Berufsgenossenschaften: All about employer's liability Insurance Associations

What services do Berufsgenossenschaften (professional/trade associations or employer’s liability insurance associations) offer, and which should I register with? We’ve indexed each one for you.

 

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Andreas Munck

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Got questions about setting up a business in Germany?

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  • 10+ years experience

Hi, I’m Andreas and I’ve been advising businesses in Germany for over a decade. I’d be happy to call you and answer any questions you have in a one-on-one consultation.

 

List of all Berufsgenossenschaften and their areas of responsibilities

In general, the responsibilities of Berufsgenossenschaften are organised according to economic sectors. There are instances where fields of service overlap – in such cases, the association’s core competency is decisive.

If you have any questions about responsibility, the Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, or DGUV (German statutory accident insurance) can help you:

Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung e. V.
Glinkastraße 40
10117 Berlin
General hotline: 0800 – 60 50 404
Telephone: +49 30 2887 63 80-0
info@dguv.de
www.dguv.de

Use the search (Ctrl+f or Cmd+f) to find your sector in the list below.

Trade Association Competencies Contact
Berufsgenossenschaft der Bauwirtschaft (BG BAU)

(employer’s liability insurance association for the construction industry)

  • Demolition, disposal and detonation
  • Civil construction site sanitation
  • Processing of municipal and hazardous waste
  • Boat building, shipbuilding
  • Bridge construction
  • Well construction
  • All types of roof work
  • Decorative work
  • Earthwork
  • Erecting both open-trench and cut-and-cover civil construction sites
  • Erecting traffic management installations
  • Scaffolding
  • Glasswork
  • Track construction
  • Production of all types of pre-constructed units
  • Production of all types of concrete products
  • All types of building construction
  • Installations
  • All types of insulation and sealing
  • Cable installation
  • Canal and pipeline construction
  • All types of paintwork
  • Assembly work
  • Dredging, suction and wash work
  • Furnace and air heater construction
  • Pavement work
  • All types of cleaning (of or in buildings)
  • Cleaning and sanitation of pipelines and drains
  • Chimney sweeping
  • Safeguarding work sites near tracks
  • All types of special civil engineering
  • Playgrounds and sports grounds (civil engineering projects)
  • Stonemasonry
  • Road construction
  • Street cleaning
  • Stucco work
  • Diving work
  • Tunnel and gallery construction
  • Jointing work
  • Plastering
  • Floor and wall coverings
  • Water engineering works
  • Tent construction
  • All types of carpentry
Berufsgenossenschaft der Bauwirtschaft
Hildegardstraße 29-30
10715 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 85781-0
info@bgbau.de
www.bgbau.de 
Berufsgenossenschaft Nahrungsmittel und Gastgewerbe (BGN)

(employer’s liability insurance association for the food and catering industry)

  • Hospitality sector
  • Restaurants
  • Food production
  • Luxury food, drink and tobacco
  • Meat industry
  • Feed production
  • Production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages
  • Mineral springs
  • Fairs and amusement parks
  • Circuses
Berufsgenossenschaft
Nahrungsmittel und Gastgewerbe
Dynamostraße 7-11
68165 Mannheim
Tel.: +49 621 4456-0
info@bgn.de
www.bgn.de
Berufsgenossenschaft Rohstoffe und chemische Industrie (BG RCI)

(employer’s liability insurance association for raw materials and the chemical industry)

  • Construction materials, stone, soil
  • Mining
  • Chemical industry
  • Leather industry
  • Papermaking and finishing
  • Quarries
  • Sugar industry
Berufsgenossenschaft Rohstoffe und chemische Industrie
Kurfürsten-Anlage 62
69115 Heidelberg
Tel.: +49 6221 5108-0
info@bgrci.de
www.bgrci.de
Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse (BG ETEM)

(employer’s liability insurance association for energy, textiles, electrical and media products)

  • Energy supply companies
  • Gas, remote heating, water supply and wastewater disposal companies
  • Electrical engineering, precision mechanics and optical products
  • Measurement, information and medical technology
  • Aircraft and spacecraft technology
  • Electrical installation companies
  • Engravers, goldsmiths, watchmakers
  • Production and processing of textiles, clothing, linens
  • Shoe production
  • Offset, screen, gravure and digital printing
  • Graphics and pre-press
  • Corrugated board and cardboard packaging
  • Paper processing
  • Photography and photojournalism
Berufsgenossenschaft Energie Textil Elektro Medienerzeugnisse
Gustav-Heinemann-Ufer 130
50968 Köln
Tel.: +49 221 3778-0
info@bgetem.de
www.bgetem.de
Berufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik (BG HW)

(employer’s liability insurance association for trade and goods logistics)

