Occupational and social rehabilitation

The statutory accident insurance institutions assume the costs of all measures required for occupational participation.
Measures which they finance include:

• Assistance in retaining or finding a workplace
• Measures for selecting a vocation, sample work experience, and preparation for a vocation
• Retraining, initial and further training
• Training courses and study materials
• Examinations
• Costs of travel, board and lodging.

Additional accident insurance benefits may be granted for schoolchildren:

• One-to-one tuition at the hospital bedside or at home, if the future course of education is at risk owing to the duration of schooling lost as a result of the accident
• Assumption of the cost of travel to school, in order to ensure the earliest possible resumption of lessons and to avert potential difficulties in keeping pace
• Provision of technical tuition and study aids
• Provision of schooling in a special training institution for the disabled, including accommodation in a residential or nursing home.

Social support is also an element in the social re-integration of schoolchildren or employees following a school or occupational accident or an occupational disease. This assistance furthers participation in community life and takes the form of household, accommodation and vehicle benefits. The affected individuals receive support for example in:

• Conversion of their homes (conversion of the sanitary facilities, installation of wide doors, lifts, ramps)
• Conversion or purchase of specially equipped vehicles.Certain conditions are formally recognized as occupational diseases when they have been contracted as a result of exposure, during insured activity, to health hazards at a higher level than the exposure for the wider population. Formally recognized occupational diseases are indicated on the list of occupational diseases which is issued by the German government with the approval of the upper chamber. Other diseases may also be recognized as being occupational in origin if new medical/scientific findings show them to meet the criteria for inclusion in the list of formally recognized occupational diseases.