Fire protection is an umbrella term. According to DIN 14011 „Begriffe aus dem Feuerwehrwesen“, it covers preventive and defensive fire protection. Preventive fire protection is defined there as "structural, technical and/or organizational measures to prevent a fire and to prevent the spread of smoke and fire, to enable the rescue of people and animals and effective extinguishing measures in the event of a fire" — as rendered in the glossary of the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance, entry „Brandschutz, vorbeugender“. Defensive fire protection refers to combating the dangers posed by fires and is essentially the task of the fire department.
Structural fire protection covers everything that takes effect in the building itself: fire compartments and firewalls, the fire behavior of building materials and building components, and escape and rescue routes. The basic provision is Section 14 of the model building code (MBO) (version of November 2002, last amended by resolution of the Conference of Building Ministers of 26/27 September 2024): structures must be arranged, erected, altered, and maintained in such a way "that the outbreak of a fire and the spread of fire and smoke (fire spread) are prevented and that, in the event of a fire, the rescue of people and animals and effective firefighting are possible".
The MBO is a model text without legal force of its own; what is binding are the 16 state building codes, which implement it in different ways.
The legal terms for fire behavior are set out in Section 26 MBO: building materials are non-combustible, flame-retardant, or normally flammable; building components are fire-resistant, highly fire-retardant, or fire-retardant. The class designations come nationally from DIN 4102-1 and at European level from DIN EN 13501-1; the two cannot be converted directly into each other.
Technical fire protection covers the technical equipment of a building: fire extinguishing equipment, fire detection and alarm systems, fixed extinguishing systems, smoke and heat exhaust, and emergency lighting.
The basis under occupational health and safety law is Annex no. 2.2 of the Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV). According to it, workplaces must, depending on their dimensions, use, fire hazard, and number of persons, "be equipped with a sufficient number of suitable fire extinguishing devices and, where necessary, fire detectors and alarm systems". This is specified in more detail by the technical rule ASR A2.2 „Maßnahmen gegen Brände“ (edition May 2018, last amended in May 2025).
Escape and rescue routes are governed by Annex no. 2.3 ArbStättV, specified in more detail by ASR A2.3 „Fluchtwege und Notausgänge“ in the version of March 2022, last amended in November 2024.
Organizational fire protection concerns rules, roles, and procedures: fire safety regulations, designated persons, alerting, evacuation drills, and instruction.
The starting provision is Section 10 (1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (ArbSchG). According to it, the employer must take the measures "that are necessary for first aid, firefighting, and the evacuation of employees". Section 22 (2) DGUV Regulation 1 adds that a sufficient number of insured persons must be familiarized, through instruction and practice, with the use of fire extinguishing equipment for fighting incipient fires.
The fire safety regulations follow DIN 14096 (edition 2014-05). They consist — as rendered in the freely accessible DGUV Information 205-001 „Betrieblicher Brandschutz in der Praxis“ — of three parts: Part A is the notice for all persons in the building, Part B applies to persons without special fire protection tasks, Part C to persons with such tasks.
Every employer must designate fire wardens under Section 10 (2) ArbSchG, but as a rule not a fire safety officer.
Fire wardens must be designated: Section 10 (2) sentence 1 ArbSchG obliges the employer to designate those employees who take on tasks of first aid, firefighting, and evacuation; their number, training, and equipment must be in reasonable proportion to the number of employees and to the special hazards that exist. In section 7.3, ASR A2.2 gives a guideline figure for this: "A share of 5% of employees is, as a rule, sufficient." This is a rebuttable presumption, not a rigid requirement.
Fire safety officers, by contrast, are not generally required by law. In section 7.1, ASR A2.2 puts it cautiously: if the employer has identified an increased fire hazard, "the appointment of a fire safety officer may be expedient". Their tasks and qualifications are described in DGUV Information 205-003.
The path to fire protection under occupational health and safety law runs in four steps: Section 5 ArbSchG requires the risk assessment, Section 3 ArbStättV applies it to workplaces, the annex to the ArbStättV sets out the requirements, and the technical rules ASR A2.2 and A2.3 specify them in more detail.
For a sense of scale: according to the cause-of-death statistics of the Federal Statistical Office, 329 people in Germany died in 2023 as a result of smoke, fire, and flames (2022: 377) — the figures cover the entire population, not just the workplace environment.
Further reading: workplace occupational health and safety as a system, risk assessment as a starting point, fire safety instruction on frequency, and proof of mandatory training on documentation.
According to DIN 14011, a distinction is made between preventive and defensive fire protection. Preventive fire protection is divided into structural, technical, and organizational measures. Defensive fire protection refers to firefighting and is essentially the task of the fire department.
No, there is no general legal obligation. ASR A2.2 merely describes the appointment as possibly expedient where there is an increased fire hazard. An obligation can arise from building authority requirements for special buildings under state law or from contractual agreements.
Under Section 10 (2) ArbSchG, what is mandatory is the designation of a sufficient number. In section 7.3, ASR A2.2 sets out the rebuttable presumption that a share of five percent is, as a rule, sufficient. Where there is an increased hazard, shift work, or limited mobility of employees, more may be required.
The ASR are Technical Rules for Workplaces, not a directly binding statute. Under Section 3a (1) sentence 3 ArbStättV, compliance with them allows the presumption that the requirements of the ordinance are met. Anyone who deviates from them must, under sentence 4, achieve the same level of safety by other means.
The standard governs how fire safety regulations are to be drawn up and posted, not whether they are required. Whether they are required follows from the risk assessment or from official or state-law requirements. The standard distinguishes Parts A, B, and C by target audience.
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