  • All types of wholesale and retail, with or without a warehouse
  • Trade-related companies
  • Sales agencies, commercial brokers
  • Commission and agency businesses that handle goods
    Installation of automated machines
  • Renting and leasing of merchandise
  • Sales and purchasing associations
  • Agricultural goods cooperatives
  • Wine cellars
  • Scrap trade
  • Scrap, recycling, waste and secondary raw material handling, including sorting and compacting
  • Publishers whose products are predominantly produced with contract printing
  • Sale, distribution and delivery of press products, including promotional material
  • Reading circles
  • Forwarding companies and agencies
  • Goods distribution and logistics companies
  • Storage and storage unit companies
  • Port and shipping companies
  • Port handling and cargo handling companies
  • Loading and unloading, product control and similar companies
  • Companies that manage and control goods, ‘aid for trade’

 

Berufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik
Direktion Mannheim
M5, 7
68161 Mannheim
Tel.: +49 621 183-0orBerufsgenossenschaft Handel und Warenlogistik
Direktion Bonn
Niebuhrstraße 5, 53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49 228 5406-9
info@bghw.de
www.bghw.de
Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege (BGW)

(employer’s liability insurance association for health services and social welfare care)

  • Professional guardians
  • Providers of outpatient nursing services
  • Providers of private daycare facilities for children
  • Lecturers and professors of healthcare
  • Hairdressers and barbers
  • Pedicurists
  • Midwives
  • Physical therapists
  • Nurses
  • Speech therapists
  • Masseuses
  • Medical bath attendants
  • Paramedics
  • Physiotherapists
  • Pest controllers
  • Daycare personnel
  • Professionals in alternative medicine (reiki, shiatsu, kinesiology, Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine)
  • Full-time nursing care professionals
Berufsgenossenschaft für Gesundheitsdienst und Wohlfahrtspflege
Pappelallee 33/35/37
22089 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 40 20207-0
webmaster@bgw-online.de
www.bgw-online.de
Berufsgenossenschaft Holz und Metall (BG HM)

(employer’s liability insurance association for wood and metal)

  • Timber production
  • Handling and processing of wood, plastics or similar materials
  • Iron production
  • Steel production
  • Precious metal production
  • Handling and processing of iron, steel, metal, precious metal, gemstones, semi-precious stones and similar materials
Berufsgenossenschaft Holz und Metall
Isaac-Fulda-Allee 18
55124 Mainz
0800 – 99 90 080-1
servicehotline@bghm.de
www.bghm.de
Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehrswirtschaft Post-Logistik Telekommunikation (BG Verkehr)

(employers’ liability insurance association for transport, post and logistics, telecommunications)

  • Freight transport
  • Passenger transport
  • Air transport
  • Disposal
  • Driving schools
  • Towing services
  • Pilot associations
  • Logistics
  • Inland shipping
  • Fisheries
  • Telecommunications
  • Postal and package delivery
  • Funeral undertakers who regularly offer and provide funeral transportation as a commercial service
  • Boarding stables
  • Equestrian instructors with their own stables and training grounds
  • Riding instructors with their own horses (riding animals)
  • Keeping of stables and riding animals for commercial purposes
  • Private keeping of riding animals
Berufsgenossenschaft Verkehrswirtschaft Post-Logistik Telekommunikation
Ottenser Hauptstraße 54
22765 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 40 3980-0
info@bg-verkehr.de
www.bg-verkehr.de
Landwirtschaftliche Berufsgenossenschaft (LBG)

(agricultural employers’ liability insurance association)

  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Horticulture and viticulture
  • Fish farming
  • Fishpond cultivation
  • Lake, stream and river fisheries (inland fisheries)
  • Beekeeping
  • Landscaping with a focus on nature and environment preservation
  • Companies that, without cultivating land, keep livestock and breeding animals for the purposes of breeding, fattening or production of animal products
  • Agriculture and forestry contractors
  • Park, garden and cemetery maintenance
  • Hunting stands (owned or rented)
  • Chambers of agriculture and agricultural trade associations
  • Securing, monitoring or developing agriculture (breeding associations, for example)
The German social accident insurance institution for the agricultural industry is part of the German social accident insurance institution for agriculture, forestry and horticulture.

 

Sozialversicherung für Landwirtschaft, Forsten und Gartenbau
Weißensteinstraße 70-72
34131 Kassel
Tel.: +49 561 7850
poststelle@svlfg.de
www.svlfg.de

Unfallversicherung Bund und Bahn (UVB)

(federal and railway accident insurance)

  • Salaried employees and trainees in the following fields:
    • Federal administration
    • Deutsche Bahn AG
    • The Bundeseisenbahnvermögen
    • The Federal Labour Office, including regional agencies
    • Political foundations, institutes, etc.
    • Foreign armed forces in Germany
  • Volunteers and staff of the Federal Agency for Technical Relief
  • Volunteers and staff of certain divisions of the German Red Cross
  • Rehabilitants receiving professional development services from the Federal Labour Office
  • Aid workers working for developmental aid agencies recognised by the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
  • Those who donate blood, organs and tissues at the German Red Cross
  • Foreign exchange teachers
  • Local employees of diplomatic and representative bodies abroad (embassies, general consulates, army facilities)
  • Participants performing developmental volunteer services abroad
  • Seconded nationals
  • Foreign pensioners (displaced emigrants)
Unfallversicherung Bund und Bahn
Salvador-Allende-Straße 9
60487 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 69 47 863-0
info@uv-bund-bahn.de
www.uv-bund-bahn.de
Unfallkassen

