In the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina, the German midfielder Christoph Kramer collided with Ezequiel Garay and blacked out. He asked the referee: Schiri, ist das das Finale? Ref, is this the final? He stayed on the pitch for about fifteen more minutes with a concussion and was taken off after 30 minutes. He still cannot remember it. In June 2019 the German football association’s medical commission told the clubs that every professional in the first and second Bundesliga must have a neurological baseline screening at the yearly fitness examination. In March 2023 the clubs signed the first common DFL-Protokoll Kopfverletzungen, a protocol for head injuries. Head coaches, sporting directors and team doctors each signed it. It obliges club medical staff to attend emergency training every year. An appendix sets out the return of a player to training and matches after a concussion. The doctor who led the working group, Tim Meyer, said: Kopfverletzungen sind keine Bagatellen. Head injuries are not trifles.
Traffic Songs for School Children
Rolf Zuckowski is a German songwriter for children. Since 1979 his Schulweg-Hitparade, the school-route hit parade, has taught children how to behave in traffic. The car magazine Auto Bild called it die musikalische Bibel der deutschen Verkehrserziehung, the musical bible of German traffic education. Its best-known songs are Mein Platz im Auto ist hinten, my seat in the car is in the back, and Zebrastreifen, zebra crossing. A child knows to stop at red and to sit in the back of the car, the magazine wrote, from Rolf Zuckowski. For expert advice, Zuckowski went to the police traffic instructor at his daughter’s primary school and to the German Road Safety Council. His reason: Ich konnte ja nicht einfach so drauflossingen. I could not just start singing without knowing.
Wheel Guards at Carnival
German carnival parades have written rules for the floats. At the carnival parade in Dessau on 2 March 2025, every float needed Wagenengel, wagon angels, also called Radwachen, wheel guards. They walk beside the wheels that are not covered. Their task is to stop people from getting under the vehicle or its wheels. How many a float needs depends on its length. A float without the required number of wagon angels was excluded from the parade. In the Bavarian district of Pfaffenhofen, a leaflet of December 2023 sets similar rules. There must be one escort on each side of the tractor, and one on each side of every axle of the float. Escorts must be at least 16, completely sober and wear a safety vest. Floats may move only at walking pace. Where people stand on a float, the railing must be at least 1.10 meters high. The leaflet for the carnival parade in Ketsch, in Baden-Württemberg, gives the reason for the escorts: Zur Vermeidung von Unfällen, to avoid accidents.
The Food Hygiene Instruction
Anyone in Germany who starts a job with food, such as meat, dairy products, baked goods or ice cream, or who works in the kitchen of a restaurant, canteen or café, first needs a certificate from the public health office. It confirms that the person has been instructed about the legal duties and about which infectious diseases bar them from the work. The certificate must not be older than three months when the job begins. After that, the employer must repeat the instruction once the job has started and then every two years. The certificate and the record of the last instruction stay with the employer. The certificate replaced the old Gesundheitszeugnis, the health certificate under the former federal epidemics law. The old certificates are still valid.
The Five Safety Rules
Before anyone works on an electrical installation in Germany, five steps come first. They are die fünf Sicherheitsregeln, the five safety rules, set out in the standard DIN VDE 0105-100 on the operation of electrical installations.
Freischalten — disconnect.
Gegen Wiedereinschalten sichern — secure against switching back on.
Spannungsfreiheit feststellen — verify that no voltage is present.
Erden und kurzschließen — earth and short-circuit.
Benachbarte, unter Spannung stehende Teile abdecken oder abschranken — cover or fence off nearby live parts.
The accident insurance institution for the electrical trades, BG ETEM, calls them the essential requirements for making a work site free of voltage and keeping it so for as long as the work lasts. Teaching material for electrical training in Hesse adds the order. A work site may be released only after the rules have been carried out from 1 to 5. Power may be switched back on only after they have been lifted in reverse order, from 5 to 1.
