Occupational safety for data centres and hosting
A data centre is two businesses under one roof: an administrative part that is assessed like any office, and technical floors with cooling, high-power electrics, heavy loads and night shifts. An assessment that covers only the office wing leaves out the part where most of the hazards are. How much company-specific support is needed therefore depends mainly on the work done on those floors.
- Data centres & hosting
Important: The administrative part is an office business; the technical floors are not. Data processing and hosting (WZ 63.1) fall into support group III under DGUV Regulation 2. Work on power supply, cooling and extinguishing systems belongs to business-specific support. What counts is the classification by your accident insurance institution.
Data centres and hosting: the server room as the main workplace
Staff in a data centre work mainly in the server room, under conditions no office business has: a noise level that never drops, cold directed supply air, high electrical loads and round-the-clock operation.
Where cold and hot aisles are physically separated, technicians constantly move between two climate zones. In front of the rack they stand in a cool draught, behind it in the warm exhaust air of the servers, and cabling is mostly done at the back. For longer jobs, temperature, time spent in each zone and breaks to drink therefore belong in the assessment. The battery rooms of the uninterruptible power supply need their own sections too: depending on the type, batteries can give off gases while charging or go into thermal runaway. The same applies to the standby generators, with their noise, exhaust and fuel storage.
In colocation, customers' and service providers' staff also work on the same floors. The Occupational Health and Safety Act then obliges the employers involved to cooperate, and the operator has to make sure that other employers' staff have received adequate instructions for working on its premises (section 8 ArbSchG). Who coordinates when several firms are working in the same room at once should be settled before the appointment.
Data centres and hosting: classification, noise values and thresholds
| Item | Data centre |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance institution | As a rule the VBG, whose statutes expressly name data centres. The membership notice decides in each case. |
| Economic sector | WZ 63.1 data processing, hosting and related activities |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | III for WZ 63.1: 0.5 hours of basic support per employee and year, shared between the specialist and the occupational physician, at least 20 per cent each. Company-specific support comes on top. For your business, the classification by your accident insurance institution applies. |
| Noise above 80 dB(A) daily exposure | Provide hearing protection, offer an occupational health check-up |
| Noise from 85 dB(A) daily exposure | Hearing protection must be worn, mandatory check-up; areas where 85 dB(A) may be exceeded must be marked as noise areas |
| Night work | Night workers are entitled to an occupational health examination before starting, then at intervals of no less than three years, annually from age 50 (section 6 (3) 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. |
Whether an action value is reached depends on the level and on the time spent in the area during the shift. Deciding it requires a measurement or reliable manufacturer data, evaluated by a competent person. 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.
What the risk assessment in a data centre needs on top
- Noise and room climate. Ventilation and cooling create a permanent noise level and directed draughts at low temperature. Both have to be assessed, and depending on the level hearing protection has to be provided.
- Lone working on shifts. Round-the-clock operation means night shifts, often with few staff. An arrangement is needed for how an emergency during lone working is noticed, for example a personal emergency signal system or fixed check-in intervals.
- Extinguishing systems and access. Where gas extinguishing systems are installed, their activation and its consequences for anyone present belong in the assessment and in the training. Access has to be regulated and documented.
- Lifting and handling in the rack. Servers, storage systems and uninterruptible power supplies are heavy and get mounted at height. Manual handling and suitable aids are not a side topic here.
The electrical installations themselves are subject to recurring tests under DGUV Regulation 3, covering fixed distribution systems as well as portable equipment on the technical floors. The test-interval calculator shows the reference intervals.
Walkthrough on the technical floors of a data centre
The office wing is unremarkable. The findings accumulate on the technical floors: cables across traffic routes, material in front of distribution boards, missing or illegible labelling, and step aids unsuitable for the actual working height. On paper, what is regularly missing is an arrangement for lone working at night and an assessment of noise and draughts.
Safety training for operations engineers and shift staff
Training separates administration and technical work. The technical part covers what to do when the extinguishing system triggers, handling electrical equipment, lifting and mounting in the rack, wearing hearing protection, and the rules for lone working including check-in intervals. External service providers are briefed before their first entry.
Anyone new to the rota should not work their first night shift alone until the response to an extinguishing system alarm and the check-in interval have been practised together on site.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Scope of services and support models, including for businesses with technical floors.
- Occupational safety for software and tech: For software houses and IT service providers with a small server room of their own.
- Occupational safety for telecommunications: Network operations with distributed, often unstaffed sites.
- Fire safety in the office: Fire wardens, extinguishers and evacuation in the administrative part.
- Calculating support hours under DGUV Regulation 2: How basic support and the company-specific part fit together.
- Testing electrical equipment: Who may carry out tests and how they are documented.
Legal basis
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- DGUV Regulation 3 (electrical installations and equipment)
Frequently asked questions
Which accident insurance institution covers data centres?
Usually the Verwaltungs-Berufsgenossenschaft (VBG). Its statutes expressly list data centres, along with information and communication service providers and internet service providers. The membership notice is binding for your business.
When do staff in the server room need hearing protection?
If daily noise exposure exceeds the lower action value of 80 dB(A), the employer has to provide hearing protection. From 85 dB(A) it must be worn. Someone who only goes into the hall occasionally may well stay below that, while a full shift of cabling work can look different. Only an assessment of the actual exposure settles it.
What applies to colocation customers' technicians working on our floors?
Their own employer remains responsible for their risk assessment and training. As the operator, you have to cooperate with that employer and make sure the technicians know your site rules, for example what to do when the extinguishing system triggers (section 8 ArbSchG). A short, documented briefing before first entry is the simplest way to cover this.
Other business types
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