BGI/GUV-I 506 E - In good hands. Your Statutory Accident Insurance Functions, services and organization

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Abschnitt 4 BGI/GUV-I 506 E - IV. A relationship based upon solidarity - who is behind us.
Funding, premiums system

The essential concept of the employer being responsible for his employees has a long tradition, yet is as modern as ever. It creates social peace and stability at the workplace. This concept also underpins the statutory accident insurance system, which was introduced over a century ago: by eliminating claims for compensation and thus lawsuits, it serves as a liability insurance for employers against the risk of their employees suffering occupational accidents and diseases.

In practice, this means that the statutory accident insurance absolves employers of their liability, and compensates employees in the event of an occupational accident or disease. In return, the employer pays premiums: his financial outlay is therefore predictable, and lawsuits with an uncertain outcome are avoided.

Apportionment of costs

The statutory accident insurance system is financed in accordance with the principle described above. Preventive measures, rehabilitation and compensation are funded in full by the employers. The level of premiums corresponds exactly to the payments that were required in the preceding year (adjustable contribution procedure). For this reason, the premiums are calculated retrospectively for each calendar year. The statutory accident insurance system does not generate a profit; only the actual costs are apportioned.

Accident insurance costs falling within the responsibility of the accident insurance fund of the Federal government and the accident insurance institutions responsible for the regional and local authorities are financed by the relevant regional bodies for their respective regions, essentially through tax revenues. The premiums for insured individuals in private households must be paid by the person managing the household.

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Compared to other social insurance premiums, those for statutory accident insurance are very low. Averaged over many years, the premium for employers has been in the region of 1.3 %.

Premiums system

As with the other forms of social insurance, the level of the premium also varies according to the level of the total wage costs of the insured individuals (wages and salaries) and the expenditure of the accident insurance institution concerned. The accident risk in the corresponding sector is also significant. This is expressed by the risk category. The contribution base is calculated as a function of the financial requirement for a given year. It is the same for all insured employers, but must be recalculated each year.

The individual premium is calculated according to the following formula:

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For example:

How is the actual statutory accident insurance premium calculated? Example: a construction company has two operations, a decorating division and a construction division with total wage costs of € 200,000 and € 300,000 respectively. The total wage costs for the administration division are € 100,000. At an average contribution base of € 3.80 per thousand euro total wage costs, the premium for the decorating division is as follows:

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The premium for the construction division is:

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Owing to its low total wage costs and its low risk category, the administration division is the cheapest. Its costs are:

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The total premium for the company would therefore be € 13,110. Because the premium for the entire company is calculated as described, it is important for the total wage costs in the individual company divisions to be indicated precisely.

The statutory accident insurance institutions may motivate companies by means of surcharges, discounts, or graded premiums, according to their particular accident situation. Investments in preventive measures may therefore pay dividends.

Digression

Adjustment for excess inherited obligations in the context of the statutory accident insurance institutions for the industrial sector

The concept of adjustment for excess inherited obligations has the purpose of mitigating the impact of structural change upon the premiums burden in the statutory accident insurance institutions in affected sectors. The background: the premiums levied by the statutory accident insurance institutions are calculated in consideration of both the cost entailed by new obligations arising from industrial diseases and occupational and commuting accidents, and obligations from pensions from previous years and decades (legacy obligations).

The purpose of adjustment for excess inherited obligations is that of distributing these obligations across sectors. Under this principle, each statutory accident insurance institution first bears its pension obligations to the degree which it would have had to do so had the structures always been the same as in the present business year. The pension obligations lying above this figure, i.e. the excess inherited obligations, are shared between all the institutions in accordance with the solidarity principle. A further aspect is relevant, namely: between harmful exposure and the resulting incidence of an occupational disease, years and in some cases decades may pass (in the case of asbestos-induced cancer, for example, the average interval is 30 years). This hiatus is also taken into account by the adjustment for excess inherited obligations. For this reason, the new cases of occupational disease are weighted according to the size of the statutory accident insurance institution 25 years previously (25 years being the average latency period). The ratio between the size of the institution at that time and its current size yields the proportion of cases of occupational disease which must be borne by the institution today.

An example: if, 25 years ago, the statutory accident insurance institution were double its present size, it follows that at its present size, it must bear the costs of only half of its new cases of occupational disease itself. The costs above this level are once again borne by the mutually supportive body of all statutory accident insurance institutions. The burden is thus also shared by the statutory accident insurance institutions which have grown and which will be responsible for the bulk of cases in the future. The adjustment for excess inherited obligations is therefore a means by which the principles of both solidarity and preventive action can be reinforced.