(public sector accident insurers)

The German Unfallkassen are providers of accident insurance for employees in the public sector and related subsidiaries. The insurers are organised at federal, state and local levels. Among others, the following occupational groups are insured by the German public sector accident insurers:

  • Federal government and Deutsche Bahn AG employees
  • Civil servants
  • Soldiers
  • Judges
  • Schoolchildren
  • University students
  • Those working in the public interest
Every German federal state has its own public sector accident insurer. Click here for an overview.
Unfallkassen

(public sector accident insurers)

 

There are specialised accident insurers for fire brigade employees and their families. They are organised according to regional head offices. There is no umbrella organisation. Responsible for Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein:

Hanseatische Feuerwehr-Unfallkasse Nord (HFUK Nord)
Hopfenstraße 2d
24114 Kiel
Tel.: +49 431 99 07 48-0
info@hfuk-nord.de
www.hfuknord.de

 

Responsible for Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia:

Feuerwehr-Unfallkasse Mitte

Magdeburger Allee 4
99086 Erfurt
Tel.: +49 391 54 45 90
sachsen-anhalt@fuk-mitte.de
www.fuk-mitte.de

 

Feuerwehr-Unfallkasse Niedersachsen
Bertastraße 5
30159 Hannover
+49 511 98 95 431
info@fuk.de
www.fuk.de

 

Feuerwehr-Unfallkasse Brandenburg

Müllroser Chaussee 75
15236 Frankfurt (Oder)
Tel.: +49 335 52 16-0
info@ukbb.de
www.fukbb.de

Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV)

(German statutory accident insurance)

The DGUV is the umbrella organisation for all social accident insurers and Unfallkassen and has plenty of information on accident insurance across all industries. For questions about membership obligations and areas of responsibility, the DGUV is your point of contact. There are further regional associations in:

  • Hamburg (LV Nordwest)
  • Berlin (LV Nordost)
  • Düsseldorf (LV West)
  • Mainz (LV Mitte)
  • Heidelberg (LV Südwest)
  • Munich (LV Südost)
Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung e. V.
Glinkastraße 40
10117 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 2887 63 80-0
info@dguv.de
www.dguv.de

Berufsgenossenschaften membership

Berufsgenossenschaften are the carriers of German statutory accident insurance. In addition to the trade insurance institutions, there are also accident insurance carriers who cover the public sector, civil servants, school students and university students.

What benefits do Berufsgenossenschaften offer?

The duties of trade insurance institutions can be summarised and sorted into three core areas: prevention, rehabilitation and training and development:

Prevention

  • Accident prevention (both at the workplace and while commuting)
  • Preventing occupational illnesses
  • Raising awareness of occupational hazards
  • Implementing accident prevention regulations and service regulations
  • Monitoring compliance with accident prevention regulations
  • Performing inspections
  • Improving workplace ergonomics
  • Promoting workplace sports activities
  • Determining risk rates

Rehabilitation

  • Financial support for insured persons in case they are unable to work
  • Payment of injury compensation
  • Coordination of medical procedures and healthcare services
  • Occupational rehabilitation procedures
  • Social rehabilitation procedures
  • Reassigning jobs and fields of work
  • Pension payments and death grants that result from deadly occupational accidents or illnesses

Training and development

  • Seminars on workplace safety and accident prevention
  • Training course evaluation
  • Awarding certificates and trainer qualifications

 

How trade insurance institutions are structured

The legal framework for the activities and obligations of Berufsgenossenschaften is in SGB IV (Book IV) and SGB VII (Book VII) of the German social code. The insurance providers are self-governing and are managed as public corporations. The Bundesversicherungsamt, or BVA (federal social insurance authority) and the Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, or BMAS (federal ministry for labour and social affairs) serve as supervisory authorities.

Structure and representation

Like an association, insured persons are organised according to membership and represented by an executive board. Another governing body is the representative assembly, which is responsible for conceptualising and drafting accident prevention regulations. The representative assembly is composed of equal numbers of employers and employees. They also elect the executive board, making the assembly the institution’s strongest governing body.

Although they carry out similar tasks in some industries, trade insurance institutions and social insurance carriers are not to be confused with professional chambers/associations.

Note: Properly protecting your company is one of many steps in the incorporation process. Do you know the other steps? 

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Andreas Munck

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Got questions about setting up a business in Germany?

  • Startup expert
  • 10+ years experience

Hi, I’m Andreas and I’ve been advising businesses in Germany for over a decade. I’d be happy to call you and answer any questions you have in a one-on-one consultation.

 

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