From blackboard to tablet

Page created by Brett Rhodes
 
CONTINUE READING
From blackboard to tablet
News from the German Social Accident Insurance                                                                                                                            JUNE 2019
                                                                                                                                                             RECOMMENDED
                                                                                                                                                             What does a fla-
                                                                                                                                                             mingo have to do
                                                                                                                                                             with listening …
                                                                                                                                                             PAGE 4

TOP STORY

From blackboard to tablet
Working safely and healthily with
digital media – the new Digital Pact
helps foster well-rounded schools
Faster Internet and new tablet computers in
the classroom are being made possible by the
School Digital Pact adopted by the Federal and
State Governments. The German social acci-
dent insurance institutions welcome the pro-
gramme. However, they point out that issues
related to safety and health must also be taken
into consideration when using digital media.
This concerns areas such as ergonomics, men-
tal health and media literacy.
                                                           Photo: contrastwerkstatt – stock.adobe.com

Whether smartboard, tablet or smartphone – the
School Digital Pact opens up new educational
opportunities for schools. When teachers think
about how to use new devices in the classroom,
they should also think about safety and health is-
sues. This is the recommendation of experts from
the German social accident insurance institutions
responsible for the education sector. ‘Healthy
learning means better learning’, said Professor                                                         Expertise in working with VDUs – the German Social Accident Insurance provides
Joachim Breuer, Director General of the DGUV.                                                           recommendations for the safe and healthy use of digital media in schools.
‘When students talk to their teachers about the
right way and the wrong way to use digital media,
it’s not only their learning that benefits. These       risks posed by digital media. In order to avoid dig-                                                 STICHWORT
considerations also prepare them for a world of         ital sensory overload, teaching should consist of a                                                  Advice
work in which health literacy plays an increasing-      healthy mix. Longer learning phases with digital
ly important role.’                                     media should alternate with other forms of learn-                                                    The German social acci-
     Examples of specific recommendations can be        ing, as well as rest breaks and exercise. Overall,                                                   dent insurance institu-
found in ergonomics: if digital media are used in       time spent learning with digital media should not                                                    tions advise education-
teaching, they must meet the basic requirements         exceed one third of the teaching day. ‘In order for                                                  al institutions on safe-
for VDU workstations. Displays should be at least       schoolchildren to learn to interact safely and re-                                                   ty and health issues, in-
10 inches large, and at least 15 inches or larger for   sponsibly with digital media, schools should de-                                                     cluding the use of digital
longer reading or text input. Smartphones are un-       velop a digital media concept’, recommends Pro-                                                      media. A ‘School Sec-
suitable for longer periods of reading or entering      fessor Breuer. Safe and healthy use of digital                                                       toral Rule’ and addition-
text. For this reason, smartphones should not be        media is best achieved when everyone – teachers,                                                     al information are cur-
used for more than five minutes at a time.              pupils and parents – think about it together, right                                                  rently being worked on
     As well as ergonomics, the focus is also on men-   from the very start.                                                                                 in conjunction with the
tal health. Teachers have a key part to play here.                                                                                                           Standing Conference of
In addition to technical and pedagogical exper-         Web: www.dguv.de > Webcode dp1316499                                                                 the Ministers of Educa-
tise, they also need to understand and manage the       (German only)                                                                                        tion and Cultural Affairs.
From blackboard to tablet
EDITORIAL                                    INTERVIEW

