Heat Protection Becomes New Workplace Mandate as Germany’s Prevention Push Targets Mental Health, Tobacco and Tech Stress
24.06.2026 - 00:51:11 | boerse-global.de
The German state of Rhineland-Palatinate took up concrete heat-protection measures on Monday, with Health Minister Clemens Hoch calling extreme-heat prevention a core responsibility for municipalities. The move comes as the Alliance for Climate Change and Health (KLUG) warns that the country is not adequately prepared for scenarios with temperatures up to 40 °C.
Facility-management experts argue that heat protection must be firmly integrated into the management of workplaces, schools and nursing homes. Night ventilation, greenery and temperature monitoring are on the agenda. The push is part of a broader rethinking of workplace and public health prevention that dominated this week’s 11th Prevention Forum of the National Prevention Conference (NPK) in Berlin.
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More than 200 experts gathered on Tuesday to discuss new strategies for health prevention in the working world. The German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV) has taken over the chair of the conference this year. The numbers alone underline the urgency: mental disorders accounted for 16.7 percent of all days of incapacity to work in 2024, and roughly 42 percent of all disability pensions are now linked to psychological conditions.
Digitalisation plays a dual role – it offers opportunities but also creates risks such as so-called technostress. Conference participants identified leadership culture, violence prevention, bullying and addiction prevention as central fields of action. Prevention efforts, they said, must be more closely aligned with employees’ everyday living environments.
While policymakers debate, insurers are rolling out concrete offers. The NĂĽrnberger Versicherung, together with partner XUND, has launched a product called PRAEVIA for the company health insurance market (bKV in German). The concept relies on a continuous prevention pathway: digital risk analyses and preventive measures aim to reduce absenteeism and boost uptake of preventive services. Instead of merely reimbursing costs, the focus is on proactive accompaniment.
Already in May, the General Accident Insurance Institution (AUVA) in Innsbruck awarded innovation prizes for safety systems. At the “Forum Prevention”, Kleemann GmbH received a Safety Award for a mobile crushing plant and Sick AG for a collision-protection system. Experts there emphasised that subjective risk perception is often misleading and that data-based analysis is essential. Although the overall number of workplace accidents fell in 2025, accidents due to violence are on the rise.
The German Academy for Preventive Medicine (DAPM) is calling for even more radical steps. In a position paper, it demands a cigarette price of at least €20 per pack and a complete advertising ban for tobacco and e-cigarettes. The reasoning: 70 to 80 percent of health expenditure flows into the treatment of chronic diseases. “The current system rewards the treatment of illness rather than its prevention,” the professional society criticises, arguing that prevention must become economically more attractive.
