Occupational safety for law firms and lawyers
A law firm is an office business with three particular features: client files in every room, deadlines that run into the evening, and visitors who arrive with tense matters. None of this changes the duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Occupational Safety Act and DGUV Regulation 2. It changes a great deal about where the risk assessment puts its focus.
- Law firms & lawyers
Confidentiality: how a walkthrough works in a law firm
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 occupational safety specialist does not need any files to do the job. What is assessed are the rooms, traffic and escape routes, storage, workstations and equipment. A slot outside meeting times works well, with files closed and screens locked. Meeting rooms are only entered when they are free.
A written confidentiality undertaking by the specialist is a sensible addition. It creates clarity before an outsider walks through the firm and belongs with the appointment records.
What applies to law firms: classification and thresholds
| Item | Law firm |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance institution | Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG) |
| Economic sector | WZ 69.1 legal activities |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | III, above 20 employees 0.5 hours of basic support per employee and year |
| From the first employee | Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of a specialist and an occupational physician |
| Up to 20 employees | Annex 1 with no fixed support hours |
| Above 20 employees | Occupational safety committee meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG) |
| Up to 50 employees | Unternehmermodell permitted as an alternative |
| From 50 employees | Safety officers (section 22 SGB VII) |
Everyone employed by the firm counts, including paralegals, employed lawyers and trainees. 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.
The four points in a law firm's risk assessment
- 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.
Deadline pressure belongs in the assessment explicitly as a psychological strain (section 5 (3) no. 6 ArbSchG). How to cover it without a large questionnaire is set out in Mental stress in the risk assessment.
What a walkthrough in a law firm 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.
Safety training in a law firm
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.
Trainees under 18 must be trained before they start and at least every six months afterwards (section 29 JArbSchG). What else applies to trainees is covered in Young workers, apprentices and interns in the office.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Scope of services, the three support models and how the hours are calculated.
- Occupational safety for notaries: The related business type, with a deeds archive and heavy visitor traffic.
- Occupational safety for tax and audit practices: Also a deadline business with peaks in workload.
- Testing electrical equipment in the office: The power strip under the desk and what else has to be tested.
- Escape and rescue plan: office duty?: When it is required and why the archive must not double as a storeroom.
- Duties quick-check: Which duties apply at your headcount.
Legal basis
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Social Code Book VII (SGB VII), statutory accident insurance
Frequently asked questions
Which employers' liability insurance association covers law firms?
The Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG). It is the accident insurance institution for law firms, patent attorney firms and notary offices. What counts for your business is the membership notice.
Does a small law firm with two employees need an occupational safety specialist?
Yes. The duty starts with the first employee. Up to 20 employees, Annex 1 of DGUV Regulation 2 applies with no fixed support hours; up to 50 employees the Unternehmermodell is permitted as an alternative, in which the partners undergo training themselves.
May the specialist see client files during the walkthrough?
There is no need. Rooms, routes, storage and workstations are enough for the walkthrough. Files stay closed, screens locked. A written confidentiality undertaking by the specialist adds clarity.
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, market-tested fixed price, booked directly with us. First contact to signature: five working days at most.
Start of on-site support
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.
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