                                             ‘Be flexible and
                     Photo: DGUV
                                              break new ground’
                                             Professor Joachim Breuer has been Director General of the DGUV since 2002.
                                             He will step down from this position on 1st July 2019. However, he will continue
                                             his commitment to social protection in his roles as Professor at the University of
                                             Lübeck and as President of the International Social Security Association (ISSA).
A thirst for change                          DGUV Kompakt spoke with Professor Breuer about global developments and rela-
                                             tionships, about changes needed and established principles.
Dear Reader,
                                             Professor Breuer, let us start with a very          no occupational safety and health regula-
Technological developments continue          current issue: Given the developments               tions. I believe that this is one of the major
to drive economic change. Transforma-        in digitalisation and new forms of work,            risks to social security systems which have
tion is taking place at different speeds.    policymakers are discussing the social              arisen as a result of economic upheavals.
    What interests me here is: How           security of the self-employed. This is              This applies equally to all branches of so-
does successful change management            also an issue for social accident insur-            cial security, whether it be accident insur-
work around the world? Who starts            ance. Is it time to get to the point?               ance, pension insurance, or health and
where, why and how? There were some                                                              long-term care insurance.
fascinating answers to these ques-           The German Social Accident Insurance
tions at the 12th China Symposium of         didn’t raise the issue, neither did I. It is sim-   Following the tragedy at Rana Plaza, the
the German-Chinese Society of Med-           ply the result of economic developments. In         German Social Accident Insurance, in co-
icine. The theme of the symposium            other countries, there has already been a re-       operation with the German government,
was German-Chinese cooperation in            action and insurance cover has either been          helped with the establishment of an ac-
the healthcare sector. One thing is cer-     extended to the self-employed or it had al-         cident insurance system in Bangladesh.
tain: China’s top medical care current-      ready existed. In Germany, when it comes            Can you tell us what your verdict is?
ly offers far better service, diagnostics,   to insurance cover for new, non-standard
therapy and care. Germany must be            employment relationships, we are certain-           This may sound surprising to some, but I
careful not to fall behind.                  ly not pioneers, but rather the ones who            think we’ve made a lot of progress. A coun-
    Given the dynamic nature of this         are still thinking hard about it. That’s what       try like Bangladesh cannot be measured
development, resignation is not an op-       you have to do, especially if we are talking        against the same standards as Germany.
tion. That’s why we need one thing           about getting down to the point. I believe          After the accident, a compensation fund
first and foremost: a desire for change.     that we are doing quite well, but the same          was set up there for the first time. After five
However, this is not possible without        principle applies here too: economic devel-         years, you cannot expect there to be a ful-
goals. The BG clinics of the German so-      opment happens fast and we can’t address            ly functioning system in such a large coun-
cial accident insurance system want to       this with slow answers.                             try. We have made enormous progress in
become Number 1 in Germany when it                                                               raising awareness locally, in creating the
comes to digitalisation. That’s a bold       As President of the ISSA, you also have             very first small structures. This is sowing
statement and sends a clear message          an overview of the global situation. How            the seeds for further developments – and
for the direction of digital healthcare.     are other countries and social security             our work is still ongoing!
    I would like to say one more thing       branches affected by this issue?
on my own behalf. After 17 years as Di-                                                          Looking back at Germany, one of the is-
rector General of the DGUV, I am at-         All social security branches around the             sues you have raised is the reform of the
tracted by the thirst for change too.        world are affected by these new forms of            occupational disease legislation. Where
I am stepping down from office and           work. But in different ways. We first have          do we stand today?
am looking forward to becoming in-           to acknowledge that the majority of the
creasingly involved internationally in       world’s people have no social protection            10 years ago, we started discussing what
healthy and safe work in the future. In      at all, or only rudimentary one. For these          could be changed in occupational disease
a world that is becoming increasingly        economies, new forms of work are a further          legislation. At first, there was no internal
globalised, my goal is to work togeth-       development of what is called the informal          consensus, but in the end we reached agree-
er to develop sustainable solutions that     sector. It is simply growing. If new forms of       ment and a White Paper was published in
transcend national borders.                  work are not integrated into social protec-         2016. After that, of course, there was a great
                                             tion, then we run the risk of large sections        expectation that this would now be trans-
                                             of the economy suddenly being relocated             posed verbatim into national law. I believe
                                             to an area where, once again, there are no          that the political will to do something is still
                                             tax regulations, no social protection and           there. However, understandably, I also be-
Professor Joachim Breuer
Director General of the DGUV

PAGE 2                                                                                                            DGUV KOMPAKT | JUNE 2019
From blackboard to tablet
TOPIC

                                                                                                                 Use of stand-up
                                                                                                                 E-scooters
                                                                                                                 On 17 May 2019, the German Bun-
                                                                                                                 desrat approved the Federal Gov-
                                                                                                                 ernment’s ordinance governing the
                                                                                                                 use of mini electric vehicles with a
                                                                                                                 number of amendments. An impor-
                                                                                                                 tant change to the original version:
                                                                                                                 E-scooters are not allowed to be driv-
                                                                                                                 en on footpaths. The German Social
                                                                                                                 Accident Insurance had also voiced
                                                                                                                 its support for this restriction.

