Safety representatives

Employees have the right to appoint a safety representative at all workplaces with more than five employees. Safety representatives are elected by staff and appointed by the union they are a member of. They represent the employees in work environment matters at the department/division, in consultation with the employer. The period of office is three years, usually ending on 31 October. 

Organisation and location

Safety representatives at SLU are organised by geographical location. At each site, work is coordinated by one or more chief safety representatives. The organisation of chief safety representatives is currently under review.

Purpose and scope of tasks

Safety representatives represent the employees at a department/division and handle work environment matters together with the employer. They take part in health and safety inspections. They are elected by the employees and appointed by the unions. They monitor the work environment at their place of work, in cooperation with the employer. They have the right to spend the time needed on these tasks; this is financed through their organisational unit’s budget. Read more about the role of safety representatives at the website of the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

Here is a list of safety representatives at SLU.

Tasks of the chief safety representative

The chief safety representative within an organisational unit coordinates the safety representatives at the departments/divisions. One chief safety representative is a member of the regional work environment committee (RAK). The chief safety representatives are elected by the safety representatives and appointed by their union. If an organisational unit has no safety representative, a chief safety representative can temporarily take on this role. Chief safety representatives are funded centrally corresponding to 10 per cent.

Chief safety representatives at SLU:

• Ida Taberman, Umeå (Safety representative area in Umeå), phone 090-78 68 216, email
• Anne Larsen, Skara (Safety representative area in Skara), phone 051-16 72 08, email
• Lotta Nordmark, Alnarp (Safety representative area in Alnarp), phone 040-41 53 77, email
• Emma Bergenkvist, Uppsala (Safety representative area 1 and 2), phone 018-67 27 46, email
• Leonie Tidlund, Uppsala (Safety representative area 3), phone 018-67 16 30, email
• Ola Renman, Uppsala (Safety representative area 4), phone 010-47 84 216, email

Safety representative areas at SLU

Ultuna

• Safety representative area 1, VHC and Lövsta. The hippology unit is included.
• Safety representative area 2, the SLU University Animal Hospital (UDS)
• Safety representative area 3, Ulls house and the conference venue (Undervisningshuset).
• Safety representative area 4, Uppsala BioCenter (Biocentrum), Ecology and MVM. Grimsö is included and the deparment for Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua).

Skara

• Safety representative area in Skara. Skara, Lanna and Götala.

Umeå

• Safety representative area in Umeå. Umeå, the forest experimental parks, Öjebyn and Skinnskatteberg.

Alnarp

• Safety representative area in Alnarp. Alnarp and Balsgård.

Student safety representatives

Each students’ union must have a safety representative. They play an important role, acting as a link between students and the university in the efforts to create a good study and work environment. Student safety representatives can take part in health and safety inspections on teaching premises and can communicate any concerns the students  may have. The accountable authority is responsible for ensuring that students are aware of their right to elect a safety representative. There is more information on student safety representatives on the student web.

Notifying the appointment of a new safety representative

Information about new safety representatives must be submitted by the employee using the form for this purpose. The form is then sent to the representative´s union. When a new chief safety representative is elected, this notification should include an extract of the minutes from the meeting where the representative was elected. The safety representative’s union sends the completed form to the Division of Human Resources at SLU.

Training for safety representatives

• The Division of Human Resources offers in-house training durint two days for safety representatives employed at SLU and recommends that all safety representatives take part in this training. The training covers laws and regulations in the field of work environment, the role of safety representatives, the technical, physical, organisational and social work environment and risk management. The training is coordinated centrally and all new safety representatives will be invited when a training session is offered. Apply for training(only in Swedish). 
  
  
• There is also a basic web-based health and safety training course for employees. The training takes about 20 minutes to complete and describes, among other things, the role of the safety representative. The training course is available here.
  
  
• Safety representatives can take part in another online training course about the IA-system to learn more about incident management regarding reported accidents and incidents. The web training course can be accessed here. (Only in Swedish)
  
  
• For student safety representatives, SLU arranges a half-day training annually, covering central aspects of work environment legislation and the role of safety representatives. 

Access to the IA-system

All safety representatives and chief safety representatives have access to the IA system (Information System on Work Environment) and receive emails via the system with reported work environment events from employees and students. If you as a safety representative or chief safety representative do not receive these emails, please contact the union representative for adjustment.