Occupational safety for kindergartens and childcare
In a nursery, adults work in rooms built for children, and the children bring infections with them from home and from the group. The provider may be a municipality, a welfare organisation, a parish or a parents' association, and that determines whether an employers' liability insurance association or an Unfallkasse is responsible. Whoever the provider is, the duties under DGUV Regulation 2 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act apply from the first member of staff.
- Kindergartens & childcare
Important: A nursery is not an office business, even though DGUV Regulation 2 places it in support group III (WZ 85.1). Lifting, noise and infection risks in the groups belong to business-specific support. The responsible institution is usually not the VBG but the BGW or a municipal accident insurance institution. What counts is your membership notice.
Nurseries: child-height furniture, work close to the floor
Nursery furniture is child-height. Sitting at a low table, playing on the floor with the children, changing nappies or picking a child up all involve postures that never arise at a desk. The risk assessment therefore starts in the group room.
Occupational physicians have more to do in a nursery than in an office. For work involving regular direct contact with children, the Ordinance on Occupational Health Care requires mandatory health checks relating to whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (ArbMedVV, Annex Part 2). Under section 4 ArbMedVV, the employer may only let someone do this work once the check has taken place, and it is repeated at regular intervals.
Measles protection under the Infection Protection Act is a separate matter. Anyone born after 1970 who is to work in a nursery has to show the management proof of vaccination or immunity before starting (section 20 (8) and (9) IfSG). Both duties concern the same people, but they rest on different laws and are handled by different bodies.
Nursery providers and settings: who is responsible and what applies
| Topic | Nursery |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance for staff | Independent and church providers: usually the Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege (BGW). Municipal nurseries: the municipal accident insurance institution, depending on the state an Unfallkasse or a municipal accident insurance association. What counts is the membership notice. |
| Accident insurance for the children | Nurseries of independent youth welfare providers and non-profit nurseries: the state Unfallkasse (section 128 (1) no. 2 SGB VII). Municipal nurseries: the municipal accident insurance institution |
| Economic sector | WZ 85.1 (nurseries and pre-schools) |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | III under Annex 2 in the BGW's version (WZ 85.1). The hazards in the groups are covered by the establishment-specific support, whose scope depends on the individual nursery |
| From the first employee | Risk assessment, safety training, first-aid organisation, appointment of an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician |
| Up to 20 employees | Annex 1 of DGUV Regulation 2 with no fixed support hours |
| Above 20 employees | Occupational safety committee, meeting once per calendar quarter (section 11 ASiG) |
| First aiders | At least one trained person per group of children (section 26 DGUV Regulation 1) |
| Occupational health care | Mandatory health checks for regular direct contact with children (ArbMedVV, Annex Part 2) |
Everyone employed counts: qualified and assistant educators, kitchen and cleaning staff, trainees on work-integrated training and the administration where it belongs to the same establishment. Part-time staff count proportionally towards the threshold of 20: up to 20 hours a week as 0.5, up to 30 as 0.75. For nurseries run directly by a parish, many dioceses have a church prevention agreement with the BGW under which support is provided by local safety staff or external services.
Four focal points of the risk assessment in a nursery
- Awkward postures and lifting. Child-height furniture means permanently unfavourable postures for adults, plus lifting and carrying children. Both belong in the assessment as musculoskeletal strain, together with adult furniture at every position where people work for longer periods.
- Risk of infection. Working with children brings an increased risk of infection. It has to be assessed under the Biological Agents Ordinance and feeds directly into the hygiene plan and occupational health provision.
- Maternity protection. For pregnant and breastfeeding employees, restrictions regularly apply in childcare. The standing risk assessment under the Maternity Protection Act is not a formality here; it is the point at which things become practical.
- Noise and voice. A permanent noise level in group rooms and constant loud speaking are a real strain. Room acoustics here are an occupational safety measure, not just a question of fit-out.
How the risk assessment handles these points in detail is set out in Risk assessment in a nursery: lifting, noise, infection.
DGUV Rule 102-602 for childcare facilities gives all providers a common basis for assessing work in the groups: it describes typical activities and their hazards. For pregnant and breastfeeding staff, the rules in Maternity protection in the office apply, and in a nursery the risk of infection comes on top.
What a walkthrough of the nursery and outdoor area shows
The same points come up almost every time: no adult furniture where staff work for longer periods; material stored above head height that becomes a falling-object question when taken down; and traffic routes restricted by play equipment. On paper, what is usually missing is the biological agents assessment and the standing assessment under the Maternity Protection Act.
Safety training for the nursery team
Training follows the activity, not an office standard: lifting and carrying children, working near floor level without straining the back, the hygiene plan and infection control, what to do when a child or a member of staff is injured, supervision in the outdoor area. The provider's administration is trained separately, because different hazards apply there.
Team days when the nursery is closed anyway are a good slot for the annual training. New colleagues, cover staff and placement students from vocational college are trained before their first shift in a group.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Scope of services and support models, including for providers running several settings.
- The occupational physician in the office: when required?: Appointment and duties, the basis for mandatory health checks in a nursery.
- DGUV and Berufsgenossenschaft: The difference between a Berufsgenossenschaft and an Unfallkasse.
- Unternehmermodell: safety under DGUV Regulation 2: Who the alternative model for up to 50 employees suits.
- Occupational safety for churches and social bodies: For providers that run counselling centres or parish halls alongside nurseries.
- Hazardous substances in the office: Cleaning agents and disinfectants of the kind also used in nurseries.
Legal basis
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- Ordinance on Occupational Health Care (ArbMedVV)
- Social Code Book VII (SGB VII), statutory accident insurance
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- DGUV Regulation 1 (principles of prevention)
Frequently asked questions
Is our nursery covered by the BGW or by the Unfallkasse?
That depends on the provider. Staff at nurseries run by independent and church providers are usually covered by the BGW, staff at municipal nurseries by the Unfallkasse or the municipal accident insurance association. Children in nurseries run by independent youth welfare providers are insured through the state Unfallkasse, children in municipal nurseries through the municipal institution. Your membership notice is binding.
Does a parent-run nursery with six employees need an occupational safety specialist and an occupational physician?
Yes. Even a small nursery needs both from its first member of staff, although up to 20 employees it can use Annex 1 of DGUV Regulation 2 with no fixed support hours. Up to 50 employees, the Unternehmermodell is permitted as an alternative, but it requires the employer to be actively involved in running the business and to attend further training regularly. That is hard to sustain with a volunteer parents' board that changes every year.
How many first aiders does a nursery need?
Section 26 of DGUV Regulation 1 requires one first aider for every group of children in a childcare facility. In open settings without fixed groups the rule applies accordingly; agree the details with your accident insurance institution. Holidays and sickness have to be factored in so that the number still holds on thinly staffed days. On outings, a trained person should go along.
Other business types
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