Occupational safety for telecommunications
In telecommunications companies, customer service, network operations and administration often belong to the same firm. DGUV Regulation 2 places telecommunications in support group II. Basic support per head from the specialist and the occupational physician is therefore three times as high as in office sectors in support group III.
- Telecommunications
Telecommunications: customer service and network operations in one assessment
A telecommunications company often combines two working worlds with little in common. Customer service staff speak and listen at a screen for hours, while technical staff work at distributed, partly unstaffed sites. A risk assessment that treats both the same way fits neither of them.
There is no single answer on the accident insurance institution either. The public limited companies formed from the assets of the former Deutsche Bundespost, and companies spun off from them that perform telecommunications tasks, belong to the BG Verkehr by law (section 121 (2) SGB VII). The BG ETEM's hazard tariff lists data network operators and mobile network operators, while the VBG's statutes name information and communication service providers and call centres. Which institution covers your company is stated in the membership notice.
Field work brings hazards that do not occur in the office. At mobile phone sites on roofs and masts these are falls from height and electromagnetic fields. The latter are covered by an ordinance of their own (EMFV): the employer has to establish which fields staff are exposed to and assess the hazard before the work begins. Before any work close to transmitting antennas, it is therefore agreed with the installation's operator whether it will be switched off or a safety distance kept.
Telecommunications: insurer, support group II and thresholds
| Item | Telecommunications |
|---|---|
| Accident insurance institution | Depending on the company, BG Verkehr (successor companies of the Deutsche Bundespost), BG ETEM or VBG. The membership notice says which one. |
| Economic sector | WZ 61 telecommunications: wired, wireless, satellite and other |
| Support group under DGUV Regulation 2 | II: 1.5 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. |
| Customer service as a separate company | WZ 82.2 call centres with support group III may apply, meaning 0.5 hours per employee and year |
| 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) |
| Up to 50 employees | Unternehmermodell permitted as an alternative. More than 50: standard support. |
A worked example with a fictitious network operator employing 60 full-time staff: group II gives 90 hours of basic support a year, at least 18 of them for the specialist and 18 for the occupational physician. A call centre of the same size in group III would come to 30 hours. 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.
The four strain areas in telecommunications businesses
- Headset work and voice. Continuous speaking and listening through a headset is a strain in its own right. Volume limiting, hygienic use of headsets, break arrangements and room acoustics belong in the assessment.
- Difficult conversations. Complaints, cancellations and escalations are everyday work in customer service. Handling them and the aftercare following distressing calls belong explicitly in the assessment of mental stress.
- Shift work and call pacing. Support hours in the evening and at weekends, along with tightly paced call targets, affect rest periods and scope for action. Both have to be assessed.
- Technical sites and field work. Distribution sites, plant rooms and customer installations are changing workplaces with lone working. Access, protective equipment and reporting routes have to be settled in advance.
If you provide company cars for field staff, driving belongs in the assessment too: travel times between sites, securing tools and material in the vehicle, and whether anyone should still drive back after a long fault call-out.
What a walkthrough in a telecommunications business turns up
In the service area the findings are acoustics on open floors, headset hygiene at shared desks, and screen settings at hot desks. In the technical area they are access arrangements, cables across traffic routes, and missing rules for lone working at unstaffed sites. For service work, an assessment of mental stress is often missing, even though that is the core of it there.
Safety training in customer service and technical field work
Customer service needs a block on headset use, volume, breaks and handling escalating calls, including when a call may be ended and who is available afterwards. The technical area adds site access, protective equipment, work on electrical installations and the rules for lone working.
Where new customer service staff first listen in on experienced colleagues before taking calls themselves, the headset and escalation block belongs in that phase. In field work, training can be combined with the first accompanied job.
Related
- External occupational safety specialist: Scope of services, support models and how the hours are calculated.
- Support-hours calculator: Basic support for your support group and headcount.
- Support group and WZ code under DGUV Regulation 2: From the classification of the economic sector to the hours of basic support.
- Occupational safety for data centres and hosting: Technical floors with cooling, noise and shift work.
- Mental stress in the risk assessment: How the survey works and which measures help, applicable to customer service too.
- DGUV and Berufsgenossenschaft: How the accident insurance institutions are organised and who covers what.
Legal basis
- DGUV Regulation 2 (occupational physicians and safety specialists)
- Social Code Book VII (SGB VII), statutory accident insurance
- Occupational Safety Act (ASiG)
- Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG)
Frequently asked questions
Which employers' liability insurance association covers a telecommunications company?
That depends on the company. Successor companies of the Deutsche Bundespost are insured with the BG Verkehr. Network operators may belong to the BG ETEM, communication service providers and call centres to the VBG. Your membership notice gives the definitive answer.
Why is basic support higher in telecommunications than in other office sectors?
Annex 2 of DGUV Regulation 2 assigns economic sector 61 telecommunications to support group II: 1.5 hours per employee and year instead of 0.5 hours in group III. The group follows the business's economic sector and cannot be chosen freely. If customer service is run as a separate company, WZ 82.2 call centres with group III may apply to it.
What has to be settled before work at a mobile phone site?
First, who operates the installation and whether it will be switched off for the work or a safety distance kept. Exposure to electromagnetic fields has to be assessed under the ordinance on electromagnetic fields before the work begins. Then come access and fall protection on the roof or mast, and a rule that staff check in when they arrive on site and when they leave. Where staff of several firms work there, the employers coordinate (section 8 ArbSchG).
Other business types
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