                                                                                                                 New forms of mobility always require a
                                                                                                                 balance to be struck between encour-
                                                                                                                 aging innovation and road safety. The
                                                                                                                 Bundesrat has made it very clear that
                                                                                                                 new forms of mobility must not be in-
                                                                                                                 troduced at the expense of road safety
                                                                                                                 and ‘Vision Zero’.
                                                                                                                     Now that the regulation has been

                                                                                                   Photo: DGUV
                                                                                                                 approved, the way has been cleared for
                                                                                                                 the use of electric scooters with a maxi-
                                                                                                                 mum speed of up to 20 km/h; however,
Thirst for change: After 17 years at the helm of the DGUV as Director General, Professor                         not on footpaths. These should remain
Breuer is looking for new challenges. In future, he wants to become more involved in healthy                     a safe and secure space. This applies in
and safe workplaces at international level.
                                                                                                                 particular to vulnerable road users such
                                                                                                                 as children, the elderly and people with
                                                                                                                 disabilities. The German Social Acci-
                                                          ‘We must do what we                                    dent Insurance therefore warmly wel-
lieve that there are still unanswered ques-                                                                      comes the fact that e-scooters may not
                                                      have done for over 135 years:
tions. I am firmly convinced that in this leg-                                                                   be used on pavements. This is because
islative period we will see a draft law that           be flexible and break new                                 even 12 km/h, as originally proposed,
will adopt the content of our White Paper.             ground, even if this means                                would have meant doubling the max-
The greatest risk I see in the moment is the            shattering some ‘sacred                                  imum speed permitted on footpaths.
duration of the current legislative period.                    traditions’’                                      This would have significantly reduced
                                                                                                                 reaction times in dangerous situations
                                                              Professor Joachim Breuer
After 17 years at the helm of Germany’s                                                                          and increased the risk of accidents.
social accident insurance system, how                                                                                A minimum age of 14 years has been
much does it need to change? Which                                                                               set for using an e-scooter. The German
principles does it have to remain true to?         is statutory accident insurance in the tra-                   Social Accident Insurance had advo-
                                                   ditional sense. In all other areas of shap-                   cated that persons under the age of 15
The basic principle that everything that           ing these basic principles, we must do                        should not drive electric scooters up
has to do with work and results from work          what we have done for over 135 years: be                      to 20 km/h. Around 100,000 accidents
is completely covered under one roof, at           flexible and break new ground, even if this                   occur every year on the way to school,
all stages, is one of the core principles that     means shattering some ‘sacred traditions’,                    the costs of which are borne by the ac-
we have in social accident insurance. This         whether these are new forms of benefits,                      cident insurance institutions. Many of
also includes self-governance. This guar-          new groups of insured persons or new ap-                      these accidents are minor, but the sta-
antee, despite all government regulation,          proaches to prevention. As long as this fits                  tistics show that this changes with in-
gives a certain detachment from the state;         into the core areas mentioned, I’m not wor-                   creasing motorisation. From the point
that is, a sense of responsibility towards         ried about social accident insurance. I be-                   of view of the German Social Accident
the people who are in this system. This            lieve that, over the coming years and dec-                    Insurance, it would also have been de-
is more than just ‘stakeholder representa-         ades, we have an enormous opportunity                         sirable to have mandatory training in
tion’; it is really about ‘stakeholder respon-     to demonstrate that social accident insur-                    the form of a moped driving licence.
sibility’. In addition, we will not abandon        ance is highly flexible and is therefore in a
these core responsibilities as long as there       good position for the future.                                 Web: www.dguv.de > Webcode dp1316614
                                                                                                                 (German only)

  DGUV KOMPAKT | JUNE 2019                                                                                                                            PAGE 3
From blackboard to tablet
RECOMMENDED
                                                                            Building a skyscraper on sand? Not a good
                                                                                                                                                                  IMPORTANT DATES
             What does a                                                    idea. A head planner experiences this first
                                                                            hand in the new social media clip released
             flamingo have to                                               as part of the kommmitmensch prevention
                                                                            campaign run by the DGUV and the Ger-
                                                                                                                                                                  31 August 2019
                                                                                                                                                                  5th Occupational Medicine Day
             do with listening?                                             man social accident insurance intuitions.                                             HANOVER
                                                                            He doesn’t listen to his work colleagues –                                            www.dgaum.de/termine
                                                                            with fatal consequences. The planned of-
                                                                            fice tower, graceful as a flamingo, collaps-                                          18-21 September 2019
                                                                            es, fortunately only as a model. The video                                            REHACARE – International Trade
                                                                            makes it clear how important participation                                            Fair for Rehabilitation and Care
                                                                            is in companies. Involving employees in                                               DÜSSELDORF
                                                                            decision-making promotes a culture of pre-                                            www.rehacare.de
                                                                            vention and a holistic approach. ‘Listen
                                                                            carefully to one other. This is particularly                                          23-26 September 2019
                                                                            important for safety-related issues within                                            10th International Conference on the
                                                                            the company’, says Gregor Doepke, Head                                                Prevention of Accidents at Work
                                                                            of Communications at the German Social                                                VIENNA
                                                              Photo: DGUV

