SARS–CoV-2 Occupational Safety Rule (Germany)

Coordinated by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) the new SARS–CoV-2 occupational health and safety rule was drawn up jointly by the advisory committees on occupational safety and health at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). The SARS-CoV-2 occupational health and safety rule came into effect on August 20, 2020, when it was published in the Joint Federal Gazette (GMBl).

The SARS-CoV-2 Occupational Safety and Health Rule specifies the requirements for occupational safety and health for the period of the epidemic situation of national importance in accordance with § 5 of the German Infection Protection Act.

The rule presents measures for all areas of economic activities by which the risk of infection for employees can be reduced and kept at a low level. Distance, hygiene and masks remain the most important instruments as long as there is no vaccination against CoViD-19 available. Companies that apply the rule can assume that they are acting legally compliant.

In the pages 9 and 20/21 the following indications are provided (bold highlights added, references to the English version):

4.2.2 Sanitary facilities, canteens and break room (“C-ASS” item 2)

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(2) To implement  hand hygiene, easily accessible washing facilities with running water, sufficient liquid soap that is gentle on the skin and facilities for hygienic drying of hands (disposable paper or textile towels) must be provided. Suitable skin protection and skin care products must be provided id determined necessary in the risk assessment. The use of warm air dryers should be avoided. The rules for washing hands must be displayed.

 

4    Accomodation ((“C-ASS” item 5)

4 (13): It must be ensured that liquid soap and disposable paper or textile towels are always available in sanitary and kitchen areas

You can read and download here the complete document:

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Superior Health Council Document (Belgium) Report 9616 – Ventilation and transmission of SARS-CoV-2

The full document (published in French and Dutch, with very brief summaries in English and German) can be read at this link: https://www.health.belgium.be/en/report-9616-ventilation-and-transmission-sars-cov-2 . 
This is a translation of part of the French document (bold highlights added)

5.3 Forced air hand dryer While some studies show that hot air hand dryers reduce the number of viable bacteria on the hands (Mutters and Warnes, 2019; Snelling et al., 2011; Suen et al., 2019), however, these devices participate in the aerosolization of germs sent to environment (Alharbi et al., 2016; Best et al., 2015; Huang et al., 2012; Huesca-Espitia, 2018). During a SARS-Cov-2 viral pandemic and in view of the routes of contamination currently known, forced-air and hot-air hand dryers should be avoided at all costs. According to Best et al. (2015), the effectiveness of hand drying is important in preventing spread of pathogens. The propensity of three common drying methods hands (forced air hand dryer, hot air hand dryer and paper towels) to contaminate the environment, users and others present have been compared. The study shows that if hands are poorly washed, it is the air hand dryer pulsed (“jet air dryer”) which sends into the air the most aerosols of germs still present on hands after washing. The bacteria count in the air near hand drying was according to this study 4.5 times higher for the jet dryer than for the hot air dryer, and 27 times higher than for the use of paper towels. The number of particles suspended in Higher Health Council www.css-hgr.be – 53 – air was also significantly different when using drying with towels compared to hot air drying. Visualization experiments demonstrated that the hot air dryer caused the greatest dispersion of droplets. Although some forced-air hand dryers are equipped with HEPA filters, these are located on the propelled air, and therefore do not prevent the force of this clean air from sending droplets in the air and on surrounding surfaces. Therefore, hands contaminated with SARS-CoV-2 and improperly washed, dried in forced-air dryers will send aerosols and contaminate the air and surfaces through the use of these devices. Forced air or hot air hand dryers contribute to the production of aerosols likely to contaminate the ambient air, surrounding surfaces such as the sink, or directly reach the mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes by inhalation or contact, especially if the user of the device is infected and contaminating. CSS therefore recommends installing disposable paper towels and do not use forced-air or hot-air hand dryers in sanitary facilities during any the duration of the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic and high virus circulation.