Nine-Hour Danger Threshold: Germany's Workplace Watchdog Flags Exponential Injury Risk in Long-Hour Study
24.06.2026 - 00:52:11 | boerse-global.de
Berlin – A heated political struggle over working-time rules has been given a sharp new edge by a major scientific review. Just days after Labour Minister Bärbel Bas unveiled a draft reform that would allow workdays longer than ten hours under collective agreements, the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA) published a systematic analysis showing that health dangers climb sharply once employees pass the nine-hour mark.
The BAuA review, released on 23 June, examined 134 studies conducted between 2013 and 2025. Its core finding: from the ninth hour of daily work onward, the risk of errors and safety incidents begins to rise. A companion BAuA dossier describes the increase in accident likelihood as “exponential.” Beyond ten hours, the probability of cardiovascular disease grows. At twelve-hour shifts, the incidence of type 2 diabetes and burnout symptoms climbs markedly.
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The agency’s conclusion is unambiguous: keeping a daily maximum working time as a protective measure remains essential.
Reality Check: 43 Hours Worked, 38.4 Contracted
The warning lands against a backdrop of widespread unpaid overtime. A second BAuA dossier, published on 24 June, documents that full-time employees in Germany actually work an average of 43 hours per week, while their contracts stipulate only 38.4 hours. Long weeks of 48 hours or more affect 14 percent of men and 6 percent of women.
Data from Austria reinforces the trend. A GPA study from spring 2026 found that more than a third of workers there doubt they can remain in their current occupation until retirement, citing time pressure and psychological strain as the main reasons.
The Contested Reform
Minister Bas’s draft bill, which surfaced on 19 June, would preserve the current daily eight-hour maximum in principle but introduce a significant loophole. Under the proposal, collective-bargaining partners could agree to a weekly instead of a daily limit. That would make workdays exceeding ten hours possible, and the mandatory eleven-hour rest period could be waived. The trade-off: a twelve-month average cap of 48 hours per week.
The plan also mandates electronic time recording, with transition periods for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Unions and Psychologists Push Back; Business Demands More
The proposed flexibilisation has split stakeholders sharply. On 23 June, the AOP-GA initiative—an alliance of psychologists’ associations and the PASiG—warned that longer hours do not automatically boost productivity, but do raise absenteeism and early retirement rates. A DGB survey found that 98 percent of workers reject workdays longer than ten hours.
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From the business side, Mercedes-Benz supervisory board chairman Martin BrudermĂĽller called on 22 June for a return to the 40-hour week, arguing that Germany had lost its productivity edge and longer hours were now reasonable.
The Federal Association of Wholesale, Foreign Trade and Services (BGA) and the Mittelstands- und Wirtschaftsunion (MIT) Ludwigshafen fired a different critique. They contend that the reform’s flexibility only benefits companies bound by collective agreements. Since only about half of all employees and a fraction of businesses are covered by such deals, the associations demand a weekly maximum working time for everyone—along with less red tape in time tracking.