                                                                            Accident Insurance. This is the message                                               www.wos2019.net
                                                                            behind the ‘Flamingo’ video clip by film-
                                                                            maker Isa Prahl, who is also responsible
             The ‘Flamingo’ video is designed to get people                                                                                                       NUMBER OF THE MONTH
                                                                            for the other videos in the campaign.
             thinking and encourage them to listen better

                                                                                                                                                                  17.5 million
             – one of the goals of the kommmitmensch
             prevention campaign.                                           Web: www.kommmitmensch.de

                                                                                                                                                                  … children, adolescents and young
             NEWS IN BRIEF
                                                                                                                                                                  adults were covered on their way to

             Integrating artificial                                                                                                                               school or in their educational institu-
                                                                                                                                                                  tion by Germany’s social accident in-
             intelligence into work                                                                                                                               surance in 2017.
                                                                                                                                                                  Quelle: www.dguv.de > Webcode 33345
             processes
                                                                                                                               Photo: Laurent – stock.adobe.com

             Artificial intelligence in companies isn’t                                                                                                           LEGAL INFORMATION
             science fiction anymore, it’s reality. But                                                                                                           Published by: Deutsche Gesetzliche
             what effects do artificial intelligence and                                                                                                          Unfallversicherung (DGUV), Dr Joachim Breuer
                                                                                                                                                                  (Director General). The DGUV is the umbrella
             4.0 technologies have on areas such as
                                                                                                                                                                  association of the German Social Accident
             work organisation, the working climate or                                                                                                            Insurance Institutions for the public sector and
             occupational safety and health? How can                                                                                                              for trade and industry.
             artificial intelligence be used to improve                     Artificial intelligence is changing the world of                                      Publishing committee:
                                                                            work. This calls for new ways of thinking and                                         Dr Renate Colella (Chair), Udo Diel, Dominique
             the design of work? In order to identify the
                                                                            new strategies for safety and health.                                                 Dressler, Professor Dr med Axel Ekkernkamp,
             potentials and risks of Work 4.0 processes,                                                                                                          Markus Hofmann, Gabriele Pappai,
             the Federal Ministry of Education and Re-                                                                                                            Dr Udo Schöpf, Karl-Sebastian Schulte
             search (BMBF) has launched a collabora-                        artificial intelligence in the areas of strat-                                        Editorship: Gregor Doepke, Kathrin Baltscheit,
                                                                                                                                                                  DGUV, Glinkastr. 40, 10117 Berlin
             tive project called ‘Prevention 4.0’. Prac-                    egy, corporate management and culture,
                                                                                                                                                                  Editorial team: Kathrin Baltscheit, Diana Grupp,
             tical implementation tools have now been                       work organisation, and safety and health.                                             Claudia Kleist, Anne Schattmann
             made available. They are particularly bene-                    They also address fundamental topics such                                             Translation: Peter Love
             ficial to small and medium-sized enterpris-                    as ethical questions and the interaction be-                                          Layout: Christoph Schmid,
                                                                                                                                                                  www.christophschmid.com
             es in terms of information and inspiration                     tween humans and intelligent software.
                                                                                                                                                                  Publisher: Quadriga Media Berlin GmbH,
             on how to make Work 4.0 productive and                                                                                                               Werderscher Markt 13, 10117 Berlin
             healthy. In specific terms, they deal with                     Web: www.praeventive-arbeit40.de                                                      Printing: DCM Druckcenter Meckenheim

                                                                                                                                                                  FOLLOW US ON TWITTER
                                                      Entries open!
                                                      Entries for the komm­mit­mensch                                                                                   @DGUVKompakt
                                                      Film & Media Festival for A+A 2019 can                                                                      News live from the editorial team:
                                                      be submitted until 30 July. The focus is                                                                    www.twitter.com/DGUVKompakt
                                                      on safety and health at work and road
                                                      safety. You find further information at:
                                                                                                                                                                    Contact
Photo: CWH

                                                      Web: www.kommmitmensch-festival.de
                                                      (German only)                                                                                                 KOMPAKT@DGUV.DE
                                                                                                                                                                    WWW.DGUV.DE/KOMPAKT

                                                                                                                                                                                   DGUV KOMPAKT | JUNE 2019
From blackboard to tablet
You can also read