TÜV Hessen – History

Early 19th century
Steam boiler explosions endanger people, the environment, and factories with their installations.

1848
“Statutes Concerning the Monitoring of Steam Boilers in Saxony”: The State of Saxony appoints special monitoring agents (technically trained engineers and technicians) as steam boiler inspectors. Based on this model, although much later, the same measure is taken sporadically, and often only temporarily, in Hesse, Oldenburg, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck (from 1880 on, in six districts in Prussia).
Simultaneous development: Out of judiciousness or for reasons of liability, large factories employ their own or, in association with other companies, special monitoring engineers in “monitoring associations for the guarantee of safety.”

1866
Birth of the “Technischer Überwachungs-Vereine” (Technical Control Associations, TÜV):
Founding of the association for the “Monitoring and Insurance of Steam Boilers” with its central office in Mannheim
Founders and members: 21 steam boiler operators with 37 boilers

Until the 1880s: further foundations of steam boiler monitoring associations in individual cities and specific regions