A stagnant number of accidents, new workers’ safety laws and the demand for less control from the state have aroused a discussion about occupational health and safety management systems. In 1995, together with various companies, the state of Bavaria developed an extensive and complete management system called OHRIS. It is offered to all organisations on the Internet for free. When such a system of occupational health and safety management is in place, the OHRIS specialists and the industrial physicians are assigned a significantly increased range of functions. They are not only there to provide advice on all aspects of technical and medical industrial safety and on compliance with the relevant laws and regulations, but also to give advice and support on all questions relating to the organisation and implementation of a management system, and on the performance of compliance audits and system audits and the further actions to which these may give rise. Accordingly, the function of the industrial physician within the organisation is exactly defined. He is directly under the management of the organisation and may offer suggestions to it. He has to support the manager and safety officers on all questions of health and safety. The function of the industrial physician is therefore part of the organisation. That means there is a demand from the organisation for the tasks of the industrial physician, i.e. he is part of a continuous process for improving health and safety conditions.
