Less Than One in Three Occupational Disease Claims Succeed as Germany Adds Parkinson’s to Farm Workers’ List
Published on 06/16/2026 at 13:34 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
Fewer than 30,000 of those cases were officially acknowledged. That gap between alarm and acceptance now stands in sharp relief after the federal cabinet decided at the end of May to formally recognise Parkinson’s disease as an occupational illness for people who have spent years handling pesticides.
The move follows recommendations from the Ärztliche Sachverständigenbeirat (Medical Advisory Board) issued in 2024 and 2025. It chiefly affects workers in agriculture, forestry, horticulture, and pest control. Berlin has pledged an extra €20 million over 2025 and 2026 to help implement the new rules. Yet the broader reality, as the DGUV Barometer warned in May, is that workplace safety risks being sidelined in many firms.
The recognition of Parkinson’s from pesticide exposure underscores the need for thorough hazardous?substance assessments. A free COSHH Risk Assessment Toolkit provides 43 ready?to?use templates and checklists to help you document and control dangerous substances in compliance with UK regulations. Download the free COSHH Risk Assessment Toolkit
A push to break down professional silos
Addressing that risk, two key professional bodies signed the so-called Berlin Declaration in mid-June. The Verband deutscher Betriebs- und Werksärzte (VDBW) and the VDSI, the association for safety engineers and specialists, agreed to coordinate prevention efforts more tightly. The ceremony marked the VDSI’s 75th anniversary. The idea is that occupational doctors and safety experts can only design effective preventive measures if they stop working in parallel lanes.
A new analytical tool from the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine (IPA) supports this direction. Since June, companies have been able to use an updated human-biomonitoring method for phthalates, giving them a more precise picture of employees’ exposure to plasticisers.
Digital tools target mental health and addiction
Meanwhile, the Initiative Gesundheit und Arbeit (iga) released fresh digital prevention formats in mid-June. Coinciding with the annual Alcohol Action Week, the free web-based training programme covers workplace strategies for handling addiction problems. Employers can access the modules at no cost.
The corporate health insurance market (bKV) is also expanding rapidly. According to the PKV-Verband, the number of companies offering bKV to their staff rose by 16 percent to roughly 60,600. More than 2.8 million employees now benefit from such supplementary cover. The driving factors are labour shortages and growing demand for mental-health support.
Flexible hours – and the burnout trap
Employers remain under heavy legal pressure, especially when handling long-term illness. The Federal Labour Court (2022) and a recent ruling by the Cologne Labour Court have made clear that dismissals based on health grounds are disproportionate without a properly conducted Betriebliches Eingliederungsmanagement (BEM), the statutory reintegration process.
Yet a planned reform is stirring controversy. The federal government intends to loosen the daily maximum working time, according to reports from early this year. The Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Institut (WSI) has warned of health consequences. Data from the DGB “Gute Arbeit 2025” index shows that 43 percent of employees already regularly work more than eight hours a day. Nearly half of that group report feeling burnt out.
Workplace risk management goes beyond hazardous substances—it also covers workload, stress and ergonomic factors. A free Risk Assessment Toolkit with 41 templates and checklists helps you document and control a wide range of occupational hazards to protect your workforce. Download the free Risk Assessment Toolkit
Closing the vaccination gap
Separately, organisations such as the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Arbeitsmedizin und Umweltmedizin (DGAUM) and the health insurer BARMER are calling for simpler billing of vaccinations administered by company doctors. Their goal is to push up immunisation rates among Germany’s more than 43 million employed people. Streamlining the administrative side, they argue, would remove a barrier that currently keeps many workers unprotected.
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