Germany's system of technical inspections started 150 years ago and now performs a wide range of checkups globally. But just how good are these certifiers, if inspected dams or breast implants turn out to be dangerous?
Image: DW/M. Malyi
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For Germans, the acronym TÜV is certainly a household name. It stands for Technischer Überwachungsverein, or Technical Inspection Association in English.
The TÜV certificate is generally understood to be a symbol of safety and can certainly influence a potential client's decision to buy a car from the current owner or not.
But checking cars is only a small proportion of what TÜV associations in Germany and abroad do today. They may scrutinize wind mills in Sweden, inspect machinery in Spain or certify a dam in Brazil.
There were also many casualties and disasters during the Industrial Revolution. With a lot of inventions being tried out back in the 19th century, not everything went smoothly, to say the least.
There are ample records of the explosion of a steam boiler at a brewery in Mannheim for instance. The 1865 incident motivated a group of engineers to found a first technical inspection association called DÜV (Steam Boiler Inspection Association). Many similar organizations followed in other places across the nation before they all came together in an umbrella organization in 1873, issuing first standards for construction and maintenance.
Inspectors reached out for more and more areas in the process, including the testing of electrical appliances and elevators.
"On the technical level, state safety supervision was privatized," Michael Adams told DW. He did extensive research on the TÜV system as a professor at Hamburg University. Adams notes that those associations back then were nonprofit, with the Prussian state paying the engineers decent salaries so that they could work independently.
No matter what structural changes have occurred since then, the TÜV system continues to play a crucial role. "We could all be dead, were it not for the critical work of TÜV inspectors," Adams insists. "More than ever, there's a huge demand for independent technical tests and certificates."
The wire rope inspectors
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Different landscape
Having said that, there's no denying the watershed change that happened in the 1990s. With reunited Germany liberalizing the inspection market, former monopolies became a thing of the past.
Regional associations merged into huge entities, employing tens of thousands of people each in Germany and abroad. They log revenues into the billions of euros annually as joint-stock companies.
"There was a time when TÜV was all about technical safety — now it's also about being profitable in a highly contested global market," Adams argues. That means trying to land the most lucrative contracts.
Scope of inspections differs widely
What also happens — on a contractual basis — is that only the documentation for a given product may be scrutinized, while material tests are not carried out at all. Newspaper reports highlighted a case involving TÜV Süd, which had certified a new hip replacement on behalf of Austrian producer Falcon Medical.
150 years of keeping Germans safe - TÜV
It all goes back to beer: An 1866 brewery blast was the catalyst for creating an inspection association to ensure boiler safety. Today, TÜV keeps Germans safe on the Autobahn, in classrooms, at the office and outside.
Image: TÜV Süd
Bad boilers
The steam engine powered the first industrial revolution. Steam was used in machines, locomotives, food processing and to store energy as pressurized air. But the first steam boilers and pressure tanks were extremely dangerous. The quality of the steel, riveting and welding was nowhere as high as today...
Image: TÜV Süd
An association for labor safety
When a steam boiler exploded in a Mannheim brewery in 1865, Mannheim industrialists founded the first Steam Boiler Revision and Insurance Association. This later became TÜV (Technischer Überwachungsverein, or Technical Inspection Association). Still, explosions routinely leveled factories thereafter. The explosion depicted above occurred in 1881 in Eschweiler near Aachen, killing many workers.
Image: TÜV Süd
Demand all over the place
In the following years, entrepreneurs founded numerous Steam Boiler Supervision Associations (DÜV) in nearly all towns and regions of Germany. After 1871, member companies could avoid inspections by the federal government. Well into the 20th century, the revision of steam boilers remained one of the primary tasks, since explosions were still common, like here in Nuremberg in 1916.
Image: TÜV Süd
DÜV becomes TÜV
As industry further developed, so too did the tasks of the DÜV associations. One of the many new fields of work included safety inspections of motor vehicles. DÜV became TÜV - a more general Technical Inspection Association. Today, most Germans first and foremost think of their frequent car inspections when they hear the brand name TÜV.
