BAM sets and promotes high standards for safety in technology and chemistry for Germany and its global markets in order to further develop the successful German quality culture "Made in Germany". BAM carries out this task with the help of its approximately 1,600 employees from around 50 nations at four facilities.
According to its founding decree, the BAM is responsible for the
• continued development of safety in technology and chemistry
• performance and evaluation of physical and chemical tests of substances and equipment including the provision of reference methods and reference materials
• promotion of knowledge and technology transfer in BAM's fields of research
• collaboration in the development of legal regulations, e.g. in setting safety standards and limits
• advising the Federal Government, industry and national and international organisations in the area of materials technology and chemistry
The prerequisite for our scientific and technical performance is our own research and development of high quality and continuity. Research and development are the basis for our scientific-technical, sovereign and public services as well as for the transfer of knowledge and technology. This includes fundamental and applied research as well as the development of new products and processes.
BAM's research activities are divided into five subject areas:
- Energy
- Infrastructure
- Environment
- Material
- Analytical Science
The area of security is part of the subject area infrastructure and primarily addresses scenarios in which technology and chemicals are used with the intention of causing harm to people, nature and infrastructure, but it also covers civil security research in general since many scenarios and the damages incurred are independent of the causes.
Here, the BAM is active in the following areas:
- experimental, holistic impact assessment up to real scale (explosions, hazardous substances, effectiveness of protective measures)
- analytics, detection, measurement, identification (explosives, IEDs, hazardous substances)
As a cross-sectional subject, the security field has a very wide scope. For example, there are close links to the fields of sensor technology, hydrogen and electrical energy storage with regard to the opportunities and risks posed by renewable energies for first responders.
Our research in the field of civil security is always based on practical questions and the perspective of first responders. For this purpose, BAM has at its disposal a test site which is unique in Europe and which offers extraordinary possibilities for investigating reactive chemical substances, their transport packaging as well as technical systems used in industry, transportation and infrastructure from a safety point of view, even on a real scale in complex scenarios.
