Incentive schemes for the promotion of prevention work in companies

Used alongside the guidelines and rules published by the German social accident insurance institutions and statutory occupational safety and health (OSH) requirements, incentive schemes are designed to motivate companies to put special effort into prevention.

The main types of incentive scheme used by the German social accident insurance institutions are:

• Increases or decreases in contributions (bonus and malus system);
• Prizes for prevention initiatives;
• Recognition and awards (in the form of certificates or praise which generates good publicity) for special prevention activity;
• Quality marks and other signs of recognition (e.g. further to the implementation of an OSH management system).