New local agreement on health and safety work at SDU

A healthy and safe working environment where employees thrive does not develop on its own; we all have an influence on the quality of the working environment at SDU. This is why the framework for our work to achieve and maintain a good physical and mental working environment is important.

New needs – new organisation

SDU now has a new local agreement that frames the organisation, choices and division of responsibilities in the work with health and safety. The previous local agreement was signed in 2011, and the development in requirements and needs in the health and safety work since then called for a renewal: We need to be able to adapt the health and safety organisation to our tasks, organisation and geography, we need better interdisciplinary coordination and proximity in all campus cities, and we need to update roles, tasks and responsibilities in the health and safety work to match today’s external demands and internal needs.

Important changes

Principles. The new local agreement sets out new principles for organising health and safety work. Whereas the main principle of the organisation used to be to follow line management, the nature and organisation of the work and the organisation and geography of the University now take precedence.

Health and safety management. In general, the head of division, head of department or similar will still be the health and safety manager and be responsible for health and safety work in the unit, but it is possible to appoint another health and safety manager if this ensures a greater effect of the local health and safety work and continues to follow the principle of consideration for the nature of the work, etc.

Campus organisation: In the campuses outside Odense, campus occupational health and safety committees (CAMU) will be established with responsibility for coordinating the campus-specific health and safety work. An organisation similar to the FAMU, which is the coordinating health and safety committee of the faculties and the Central Administration. However, the CAMUs will not be responsible for the entire health and safety work, like FAMU is, but will concentrate on coordinat-ing the work on campus-specific health and safety issues. The CAMUs are designed to strengthen the work environment at SDU’s campuses outside Odense.

Roles, tasks and responsibilities. Lastly, the description of the AMO’s tasks has been updated so that roles, tasks and responsibilities reflect developments in the health and safety work.

The local agreement has been shaped by a small working group of management and employee representatives, and also to a large extent by consultations within the organisation where the local agreement was discussed among managers, health and safety representatives and union repre-sentatives who provided input for improvements.

See SDU’s new Local Agreement on the organisation of health and safety work.

From a general framework to specific health and safety work

Now we need to make the new local agreement work in practice. Over the summer, we will elect health and safety representatives and appoint health and safety managers to the health and safety organisation. In the autumn, we will conduct workplace assessments (APVs) and well-being sur-veys, discuss work environment challenges and make action plans. And at the beginning of 2025, a new health and safety strategy will set the overall direction for the health and safety work.

Would you like to know more about health and safety at SDU?

If you would like to know more about the health and safety work at SDU, perhaps because you are considering running for the position as health and safety representative in the elections to the health and safety organisation in June, you can get an overview of the organisation, the tasks per-formed and the expectations for your contribution to the health and safety work. You can also find information about support for the daily health and safety work and opportunities for skills devel-opment as a member of the health and safety organisation.

You can find an introduction to the health and safety organisation and health and safety work here.