A visit from the Danish Working Environment Authority
The Danish Working Environment Authority has the right to access the entire company and to talk to all employees. Health and safety rules are the same for all companies — regardless of sector or size. The Danish Working Environment Authority uses different methods when inspecting health and safety at companies, but the same requirements apply to health and safety, regardless of which inspection method they use.
The inspections are often presented as a “basic inspection”. This means that inspection efforts are targeted at those companies in which the Danish Working Environment Authority expects to find the greatest problems with health and safety. The purpose of the inspection is to check whether the company complies with the health and safety rules and to react if there are significant health and safety problems.
Companies selected for a basic inspection are usually informed of the upcoming inspection approximately 1-12 months before the inspection visit, but are not told the date of the visit. The visits are therefore unannounced.
When the Danish Working Environment Authority visits a workplace, they look at both physical and mental health and safety. The Danish Working Environment Authority takes the latest APV (workplace assessment) as a starting point and will often ask the unit to report on current issues and how they are being addressed. Specifically, the Danish Working Environment Authority asks about the workplace assessment, the annual health and safety review and instruction of employees and accidents.
The Danish Working Environment Authority typically assesses companies’ own efforts in the following areas:
- Cooperation on health and safety: What does the health and safety organisation look like, has the health and safety group completed the statutory training and is supplementary health and safety training offered? SDU has developed a competence plan (only in Danish) for health and safety and provides training offers every year.
- The annual health and safety review: Has SDU’s general occupational health and safety committee carried out the annual health and safety review? The results of the annual health and safety review can be found under Annual Health and Safety Review.
- Workplace assessment: Are all workplaces covered, is there an action plan with guidelines for follow-up, is sick leave included in the workplace assessment, have the health and safety groups been involved in the workplace assessment, is the workplace assessment in written form and accessible to employees, is the workplace assessment reviewed at least every three years and have any changes been made that have an impact on health and safety? Description of SDU’s common workplace assessment methodology and the results of recent evaluations can be found under workplace assessment and well-being evaluation.
- Accidents: Have there been accidents that have not been reported? Have preventive measures been taken against the recurrence of reported accidents and resulting complications? At SDU, all accidents must be reported. Under Occupational Injuries, you can find information on how to deal with accidents at work.
- Chemistry: Are there workplace instructions for any hazardous substances? On the Chemical health and safety page, you can find information on what you need to be aware of when working with chemical substances.
- Other areas: Are there instructions for use for CE-marked machinery and pressure equipment, and are statutory inspections carried out?
The Danish Working Environment Authority will also take as its starting point the issues mentioned and addressed in the Authority’s guides that are relevant to the sector and the work in question.
When the Danish Working Environment Authority gives notice of an unannounced inspection, there are a number of administrative processes (only in Danish) that need to be taken care of both before and after the visit.
It is assumed that the content of the Danish Working Environment Authority’s guides that are relevant to the sector and the work in question is already known, and that health and safety groups should have considered the extent to which the content is relevant to the work carried out in the health and safety group’s area.
The health and safety groups can also prepare for the inspection by referring to the checklists below, which indicate the formal requirements for the Health and Safety Organisation’s own efforts and the intention of the Danish Working Environment Authority regarding the level of prevention in the workplaces:
- Checklist for offices and classrooms (only in Danish)
- Checklist for operational and service areas (only in Danish)
- Checklist for laboratories (only in Danish)
- General checklist for when the Danish Working Environment Authority comes on a notified inspection (only in Danish)
If you are in doubt about how you as an employee should behave towards the inspector when the Danish Working Environment Authority approaches your workplace, a document with detailed information for employees (only in Danish) has been prepared. In the document, there is also an English text which explains a little about the Danish Working Environment Authority and their role and task during a visit. The health and safety group can use the text with international employees in preparation for a future inspection.
As an employee, the Danish Working Environment Authority can also knock on your door, and if they do, you should refer them to your health and safety group. You can find your health and safety group under Health and Safety Groups at SDU.
Good advice for when the Danish Working Environment Authority approaches your workplace:
- The inspection should preferably be done with both the management representative and the employee representative (health and safety group) from the area concerned, so if possible make sure that both are present during the visit.
- Be yourself, and show courtesy towards the inspector. You can offer the inspector coffee.
- Make sure you fully understand the questions and the context to which they refer before answering.
- Answer questions clearly and precisely.
- If there are questions you cannot answer because you lack information, ask the inspector to direct their enquiry to the person who knows something about the subject in question.
- Don’t guess, lie or deny observations.
- You should always know:
- Who is in your health and safety group?
- Where can you find the workplace assessment and the time and action plan? (workplace assessment reports are on SharePoint. Time and action plans are managed by your health and safety group, so ask them if you are unsure)