After the Ice Rink Collapsed
In January 2006 the roof of the ice rink in Bad Reichenhall, in Bavaria, collapsed. Fifteen people died, twelve of them children. The same year, the conference of German building ministers adopted first rules and guidance for checking the structural safety of buildings. In February 2010 the engineers’ association VDI published the guideline VDI 6200, Standsicherheit von Bauwerken – Regelmäßige Überprüfung, structural safety of buildings, regular inspection. Its introduction gives the reason. After a series of tragic building collapses in Europe early in 2006, the call for a technical rule could no longer be ignored. The guideline gives reference values for how often a building should be inspected. It contains checklists, practical instructions and evaluation criteria. One chapter covers the Bauwerksbuch Standsicherheit, a logbook of a building’s structural safety.
The Questions for an Emergency Call
German children learn the W-Fragen, the W questions, for an emergency call to 112. Teaching material of the German Red Cross youth organization, for children from second grade, lists them.
Wo? — Where is the emergency?
Was? — What happened?
Wie viele? — How many people are injured?
Welche? — Which injuries did you see?
Warten! — Wait for questions.
In October 2017 a joint committee of the fire protection association vfdb and the German Fire Brigade Association reviewed the list for fire safety teaching in kindergartens and primary schools. Phones now transmit the caller’s number, so “who is calling” matters less and less. The number of injured, the committee wrote, has lost all importance for children, who cannot judge it reliably. Its conclusion: Ein Auswendiglernen der W-Fragen ist nicht mehr nötig. Memorizing the W questions is no longer necessary. The committee still wanted the questions taught. It put Wo first and redefined Warten as listening to the dispatcher and answering his questions.
The Bathing Rules
On 28 July 1912 the landing stage at the end of the pier in Binz, on the island of Rügen, broke. Sixteen people drowned, two of them children. At the time, according to the German life-saving association DLRG, about five thousand people drowned each year and few people could swim. The DLRG was founded in Leipzig on 19 October 1913. Today it teaches its Baderegeln, bathing rules. Some of them, as written in DLRG training material:
Nicht kopfüber in unbekannte Gewässer springen! — Do not dive headfirst into unknown waters.
Nicht mit vollem Magen schwimmen gehen! — Do not go swimming on a full stomach.
Nicht alkoholisiert baden gehen! — Do not go swimming after drinking alcohol.
Überanstrengungen vermeiden, eigene Kräfte nicht überschätzen! — Avoid overexertion and do not overestimate your strength.
Gewässer bei Gewitter sofort verlassen! — Leave the water at once in a thunderstorm.
A DLRG group in Bad Salzuflen turned the rules into a quiz for children. Für uns ist wichtig, dass die Kinder die Bedeutung der Regeln verstehen und auch in eigenen Worten beschreiben können. What matters to us is that the children understand the meaning of the rules and can describe them in their own words.
Safety Rules in Rhyme
Messer, Gabel, Schere, Licht sind für kleine Kinder nicht. — Knife, fork, scissors, light are not for little children. A rhyme told to small children.
Zuerst das Wasser, dann die Säure, sonst geschieht das Ungeheure. — First the water, then the acid, or something monstrous happens. Often said as Erst das Wasser…. It is a rule of thumb for diluting acid. Diluting releases a lot of heat, and the solution can spatter out of control.
Eichen sollst du weichen, Buchen sollst du suchen. — Avoid oaks, seek beeches. Advice for a thunderstorm.
The last rhyme is wrong. The weather site wetterdienst.de answers it with Bloß nicht!, certainly not. Trees are usually taller than their surroundings, and it makes little difference whether a tree is an oak or a beech.
The Yearly Safety Briefing
The basic accident prevention regulation of the German statutory accident insurers, DGUV Vorschrift 1, requires employers to instruct their staff on safety and health at work. Paragraph 4 says this Unterweisung, the safety briefing, must be repeated when necessary, at least once a year, and must be documented. A sample form from the accident insurer BG ETEM shows what documented means. Each employee signs below this sentence: Mit meiner Unterschrift bestätige ich, dass ich an der Unterweisung teilgenommen und den Inhalt verstanden habe. With my signature I confirm that I attended the briefing and understood its content. Paragraph 15 then requires employees to act according to the briefing and the employer’s instructions.