The Preventive Approaches of the Statutory Accident Insurance System and Their Effectiveness

For decades, prevention has been an integral and important part of the German statutory accident insurance system. The very close link between prevention, rehabilitation, and compensation, which is so typical for the German system, had an extremely positive effect on the frequency of notifiable occupational accidents. What is more, if we compare benefits and costs of the system, it appears that prevention has also been successful in a strictly monetary sense. After a short outline of the basic principles of the German accident insurance system, the authors take stock of the last 33 years. The period between 1960 and 1993 also covers the repercussions of the German reunification in 1990. The trends in accident and disease frequency are presented together with the trends in costs and benefits. To allow a realistic comparison, all figures are indicated in terms of 1960. It can be shown that the average contribution rate to accident insurance decreased in the period under consideration. This is particularly remarkable if we look at the enormous increase in contribution rates that took place in all other branches of social insurance. It is also noted that the contribution rates of the different industrial branches are immediately dependent on the accident risks in those industries. The last part of the article contains a qualitative and quantitative description of the prevention measures available to the German accident insurance institutions.