Glossary · Existing plants and retrofit
Grandfathering (work equipment)
Also known as: Existing-installation protection
German: Bestandsschutz
In German occupational safety law, grandfathering (Bestandsschutz) is the common but misleading idea that a plant or machine may keep operating unchanged because it complied with the rules when it was put into service. The Ordinance on Industrial Safety and Health (BetrSichV) grants no general grandfathering for work equipment: the employer must review the risk assessment regularly, considering the state of the art.
- Compliance
- German source term
- Technical documentation
In one sentence
German operational safety law has no general grandfathering for work equipment: the risk assessment and its documents must follow the plant as it is today.
Example
A paint shop still runs on its 2010 zone drawing although an extension was added and a spray booth was moved; the old drawing describes a plant that no longer exists, and nothing about its age protects the current one.
Explained in context
Context cards connect this term with others to answer one question. Also in British English and German.
- The explosion protection document after a conversionWhen does the explosion protection document have to be updated?UKDeutsch
- BetrSichV or GefStoffV: which ordinance carries the duty?Does the duty to keep the explosion protection document current come from the BetrSichV or the GefStoffV?UKDeutsch
- Grandfathering covers the design, never the fileDoes grandfathering protect an existing plant and its documentation?UKDeutsch
How it applies
- Operation: Under § 3(7) BetrSichV the employer reviews the risk assessment regularly, takes the state of the art into account and adapts the protective measures where necessary. It must be updated without delay when safety-relevant changes, including changes to work equipment, require it. An older machine does not have to be rebuilt to the design rules for new products, but it has to be safe to use by today's standard of protection — see adaptation to the state of the art.
- Explosion protection: For explosive atmospheres the update duty comes from the Ordinance on Hazardous Substances (GefStoffV), not from the BetrSichV: § 6 GefStoffV requires the explosion protection document to be updated promptly when significant changes require it. The result is the same; the legal basis differs.
- Documentation: Whatever the age of the plant, its documents carry no protection of their own. A zone drawing, a risk assessment or a circuit diagram that was never updated after a conversion describes a plant that no longer exists. Treat each rebuild as a trigger to check them, as with as-built documentation.
- Citations: Older commentaries on grandfathering argue with the numbering of the BetrSichV of 2002, where the design requirements for work equipment were in § 7; since 2015 they are in § 5. The risk assessment kept its number, § 3. Check the section numbers before quoting an older source.
Grandfathering vs. the duty to keep the assessment current
What existing equipment may keep is its original design, as long as it can be used safely by the current state of the art, possibly with additional technical, organizational or personal measures. What it never keeps is an outdated risk assessment: the review duty applies throughout the period of use. A retrofit that goes further than that can turn the operator into a manufacturer — see retrofit under the Machinery Regulation.