The head of department/head of school/head of centre/deputy director is legally responsible for occupational health and safety in the unit, and it is therefore natural that this person has a place in the occupational health and safety organization, for example as a committee chair.
The head of department/head of school/head of centre/deputy director appoints the management representatives (AL) to the department’s/school’s/unit’s occupational health and safety groups. AL is usually the manager who is directly responsible for managing and thus directly responsible for supervising the work within the occupational health and safety group’s area. Thus, the head of department/head of school can be the management representative.
The AL and the occupational health and safety representative (AMR) together make up the occupational health and safety group (AMG). The cooperation between the AL and the AMR is at the heart of the unit’s occupational health and safety efforts.
The AL must help to ensure safe and healthy working conditions within the occupational health and safety group’s area. The AL makes decisions in the respective occupational health and safety forums following dialogue with the AMR.
By virtue of the AL’s position, he/she has a special responsibility for ensuring that the work of the AMG is efficient and preventive. Staff and students must be familiar with the risks associated with the work, they must have received the necessary instruction, they must work under safe working conditions and perform their work in a way that upholds satisfactory occupational standards. In the case of industrial injuries, the AL (or the AMR) reports the incident along with the injured person.
In short, the AL plays an important role in the daily work and must signal to all employees that the occupational health and safety work is an important and integral part of the work at the department/school/unit.
The AL must complete the statutory occupational health and safety training course no later than three months after having been appointed, unless the AL has already done the course.
The occupational health and safety training course:
The AL is also entitled to:
Occupational health and safety representatives (AMR) are part of the occupational health and safety group (AMG) and play an important role in:
The management representative (AL) and the occupational health and safety representative (AMR) together are the occupational health and safety group (AMG). The cooperation between the AL and the AMR is at the heart of the unit’s occupational health and safety efforts.
An AMR is elected by the employees in the area to which the employee belongs, and which the AMG covers – for example a small department/school or part of a department/school. The AMR is an important role model in the joint efforts to improve the work environment. AMR represents all the colleagues in the area which the AMG covers. If no AMR is elected, the AL is the only member of the AMG until the employees elect an AMR.
As an AU employee, you are eligible to be nominated for election as an AMR if you have been employed at AU for at least nine months. The AMR is elected by and from among all employees the, irrespective of professional affiliation, within the area covered by the AMG.
AMR are elected for a term (election period) of three years.
The AMR must have the necessary time available to handle the occupational health and safety work within normal working hours.
The AMR cannot resign from his/her position during the term of office, unless he/she leaves the workplace, the work area or is absent for a minimum of four months, for example due to leave or illness. The AMR cannot be forced out of his/her position by colleagues.
A newly elected AMR must complete the statutory occupational health and safety training course no later than three months after the election, unless he/she has already done the course.
The occupational health and safety training course:
AMR is also entitled to
A department/school/centre/administrative division can choose to establish an occupational health and safety manager/coordinator function if deemed necessary. An occupational health and safety manager/coordinator can also have the function at a faculty level.
The occupational health and safety manager/coordinator advises the unit’s management and anchors the occupational health and safety work within the unit to ensure safe and healthy working conditions.
An occupational health and safety manager/coordinator works with the local occupational health and safety organization on the unit’s overall occupational health and safety efforts. An important function is to ensure that decisions are implemented.
The task of the occupational health and safety manager/coordinator is to coordinate the occupational health and safety work and ensure that it works on an everyday basis. The occupational health and safety manager/coordinator must ensure progress in connection with the occupational health and safety tasks, for example the workplace assessment (WPA), that occupational health and safety is considered in connection with construction projects, the registration of chemicals etc. by following up on the tasks between the meetings of the occupational health and safety committee.
An occupational health and safety manager/coordinator can act as the contact between the Local Occupational Health and Safety Committee and internal or external consultants.
The occupational health and safety manager/coordinator is appointed/employed by the head of the unit. The choice can, for example, fall on one of the members of the local occupational health and safety committee or a person who is employed to handle the occupational health and safety work in collaboration with the occupational health and safety organization. The head of department/head of school/head of centre/deputy director can choose to delegate some of the tasks of the occupational health and safety manager/coordinator, e.g., coordinating the workplace assessment, to other employees if this is deemed to be the most expedient way of organizing the occupational health and safety work.
The head of department/head of school/head of centre/deputy director can assume the role and handle the tasks if no occupational health and safety manager/coordinator is appointed. The employer (head of department/head of school/head of centre/deputy director) is always formally responsible for occupational health and safety within his/her management area.
The study environment and the university’s work environment affect your time at AU, and there are several ways in which you can influence the physical environment on campus. AU wants to further develop an attractive study environment, and one of the university’s goals is to develop the physical surroundings to create a good study environment in step with changing needs. The students are therefore a natural part of AU’s occupational health and safety organization. If you are elected as a student representative, you must look after the interests of the students and help to improve the study environment.
AU works with the work environment at department/school level, at faculty level and at the uppermost coordinating level in the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee (HAMU). Students can be represented at all levels.
Student participation in the occupational health and safety organization is regulated by the Act on the Educational Environment for Students (Lov om elevers og studerendes undervisningsmiljø).
Students can be represented in the local occupational health and safety group. The election to the occupational health and safety group generally takes place through the students’ local degree program councils.
The student representatives in the occupational health and safety groups can also elect a representative with observer status to the Local Occupational Health and Safety Committee (LAMU).
The student representatives in LAMU can elect a representative with observer status to the faculty’s occupational health and safety committee. If there are no student members on the local committees, the student representatives can be elected by the student councils at the individual faculties.
The student representatives in FAMU can elect a representative with observer status to the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee. If there are no student members on these committees, the Student Council at AU elects a representative to the committee.
The chairman of LAMU or the leader of the area covered by the health and safety committee, decides whether a student representative may participate in the occupational health and safety training course which is mandatory for all management representatives and occupational health and safety representatives. The course lasts three days and gives thorough insights into the occupational health and safety rules.