Working alone in the laboratory? What are the legal requirements?

The Genetic Engineering Act (GenTG) itself does not contain any provisions on this. The Genetic Engineering Safety Ordinance (GenTSV) also does not contain any provisions on lone working for laboratories at safety levels 1 and 2. This means that in genetic laboratories of Security levels 1 and 2 In principle, you can also work alone. But is that true?

Only from the Security level 3 The GenTSV contains regulations regarding working alone. According to Annex 2 (to Section 14) A. III. b. No. 2 GenTSV, a person may only work alone in the genetic engineering facility if an emergency call system that can be activated from within is present. The emergency call signal must be able to be triggered automatically and at will. This is the case, for example, with a fall detector, which allows authorized persons to immediately determine the exact location and organize assistance.

For security level 4, it is regulated that no person may ever work alone in the laboratory unless there is a continuous visual and voice connection (for example, camera and radio connection) and sufficient personnel are available on site in the event of an emergency.

Does a ban on working alone in the laboratory arise from other legal requirements? The Occupational Safety and Health Act also does not regulate working alone. However, general occupational safety and health regulations can be applied. For example, to assess whether work is considered dangerous, the provisions of Section 8 of DGUV Rule 100-001 can be used. DGUV stands for the German Social Accident Insurance. In DGUV Rule 100-001, "Principles of Prevention," Section 2.7.1 defines what constitutes dangerous work, and Section 2.7.2 regulates what must be observed in the case of working alone.

For example, under No. 2.7.1 the Handling particularly dangerous substances , e.g. in chemical, physical or medical laboratories. Working with biological agents only apply from risk group 4 as dangerous work. For such dangerous work, paragraph 2 for lone work stipulates that the employer must provide suitable technical or organizational protective measures in addition to the general protective measures. Lone work is defined as when a person performs work alone, out of earshot and sight of other persons. surveillance can be implemented by technical or organizational measures when working alone. technical measures This includes, for example, the use of suitable personal emergency signal systems, which are regulated in detail in DGUV Rule 112-139 “Use of personal emergency signal systems”. organizational measures These include, for example, inspection tours by a second person, time-coordinated telephone/radio reporting systems or constant camera surveillance.

From the above, it follows overall that general occupational health and safety does not exclude lone working in an S1 or S2 laboratory when it comes to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This is because the description in Section 7 of the GenTG applies here, according to which work is carried out in an S1 facility that poses no danger to humans or the environment, whereas work in an S2 facility is assumed to pose a low risk to humans and the environment. It is therefore consistent that the GenTSV does not contain any additional requirements for lone working in the S1 and S2 areas. A moderate risk to humans and the environment can only be assumed from safety level 3 onwards. As explained, the GenTSV already requires technical measures here that go beyond general occupational health and safety.