices in Lower Saxony
Each state trade supervisory office has a fixed supervisory area made up of rural districts and independent cities. The VBG, by contrast, assigns businesses by postcode. A single trade supervisory office can therefore cover cities that belong to different VBG district offices, as Oldenburg shows.
Trade supervisory office
Supervisory area
Cities and VBG district office
Hanover
State capital and Hanover Region, districts of Diepholz and Nienburg
Hanover: Bielefeld district office
Braunschweig
Cities of Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfsburg, districts of Gifhorn, Goslar, Helmstedt, Peine and Wolfenbüttel
Braunschweig, Wolfsburg, Salzgitter: Erfurt district office
Göttingen
Districts of Göttingen and Northeim
Göttingen: Erfurt district office
Hildesheim
Districts of Hildesheim, Hameln-Pyrmont, Holzminden and Schaumburg
Hildesheim: Bielefeld district office
Oldenburg
Cities of Oldenburg, Delmenhorst and Wilhelmshaven, districts of Ammerland, Cloppenburg, Friesland, Oldenburg, Vechta and Wesermarsch
Oldenburg, Wilhelmshaven: Bielefeld district office; Delmenhorst: Hamburg district office
Osnabrück
City and district of Osnabrück, Grafschaft Bentheim, former district of Lingen in Emsland
Osnabrück: Bielefeld district office
The other four offices, in Celle, Cuxhaven, Emden and Lüneburg, cover the remaining districts and the city of Emden, mostly in the north of the state. For a town not listed in the table, the postcode search on vbg.de shows the responsible VBG district office.
Fixed screen workstations at Hanover insurers and administrations
At insurers and in public administration, many employees sit at the same desk day after day and spend long hours at a screen. Small shortcomings add up over the years: a desk a hand's width too high, a monitor with the window behind it, a chair that cannot be adjusted to the person using it. The inspection should therefore look at as many workstations individually as possible rather than relying on spot checks.
If occupational health screening shows that special glasses are needed and ordinary glasses are not suitable for screen work, the employer provides them to the extent required. The conditions are set out in Screen work glasses: when the employer pays.
State authorities and municipalities in Lower Saxony: their own accident insurers
Hanover is the seat of the state government and of many state authorities. Administrations and operations of the state are insured with the Landesunfallkasse Niedersachsen. Municipal administrations belong, depending on the area, to the Gemeinde-Unfallversicherungsverband Hannover, the Braunschweigischer Gemeinde-Unfallversicherungsverband or the Gemeinde-Unfallversicherungsverband Oldenburg. If in doubt, the insurer itself will confirm which body is responsible in a given case.
The insurer makes little difference to the duty to provide support. The Occupational Safety Act requires administrations of the federal government, the states and the municipalities to ensure equivalent occupational health and safety support (section 16 ASiG). Accident prevention regulations and contacts then come from the relevant public-sector accident insurer.
Associations and research bodies in Lower Saxony with branch offices
Associations, chambers and research-related bodies often have a head office in Hanover and smaller offices in Braunschweig, Göttingen, Oldenburg or Osnabrück. Each branch needs its own risk assessment and a first-aid organisation that works on site. General safety training topics can be covered jointly for all sites, while escape routes and local contacts have to be covered site by site.
Does the Hanover trade supervisory office also cover Hildesheim?
No. Hildesheim has its own state trade supervisory office, which also covers the districts of Hameln-Pyrmont, Holzminden and Schaumburg. The Hanover office is responsible for the state capital, the rest of the Hanover Region and the districts of Diepholz and Nienburg.
Which VBG district office is responsible for an office in Braunschweig?
The Erfurt district office. The VBG assigns businesses by postcode, and like Wolfsburg, Salzgitter and Göttingen, Braunschweig belongs to Erfurt. The Bielefeld district office handles Hanover, Hildesheim, Oldenburg, Osnabrück and Wilhelmshaven, and the Hamburg district office handles Delmenhorst. The assignment does not change your duties.
Our branch in Göttingen has six employees. Do we need a first aider there?
Yes. First aid has to be in place at every site, and with 2 to 20 insured persons present at least one first aider is required. Training two people is sensible so that holidays or sickness do not leave a gap. The office also needs a first-aid kit and a notice showing the emergency number and names.
