Roles, tasks and responsibilities in the health and safety work

The health and safety group consists of an occupational health and safety representative and a health and safety leader, who are responsible for the daily tasks relating to health and safety in the local budget area. The health and safety group must continuously help to prevent the emergence of health and safety problems and, if they arise, to participate in the solution of them. The main tasks of the health and safety group are

• to conduct the annual health and safety review,
• to organise cooperation and health and safety work,
• to include health and safety considerations when planning,
• to carry out workplace assessments (APV) and risk evaluations,
• to monitor the working environment conditions through inspection rounds, observations, dialogue, etc.,
• to participate in the examination and reporting of occupational injuries
• and to manage local health and safety considerations of importance for the students’ physical and mental study environment.

In larger complex budget areas, it is possible to create a Local Health and Safety Committee to support the health and safety groups’ local health and safety work. The local health and safety committee consists of all the health and safety groups in the relevant budget unit with the head of the budget unit as chair of the committee. Local health and safety committees must be approved by the General Occupational Health and Safety Committee.

The occupational health and safety representative is available to management and colleagues for matters of occupational health and safety. The occupational health and safety representative is not responsible for health and safety but participates as a sparring partner for management and is a spokesperson for colleagues in the health and safety collaboration.

The health and safety leader works along with the occupational health and safety representative in the health and safety group to ensure a good working environment and to prevent health and safety problems. The health and safety leader participates mainly by directing or supervising the work of others.

The faculty occupational health and safety committees consist of the head of the main area, an occupational health and safety representative and a supervisor from the area’s health and safety groups. However, the Faculty Occupational Health and Safety Committees at NAT, TEK and SUND have two health and safety representatives and two supervisors. 
In the individual main areas, the faculty occupational health and safety committees support the General Occupational Health and Safety Committee’s overall management and coordination of SDU’s health and safety work. The work of the Faculty Occupational Health and Safety Committees concerns the planning, management and coordination of occupational health and safety work within:

• health and safety-related issues with financial implications for the main area,
• principal matters for the area,
• mental health and safety,
• supervision of the main area’s occupational health and safety level and the health and safety work of the health and safety groups,
• and cases of relevance to the main area in which the Danish Working Environment Authority is involved.

The General Occupational Health and Safety Committee consists of four occupational health and safety representatives, four management representatives and the Rector as chair, who plan, manage, advise and inform about as well as supervise SDU’s health and safety work. For example, it is the task of the General Occupational Health and Safety Committee:

• to participate in determining the size and composition of the health and safety organisation,
• to coordinate with other enterprises at the same place of work,
• to advise on the solution of health and safety issues and on how health and safety is integrated into the university’s strategic management and day-to-day operations,
• to establish principles for adequate and necessary training and instruction and advise on the competency development plan,
• to ensure that the causes of occupational injuries are investigated and to prevent recurrence,
• to inspect the work environment,
• to ensure that the safety groups are informed and receive guidance about the work.

The teaching environment representative is chosen by the students to represent the students’ interests to the educational institution’s management in order to create a good teaching environment. The teaching environment representatives have an advisory role in the educational institution’s health and safety work when dealing with matters of importance in relation to the students’ teaching environment.

Tasks will typically be:

• Follow-up on the teaching environment assessment and the workplace assessment so that any deficiencies are rectified.
• Ensure that security, etc. is in order.
• Participate in the planning of new implementations (e.g. new equipment and new facilities).