Working Safely in Times of Corona – Revision of the “Corona Occupational Safety Regulation” Already Implemented

The German “SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Safety and Health Regulation” published on 22 January 2021 has already been amended three times due to the accelerated rise in infection rates. The most recent revision did not result in any new or a change of measures for Jola.

Due to the adopted regulations and their implementation, the testing strategy as well as the progress in vaccinations, the German numbers for new infections with the Coronavirus are steadily in decline. Yet, new and contagious virus mutations continue to emerge in the absence of effective therapeutics which leads the scientific community to assess a „high risk” for public health.

The revision of the “SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Safety and Health Regulation” dated 25 June 2021 was published 28 June and came into effect 1 July. It enables companies the precise and situational adaptation of their infection protection measures. Furthermore, social distancing rules and regular testing capacities remain in place. Overall, requirements have been broadened and centre mostly on health risk assessment.

The second scheduled meeting of Jola’s work safety board on 30 June facilitated at short notice the coordination with company doctor Dr. Gabriele Magerl (Koamed | Competence Centre for Occupational Medicine and Work Safety) and occupational safety specialist Michael Rink (Technische Überwachung Rink GmbH). Everyone agreed that despite the relaxing of regulations, protection measures should remain in place. So, on the upcoming summer travel season and the many travel returnees, we merely replaced the outdated “risk area” with the more current terms “variant of concern area”, “high incidence area” and “(normal) risk area”. If these clarifications in fact lead to more clarity is a question the responsible authorities should ask themselves…