Image: TÜV Süd
Testing the safety of the product
TÜV does not only test the safety of cars that are already licensed. It also conducts test runs to identify weaknesses in the construction. It therefore has testing grounds at crash-site test locations like this one.
Image: TÜV Süd
Training rescuers
TÜV also works hand in hand with rescue teams and firefighters. Here, TÜV engineers simulate a car crash involving an old East German Trabant car as part of fire crew training. The organization also offers first aid and firefighting training for employees in large companies.
Image: TÜV Süd
Supervising humans
It's not just motor vehicles that have to function flawlessly - but the human beings driving them as well. If someone drives recklessly or while intoxicated, police authorities can require him or her to undergo a medical and psychological examination. Those who cannot pass TÜV's test - popularly called the "idiot test" - will not get their driving license back.
Image: TÜV Süd
Is there a doctor in the building?
Companies are obliged to care for the wellbeing of their employees, and large firms usually have a company doctor - often with an agreement from TÜV. The medic will administer vaccinations for people going on business travel to dangerous places and is in charge of helping workers who return after a longer medical absences. He or she is also in charge of monitoring workplace security.
Image: TÜV Süd
Good air, better learning
A classroom has to be safe, too. This TÜV engineer is testing the air for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB). They were once used in capacitors of fluorescent lamps, and if the capacitor breaks, the poisonous substance could get into the room. Elsewhere, TÜV also tests for asbestos, an insulation material once used widely and now known to cause cancer in humans.
Image: TÜV Süd
Fog or smog?
In Germany, there's a finely meshed network of stations controlling air quality - many operated by a local TÜV. They constantly measure for fine dust, nitrous oxides and sulfur oxides. The collected data is transmitted to state and federal environmental agencies.
Image: TÜV Süd
How safe are our products?
Producers of food and medicines are obliged to control and guarantee the safety of their products. And they have to document how they do it. They can therefore hire TÜV experts who utilize a network of TÜV biochemical laboratories to run the tests.
Image: TÜV Süd
Beware the electricity
Transformers provide you with low currents and can turn DC to AC. But how safe are they? Before a producers can sell transformers on the open market, they will need to have proof that they've been tested - like the GS label for "geprüfte Sicherheit" (proven safety). TÜV engineers can issue the label after a successful test.
Image: TÜV Süd
Will the ropes withstand the storm?
A static engineer controls the quality of ropes securing light masts at the Munich Olympic stadium. TÜV also checks cable cars, industrial facilities or cranes for stability.
Image: TÜV Süd
A thrilling rollercoaster
Rides at the fair are a tricky thing: There are strong forces and quick acceleration at work. Here, an engineer tests the connections of a rollercoaster rail. When he gives his green light, the fun can begin.
Image: Aif/Norman Rembarz
Back to the roots!
With all the additional tasks that TÜV has taken up since it's founding 150 years ago, one thing has not changed: supervising pressure tanks and steam boilers. Today, explosions are nowhere near as common today as they were in 1866.
Image: TÜV Süd
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A patient later complained about the complications caused by that highly risky hip prosthesis and demanded compensation. But TÜV Süd pointed out it had only been commissioned to check whether the product was in line with EU regulations and norms, meaning it only checked the papers, but was not involved in any material tests.
Another case involved TÜV Rheinland, which had approved faulty breast implants produced with counterfeit silicone and produced by French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).
All TÜV associations have liability riders in their statutes. "We shall be liable for damages, irrespective of the legal ground, in the context of fault-based liability, in the event of intent or gross negligence," says TÜV Süd for instance.
"Where's the TÜV for the TÜV," Michael Adams asks. There needs to be some kind of state supervision, he demands, involving random checks of inspections and the withdrawal of licenses for those not up to the mark.
"After all, a similar supervision is in place in the finance sector, where BaFin [Germany's financial watchdog] keeps an eye on the activities of systemic banks."
