Action plan for HSE, 2019-2021
Health, safety and environment at UiB - a good working environment for all.
Main content
A good working environment for all
The University of Bergen shall have a culture in which health, safety, the environment and emergency preparedness are preventative and health promoting. This means that UiB must ensure:
- a fully satisfactory working and learning environment on campus and in connection with travel
- diversity, transparency and inclusion
- functional and secure buildings and outdoor areas, equipment and research vessels
- continuous and systematic HSE work through the active participation of employees, safety delegates and leaders.
This means that HSE must be clearly organised at all levels and that the working environment must be surveyed, risk assessed and monitored in line with regulatory requirements and UiB's internal rules.
HSE - a shared responsibility
The working environment is created through day-to-day interaction and dialogue. All staff and students have a responsibility to actively participate in this. Employees and students must have the necessary training and sufficient expertise to manage HSE challenges within their own work and study situation.
HSE is a leader responsibility at all levels and is an integral part of all leadership. UiB's leaders must have the requisite skillset, confidence and willingness to prioritise HSE work. Safety delegates fulfil a supervisory function and are collaborators for the leaders. UiB's safety delegates must be well qualified and provided with the necessary conditions to fulfil their role.
Clear roles and responsibilities with a mutual understanding of and respect for various functions, predictability, clarified resource allocation and clarity in the organisation of the work, are prerequisites for sustaining and developing a good working and learning environment. The university's leaders, safety delegates, staff and students must, together, actively contribute to the development of the
HSE - goals
The Action Plan for Health, Safety and the Environment is based on UiB’s Strategy 2019-2022 "Knowledge that shapes society" and includes three HSE goals.
UiB shall be characterised by:
- A good working community
- Safe and functional workplaces
- Good safety culture and emergency preparedness
Each HSE goal is a priority area specified through sub-goals for the period 2019 – 2021 and is to be realised through measures centrally, locally through local HSE action plans at faculty and department level, and in various forms of interaction between units and levels.
The following UiB governing documents also support the HSE goals: The university’s Emergency Preparedness Plan, Digitisation Strategy, Action Plan for Gender Equality, Action Plan for Diversity and Inclusion, Goals for a More Inclusive Working Life, Masterplan for Properties and Campus, Privacy Policy, Policy on Intoxication Substances, Management System for IT Security and Data Protection. Working environment perspectives related to the external environment are addressed in The Environmental Action Plan. The students' learning environment is specifically addressed in the Action Plan for Strengthening the Learning Environment.
The HSE Action Plan is intended to contribute to ensuring that everyone working at UiB is protected and is not subjected to negative impacts due to their work.
A. PRIORITY AREA: A GOOD WORKING COMMUNITY
UiB must have a strong and vibrant university democracy and good procedures and channels of communication to ensure participation. Generosity, openness, diversity and dialogue are to characterise our working communities internally and in cooperation with our surroundings. The working environment shall be inspiring, inclusive and health promoting, and the integrity and dignity of the individual should be safeguarded. UiB has a strong international profile. Students and staff collaborate with colleagues from all over the world. This requires good expertise concerning circumstances that affect our working and learning environments among all our employees, students and leaders.
Sub-goals | Main activities | Responsible |
Sub-goal 1: UiB shall have a good working environment and promote mutual understanding and cooperation | Annual mapping of the psychosocial and organisational working environment. Conduct and follow up ARK throughout the organisation. | Division of Human Resources, |
Sub-goal 2: UiB shall develop an organisational culture that meets change in a constructive way | Clarify responsibilities and roles in the working environment through training, information and collaboration, as well as carry out risk assessments and clarify goal formulations for changes. Plan future competence needs better by mapping and follow-up. Conduct change management training. Strengthen the expertise of leaders and employees when it comes to leading and participating in interaction across the organisation. | Division of Human Resources, |
Sub-goal 3: UiB shall ensure good employee follow-up | Facilitate, conduct and follow up annual employee appraisals interviews for all employees, including clarifying local organisation and the follow-up of these. Clarify career development for all employees. Strengthen the reception of new employees. Strengthen the expertise of leaders when it comes to leading diverse and multicultural working environments. | Division of Human Resources, |
B. PRIORITY AREA: SAFE AND FUNCTIONAL WORKPLACES
UiB has a large, demanding portfolio of buildings, the uses of which change regularly, and new ones are being built. The relevant requirements concerning good building standards, universal design, indoor climate and ergonomics must be satisfied. Scientific equipment, research and teaching facilities must be safe and functional. New learning and working methods, as well as digital tools, require new ways in which to organise our workplaces.
| Sub-goals | Main activities | Responsible |
Sub-goal 1: UiB shall ensure that the workplaces and buildings that UiB dispose have proper, satisfactory working and learning environments that comply with current legislation. | Clarify the organisation, roles, responsibilities and follow-up of building projects and work- and study places. Annual HSE-rounds, as well as at rebuilding’s. Implement a greater effort to upgrade critical infrastructure in old buildings to meet current Estate and HSE requirements, including requirements for universal design. Coordinate HSE work with our partners to ensure a safe working environment in areas where both are located and/or carry out activities. | Facilities Management Division, |
Sub-goal 2: Through digitalisation, UiB shall contribute to a modern and efficient working environment. | Implement working environment related measures related to digitalisation (functional IT tools, competence, change work processes, cooperation, etc.). Systematically inform, offer and strengthen the digital competence of leaders and employees with a user-oriented approach. Inclusive working life and HSE aspects shall be assessed and evaluated when introducing IT tools. | IT Division, |
C. PRIORITY AREA: GOOD SAFETY CULTURE AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
UiB's work on safety and emergency preparedness must be founded on, among other things, preventative and systematic HSE work, good knowledge of risk conditions and good procedures when working both on and off campus. This will contribute to reducing the consequences of adverse events to safeguard our values in everyday work and in an extraordinary situation.
| Sub-goals | Main activities | Responsible |
Sub-goal 1: UiB shall have good understanding of HSE risk. | Conduct and update risk assessments and analyses related to HSE. | Division of Human Resources, |
Sub-goal 2: UiB shall conduct emergency preparedness exercises. | Increase frequency of warning and emergency preparedness exercises and emphasise internal and external collaboration exercises. | Emergency preparedness management, |
Sub-goal 3: UiB shall have good emergency preparedness related to travel. | Establish and strengthen procedures for employee safety during field work, research cruises and travel, and follow this up | Division of Human Resources, |
Sub-goal 4: UiB shall secure material and immaterial values, as part of its corporate social responsibility. | Secure the collections at The University Library and The University Museum and other material values at UiB. Through good risk management ensure regulated access, use, storage, and disposal of biological and chemical hazard sources. | Estate and Facilities Management Division, |