Lesson 3.1 · 6 min

The hygiene plan and records

Open in the coursewith narrated slides, a checklist to tick off and a quiz

At a glance

1 May 2025. Since that day the Dental Chamber's hygiene regulation has applied. The dentist is responsible; tasks can be delegated to the assistants.
The risk assessment. The requirements depend on what you treat and how many patients you see. You set that down in the hygiene plan.
Six things. Instruction, cleaning and waste, waste records, responsibility for reprocessing, procedures, and any outsourced reprocessing.
Date and signature. Staff confirm training with date, name and signature. Instructions carry the date they were written and took effect.
Seven years. These records are kept for seven years. Templates are in Annex 1 of the regulation.

In detail

The regulation

The Austrian Dental Chamber's Hygiene Regulation 2025 (ÖZÄK-HygV 2025) has applied since 1 May 2025 § 24(1) HygV. It was issued under powers delegated by the state, so it is binding, not just a recommendation. The QSV refers to it expressly for the hygiene criterion § 5 no. 4 QSV.

The dentist is responsible for running the practice hygienically; specific tasks can be delegated to staff qualified as dental assistants § 1 HygV. The requirements depend on the practice's work, its treatments and its patient numbers (risk assessment) § 2 HygV. Recommendations the chamber publishes on its website on top "must be observed" § 3 HygV.

The hygiene plan

The requirements are set out, according to the risk assessment, in a hygiene plan, following the template in Annex 1 § 5(1) HygV. The following must be documented in writing § 5(2) HygV:

	What	Example
a	training and instruction of staff on general hygiene	instruction list with signatures
b	information and responsibility for cleaning and waste disposal	cleaning and disinfection plan
c	the waste records required by law	consignment notes
d	information and responsibility for reprocessing instruments, where the practice reprocesses	name of the person responsible
e	procedures for the reprocessing process	a work instruction per instrument group
f	reprocessing contracted to an outside provider	contract

How it is documented

Staff confirm training and instruction with date, name and signature § 6(1) HygV.
Procedures, responsibilities and duties are documented separately with the date they were written and took effect § 6(2) HygV.
The records must be kept for seven years § 6(3) HygV.

Annex 1 contains templates for the hygiene plan, staff instruction, the cleaning and disinfection plan, a disposal plan, reprocessing and a sterilisation record sheet, plus a list of waste types. The chamber calls the templates a guide, to be adapted to the practice's own range of treatments (Annex 1). The annexes and templates can be downloaded from its website § 23 HygV.

Checklist

We have a hygiene plan on the Annex 1 template, matching our treatments.
Every hygiene instruction is confirmed with date, name and signature.
The people responsible for cleaning, waste and reprocessing are named in writing.
Procedures carry the date they were written and took effect.
We keep all these records for seven years.

Quiz

How long must the hygiene records under § 5(2) HygV be kept?

Seven years
Thirty years
One year
Three years

Show the answer

The answer is A: Seven years. Records under § 5(2) must be kept for 7 years (§ 6(3) ÖZÄK-HygV 2025).

Sources

This lesson's statements rest on:

Not legal advice. What counts is the acts and regulations in the Federal Legal Information System and the Austrian Dental Chamber's regulations (read on 7 October 2026). The health minister's regulation with the criteria from 2028 (§ 9b(2) GQG) had not been issued on that day. Not covered are insurer contracts, billing, data protection in detail and the employer's duties under the Worker Protection Act in detail; there is a separate course on those at aschg.globalapps.top. Not an offer of the Austrian Dental Chamber, a regional dental chamber, the BIQG or the Chamber of Commerce.