Outsourcing (DE)
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A crisis is survived by the preparation, not the reaction.
A moment of inattention, a technical fault, a serious accident. What separates companies that recover quickly from those that do not is rarely how they behaved on the day - it is what was already in place.
What crisis management covers
Crisis management is everything a company does to be ready for the unforeseen and to respond proportionately: keeping the damage small and getting normal operations back. Whether the cause is a natural event, a technical failure or an accident at work matters less than it seems - the same discipline applies as soon as the ability to operate is seriously affected.
It has two halves, and companies are usually much stronger in the second than the first.
- Prevention: identifying risks early enough that they never become a crisis.
- Intervention: acting quickly and deliberately when one arrives anyway.
The four phases
- Risk management and prevention - keeping the crisis from forming at all.
- Planning and preparation - an emergency plan naming responsibilities and lines of communication.
- Acute response - everyone involved acting fast and to a known pattern.
- Review - what worked, what did not. Every crisis is an opportunity to be better prepared for the next one.
Prevention is the part the law is specific about
Employers are legally obliged to protect their staff, and not only on paper. The obligation starts with how workplaces are designed and runs through inspections and training.
Finding out what could go wrong is a risk assessment (Gefahrdungsbeurteilung): a systematic record of potential risks, not only accidents but technical failure, natural events and commercial disruption. The Arbeitsschutzgesetz and the rules of the Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung (DGUV) set out how workplaces must be arranged to avoid them - DGUV Vorschrift 1 and 2, for instance, require a safety specialist and a company doctor.
Training and drills are what turn a plan into behaviour. A procedure nobody has practised is a document, not a capability.
When it happens: working with the Berufsgenossenschaft
The Berufsgenossenschaft (BG) is the statutory accident insurer for the trade in question, and it has a defined role after a serious incident: reporting, cause analysis, and preventing a repeat.
- Reporting: an accident at work that leaves someone unfit for work for more than three days must be reported to the responsible BG within three days. Severe accidents and fatalities are reported immediately. The report is what secures the statutory benefits - medical treatment and injury benefit (Verletztengeld).
- First aid and the Durchgangsarzt: injured staff are treated by a Durchgangsarzt, a doctor accredited specifically for occupational accidents, who handles the initial and continuing care. For severe cases the BG coordinates medical treatment and rehabilitation.
- Cause analysis: the BG examines the sequence of events with the company, covering the technical and the organisational contributions, so the same risk is reduced rather than repeated.
- Documentation: every accident, including those below the reporting threshold, belongs in the accident log (Verbandbuch). It supports later claims and the BG's analysis.
- Psychosocial support: alongside medical care, the BG can provide support for those involved and their colleagues in working through an incident that was traumatic.
Questions we are asked
When must an accident at work be reported? Within three days, if it leaves someone unfit for work for more than three days. Severe accidents and fatalities are reported without delay.
What does the Berufsgenossenschaft do afterwards? It analyses how the accident happened, coordinates treatment through a Durchgangsarzt, offers psychosocial support, and works on preventing the next one.
How do companies prevent crises rather than manage them? By assessing risks systematically, putting the resulting measures in place, and training staff regularly. Close cooperation with the BG is part of that, not an alternative to it.