Working environment consultation

About the working environment consultation

The working environment consultation is part of the systematic HSE work.

Working environment consultations are carried out in years in which there is no employee survey, and mainly during the autumn semester, i.e. by the end of November.

The purpose of the conversation is:

• A dialogue about the current situation as a basis for further development of the working environment
• Status of the action plan from the previous employee survey
• Focus on management and employeeship; how we together can help maintain / enhance work satisfaction and job commitment at OsloMet
• The manager with personnel responsibility is in charge of the planning, implementation and follow-up of the working environment consultation. In difficult cases HR may assist in the planning and implementation of the meeting. In special cases, the occupational health service (BHT) may assist.

An action plan with points of upkeeping and improvement must be prepared in connection with the working environment consultation.

The consultation must be documented.

Planning

The working environment consultation is usually planned in collaboration with a safety delegate. HR can be brought in for particularly demanding situations. The purpose is to prepare the working environment consultation as well as possible.

Relevant topics to address:

• What do we know about the working environment conditions in the unit?
• Does an action plan result from the previous employee survey? Has it been followed?
• Are there other ongoing working environment processes in the unit?
• Does the working environment situation require special adaptation of the consultation?
• Is it appropriate for us to follow the "Guiding template for the implementation of the working environment consultation" as it is or should we make any adjustments?
• How do we prepare a successful process based on the number of employees in the unit?
• Clarification of roles and responsibilities in the working environment consultation:
  • The manager is responsible for the implementation of the consultation
  • The safety delegate participates on a par with other employees
  • Is there anything about the working environment that indicates that an external representative from the occupational health service should or must be involved?
• It should also be clarified whether the summary of the consultation should take another form than measures and action plans.

Summons

The manager is in charge of summoning employees well ahead of implementation. He/she must inform about the timeframe, location, purpose of the meeting and how the consultation is thought to be implemented. If  focus will be put on any points in particular this must  also be informed about. 

The agenda could be as follows:

• Introduction
• Status of the complementary work following the employee survey
• Dialogue about the current situation and new challenges
• Update and / or develop the points of upkeeping and improvement
• Update and / or develop new binding measures for the development of the individual working environment
• Plan for further follow-up

Implementation

The working environment consultation is implemented as planned.

Summaries of the meeting must be filed in the HSE documentation room, under the point “mappings”

Complementary work

The manager summarises the subjects discussed and the suggestions for measures  to undertake in an action plan. The plan must contain specific measures, their deadlines and state who is responsible for their implementation. The manager then presents the action plan and informs about how it is intended to be followed up.

The manager is responsible for reporting back to the employees to inform about how the action plan is being followed up.

Action plans are filed in the HSE documentation room, under the point “Objectives and action plans”.

Internal documents

Guiding  template for the implementation of working environment consultations (Powerpoint).