The main task of the department is to avoid infections and to break infection chains.

To achieve this, hospital infection control and environmental health must be secured as the basic requirements. In addition, the natural, social and technical environment and its effects on everything that is going on in the Klinikum must also be controlled.

The department's function is to educate and train staff members in the implementation of hygiene, also on a supraregional level.

Hospital infection control is an essential part of quality assurance in all medical and technical areas of the clinics.

The department maintains statistics for outbreaks of infections relating to epidemiology and infectology. It also gives advice on staff protection and health education, compiles decision analyses on the use of materials, determines safe handling procedures for toxic substances and the use of harmless construction products, etc.