The Berlin occupational safety authority has found numerous occupational safety violations in the travel centers of Deutsche Bahn.
The controls were carried out in response to research by BuzzFeed News and Report Mainz.
For more than eight months, employees of the DB travel centers in Berlin, Brandenburg and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania have been calling for better protection against the corona virus.
To date, Deutsche Bahn has not met the employees' demands.
Among other things, there are inadequate partitions and problems with ventilation.
“Everyone is afraid of being infected, precisely because you have close customer contact,” one employee told us in February.
Coronavirus: Berlin authority finds several deficiencies in Deutsche Bahn travel centers
Months ago, the works council switched on the Berlin State Office for Occupational Safety, Health and Technical Safety (LAGetSi) - and asked for an examination.
While the authorities in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania noted several deficiencies, the Berliners let the railway go.
And asked the works council not to report any further to the authorities.
"I ask you to refrain from further e-mails in this regard," wrote the officer in charge.
At the beginning of February, BuzzFeed News and the ARD political magazine Report Mainz reported on the grievances. * This led to internal discussions at Bahn and LAGetSi.
The authority again examined seven travel centers in Berlin.
BuzzFeed News has a log of the visits.
Several shortcomings are clearly identified in this.
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Reporter Daniel Drepper continues to research poor working conditions and the exploitation of workers. You can also reach him anonymously via the encrypted Signal app (0151 407 95 370) or at daniel.drepper@buzzfeed.de.
The protective walls between employees and customers are “too small both in height and width”, says the paper.
In addition, the railway could not prove that the ventilation of the centers was sufficient.
And there is no plan for dealing with mental health problems of employees: inside the so-called mandatory risk assessment.
"We have asked the employer to eliminate these complaints at short notice," writes the director of the LAGetSi, Robert Rath, on request.
The railway now has until April 30th to remedy the deficiencies.
Otherwise there is a risk of a fine.
Coronavirus deficiencies: Deutsche Bahn has to correct itself when asked by BuzzFeed News
When asked by BuzzFeed News, however, the railway writes about the controls: “There were no deficiencies.” When asked again why the railway claims that no deficiencies were detected when there was a deficiency log and corresponding statements from the director of the authorities, he wrote A spokesman stated that LAGetSi had "not found any defects that would have required immediate action (eg closing locations)." Deutsche Bahn writes that it has already installed the correct partition walls in a number of travel centers across Germany, and that they have been ordered for all others
After reporting by BuzzFeed News and Report Mainz, the LAGetSi, the Senate Chancellery for Integration, Labor and Social Affairs, also dealt with the incident and announced that they would be examining the work of their occupational safety officers.
The works council of the DB travel centers no longer commented on the incident, as it is currently in a long-running arbitration process with Deutsche Bahn in which an external person is trying to mediate between staff and Deutsche Bahn. * BuzzFeed News Germany is a Offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
The editorial staff of BuzzFeed News Germany regularly reports on abuse of power, exploitation of workers and poor working conditions. You can reach the editors at recherche@buzzfeed.de.