The focal points (FOPs) act as bridges between the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) and the national occupational safety and health (OSH) actors. The Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Bundesanstalt für Arbeitsschutz und Arbeitsmedizin, BAuA) was nominated as the Agency’s official representative by the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, BMAS), where the FOP had previously been based, and has functioned as the German Focal Point since 2015.

The Focal Point manages the transfer of knowledge between EU-OSHA and the national OSH actors. In addition, it contributes actively to the planning and implementation of EU-OSHA’s campaigns at the national level and, among other things, is involved in the selection of national nominations for the Healthy Workplaces Good Practice Awards.

• The current campaign for the period 2023-2025, "Safe and healthy work in the digital age", is intended to raise organisations and companies’ awareness of the opportunities opened up for occupational safety and health by the digital transformation of the world of work, as well as the risks it entails.
• One important element in the campaign are the Good Practice Awards, which recognise outstanding examples of organisations and companies proactively implementing OSH risk management when they introduce digital systems in their workplaces. In Germany, entries for the awards can be submitted until 30 September 2024.
• EU-OSHA has also presented the Healthy Workplaces Film Award for the best work-related documentary every year since 2009. The winner of the award, which comes with prize money of 5,000 euros, will be announced in October 2024 at the twenty-second doclisboa documentary festival in Lisbon.

Since its foundation in 1996 EU-OSHA has become a central hub for the dissemination of occupational safety and health knowledge in Europe. It simultaneously coordinates a global network of occupational safety and health actors from thirty-nine participating states all over Europe. EU-OSHA has a national focal point in each Member State.

The focal points are official representatives of EU-OSHA in their respective countries and are nominated by their home governments. Each FOP manages its own tripartite network comprising governmental safety and health representatives, representatives of employer and employee organisations, and relevant institutions in the field .

Tasks of the Focal Points

According to the founding regulation and the document "Current guidance on basic requirements 2003" passed by the administrative board, all member states are bound by contract to support the agency's initiatives by providing information and feedback from the EU member states as well as with their work in the national networks.

These contracts are specified in a so-called "mandatory" list, which is established annually by EU-OSHA and contains the obligatory tasks of the Focal Points. These tasks include, for example, the implementation of the European campaign on the national level, the nomination of national experts to attend various workshops and conferences introducing and/or discussing projects or new knowledge, as well as the support and review of different reports e.g. the European company survey ESENER-III.

Since 2013, the agency pursues a "portfolio approach" to the "mandatory list" including voluntary tasks/offers that the Focal Point network can choose and accomplish in order to use the resources of the network to an optimum and to attune to the differences between the member states. The aim of the “portfolio approach” is, to encourage the networks to engage in projects from which they expect advantages. Thereby, the agency can provide products and services which are tailored to the requirements of the individual member states.

Partners of the German Focal Point

The national network forms the Focal Point's core. Due to the variety of actors involved in the national occupational safety and health system in Germany, only representatives of the most important institutions and stakeholder groups are members of the network in order to disseminate the agency's information in their networks and, on the other hand, to transmit their own tools and knowledge to the agency:

The German federal states are represented by the Senate Administration for Labour, Social Services, Gender Equality, Integration, Diversity and Anti-Discrimination in Berlin (SenASGIVA), which coordinates the information from the other states and regularly reports to the Commission for Safety and Health of the Federal States (LASI).
www.berlin.de/sen/asgiva/

The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) is the umbrella association of the accident insurance institutions for the industrial and public sectors (the trade cooperative associations and the public-sector accident insurers respectively). It is responsible for the inclusion of all statutory accident insurance institutions into the network.
www.dguv.de

The German Trade Unions Confederation (DGB) represents trade unions towards political decision-makers, parties and associations in federal government, state and community and coordinates union activities.
www.dgb.de

The Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA) is a cross-sectoral association which acts as the voice of German employers. As Germany's central employers' association, the BDA organises the social and economic interests of the entire German business community.
www.arbeitgeber.de

The Joint German Occupational Safety and Health Strategy (GDA) is an initiative by the German government, the federal states and the accident insurance institutions. The alliance aims at modernising the German occupational safety and health system and to create incentives for companies to strengthen workplace safety and health.
www.gda-portal.de

The New Quality of Work Initiative (INQA) is a shared platform of associations and organisations that was founded in 2002 by the BMAS and leading social partners. Today the initiative represents a nonpartisan alliance which includes Federal and State-level government, business associations, trade unions, the Federal Employment Agency, companies, social insurance providers and foundations. The initiative actively participates in debates on work satisfaction, sustainability and on making the world of work fit for the future. (Currently no representative)
www.inqa.de

The federal government is represented by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social affairs (BMAS) and the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA). BAuA is a federal authority within the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). As a departmental research institution of the Federal Government, it is responsible for all matters involving occupational safety and health at work, including the adjustment of working conditions to human needs. BAuA is also responsible for the management of the Focal Point (see above).
www.bmas.de
www.baua.de