When is personal protective equipment necessary according to the BioStoffV?

In Section 3 of the Biological Agents Ordinance (BioStoffV), under Section 8 Paragraph 4 BioStoffV (basic obligations), the employer must, before starting work,

• No. 1 dangerous biological agents primarily through those which are not or less dangerous , as far as possible,
• No. 2 Working procedures and to select or design work equipment in such a way that biological substances are not released into the workplace if the risk to employees cannot be excluded by a measure according to No. 1,
• No. 3 the Exposure of employees through suitable structural, technical and organizational measures to a minimum reduce if a risk to employees cannot be prevented by a measure according to No. 1 or No. 2.

Only if the measures according to numbers 1-3 are not sufficient to exclude or sufficiently reduce the risk to employees, the employer has to take the measure

• No. 4, additional personal protective equipment (PPE) to be made available.

In doing so, Employees the Use the PPE provided as long as there is a risk (Section 9 (3) No. 5 BioStoffV).

The above-mentioned measures 1-3 build on each other. If a hazard cannot be ruled out by measure 1, measure 2 comes into effect. Measure 3 comes into effect if a hazard to employees cannot be ruled out by measures 1 and 2. The provision of PPE (No. 4) is in this case only the Last resort and the use of burdensome PPE (e.g. heavy breathing apparatus) must be strictly limited to the necessary extent and must not be planned as a permanent measure. Should the use of PPE become necessary, the opinion of the Committee on Biological Agents “Criteria for the selection of PPE in the case of risks from biological agents” (ABAS decision 45/2011 of December 5, 2011) can be helpful in selecting the necessary PPE.