Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits
• Therapeutic treatment (rehabilitation)
• Accident pensions
• Accident insurance consultants
• Reporting accidents at the workplace

Statutory accident insurance provides comprehensive benefits

The accident insurance aims at preventing accidents. However, despite all efforts, this is not always possible. In these cases the accident insurance provides support and takes care of members and their surviving dependents. The main benefits are:

• Therapeutic treatment, and
• Pensions.

Therapeutic treatment (rehabilitation)

Regardless whether accident at work or occupational illness, the BG Verkehr will make every effort to restore health and maintain capacity for work, according to the principle: "rehabilitation before pensions".

If an accident has happened, the accident and prevention insurance associations ("Berufsgenossenschaften") and the accident funds ("Unfallkassen") pay injury benefits or transitional allowances to provide income for the insured person during medical or occupational rehabilitation. The legal basis for these payments is volume seven of the German Social Insurance Code (SGB VII).

The statutory accident insurance provides for different kinds of rehabilitation:

For more detailed information please refer to the website of the German statutory accident insurance ("Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung, DGUV" - only in German).

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Accident pensions

Injury pension due to reduced earning capacity

Treatment and rehabilitation do not always result in the complete restoration of the patient’s earning capacity. If, despite of all rehabilitation efforts, the earning capacity remains reduced by at least 20 per cent  for more than 26 weeks after the accident at the workplace, commuting accident or occupational illness, the accident and prevention insurance association pays an injury pension, as soon as the entitlement to injury benefits expires.

The amount of pension is proportional to the reduction of earning capacity. The full pension is paid if the earning capacity has been lost completely.

Benefits for surviving dependents

If an insured person dies due to an event covered by the insurance, the surviving dependents are entitled to:

• Funeral benefits and reimbursement of costs for transportation of the body, anf
• Surviving dependents pensions.

Surviving dependents pensions comprise:

• Widow’s and widower’s pensions,
• Orphan’s pensions, and
• Pensions for close relatives.

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Widow’s and widower’s pensions

The widow’s and widower’s pension is paid from the day of the insured person’s death and amounts to 40 per cent of his annual earnings, if the widow or widower

• is at least 47 years old, or
• raises a child entitled to orphan’s pension, or
• is of reduced earning capacity according to pension insurance provisions.

If the conditions are not fulfilled, the widow’s and widower’s pension amounts to 30 per cent of the annual earnings of the insured person.

The entitlement to the widow’s and widower’s pension ends 24 months after the day of death. Only in cases, where the insured person has died prior to 01 January 2002 or has been married prior to that date and was born prior to 02 January 1962, the pension is paid permanently.

Own income of the widow or widower is subtracted from the pension.

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Orphan’s pension

Orphans are entitled to an orphan’s pension after the death of their father or mother, if the deceased parent has completed the general qualifying period of five years. If one parent has died there is an entitlement to a half-orphan’s pension; if both parents have died to a full-orphan’s pension.

Entitlement to an orphan’s pension exists until the orphan reaches the age of 18. For orphans in education or vocational training or prevented to provide for their own upkeep due to disability orphan’s pensions are paid up to the age of 27.

The half-orphan’s pension amounts to 20 per cent of the annual earnings of the insured deceased, the full-orphan’s pension to 30 per cent.

Pension for relatives in the ascending line

Relatives in the ascending line receive a pension, if they have been or would have been supported to a considerable degree from the earnings of the deceased.

The pension for one parent amounts to 20 per cent of the annual earnings of the insured deceased, for the couple to 30 per cent.

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Special care by accident insurance consultants

After an accident at the workplace an immediate, optimal treatment is vital. In case of an accident at the workplace or of a commuting accident the accident insurance can rely on highly competent, specially trained doctors, so called accident insurance consultants. Victims of an accident at the workplace or of a commuting accident must see such an accident insurance consultant, if:

• the injury causes incapacity to work not only on the day of the accident, or
• the required medical treatment is likely to last more than one week, or
• therapeutic remedies and medical aids have to be prescribed, or
• an illness has re-emerged as a result of a previous accident.

The accident insurance consultant decides, whether a general treatment by the family doctor is sufficient, or whether the kind or gravity of the injury requires special treatment, normally given by himself. In case of treatment by the family doctor the accident insurance consultant monitors the progress of the recovery. 
For further information on the involvement of accident insurance consultants please refer to the website of the "Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung" (DGUV, German statutory accident insurance).

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Accidents at the workplace must be reported

The accident and prevention insurance associations and accident funds can only provide benefits, if accident at the workplace are reported. The employer is obliged to report an accident at the workplace of his employee, if the accident results in incapacity to work for more than three days or in death.

There are several ways to report the accident:

1. on paper and digitally via the portal "BGdirekt" of the BG Verkehr or
2. via the online service portal of the German staturtory accident insurance DGUV

If there are indications for an occupational illness, this has to be reported to the responsible accident and prevention insurance association ("Berufsgenossenschaft") or accident fund ("Unfallkasse").

The accident and prevention insurance association or accident fund evaluates the report for the kind and severity of the damage and decides on measures or benefits required to restore the insured person’s capacity to work. Payment of financial benefits is also considered by the association or fund. An application needs not to be filed.

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