Arbeitsschutz „im Huckepack“ – ein alternatives Konzept zur Ansprache von Unternehmen auf Sicherheit und Gesundheit bei der Arbeit

Occupational safety “piggybacked” – an alternative concept for addressing companies on occupational health and safety. Part I: Theoretical foundation Background: Employers are obliged to implement occupational safety measures. However, implementation rates are rising only very slowly. Reservations about the issues and official requirements are widespread among entrepreneurs. Objective: There is still a great need for statutory accident insurance organisations to successfully address entrepreneurs so that they can ensure the health and safety of their workers. Method: Based on findings from cognitive and learning psychology, an alternative approach, known as the “piggyback” method, was developed. Results: By linking the health and safety topics with positively evaluated contextual stimuli, the reservations can be circumvented and a first positive change in attitude can be achieved. For a sustainable change in behaviour, a deeper dive into the issues is necessary. Conclusions: The “piggyback” method can be used especially to reach entrepreneurs who have shown little motivation for implementation so far. The concept can be applied to different fields of prevention, but still requires further testing and evaluation. Ethical aspects must also be taken into account during implementation. Keywords: occupational health and safety– information processing – entrepreneurs – targeting concept