Guidelines for Work environment and Health

Karolinska Institutet's (KI) vision and values are the starting point for the guidelines on work environment and health. The guidelines express the employer's intentions and commitments and are intended to support the implementation of the KI's overall mission to work for the health of all people through education and research.

Diary number: 1-711/2018 

Dnr previous version: 1-663/2013

Decision date: 2018-10-30 

Period of validity: indefinitely from 2018-11-01

Decision: President

Document type: Guidelines

Handled by department/unit: HR Department

Consultation with: the Work Environment Committee, trade unions, and the Department for Educational and Postgraduate Support.

Revision with regard to: document template, traceability and requirements in AFS 2015:4 Organizational and social work environment

The present guidelines also constitute KI's work environment policy, in accordance with AFS 2001:1 Systematic work environment management.

Purpose

KI's work environment should promote the health of employees and students in their work and studies so that they are in a position to carry out creative, innovative and sustainable work that leads to education and research of the highest quality.

Scope

The guidelines apply to employees and students working at KI. The work environment and health work must be characterised by a holistic approach in which all work environment factors are assessed and managed.

Overall objectives

KI shall be a safe and secure place to work and study, characterised by clarity in terms of organisation and division of responsibilities and active work environment and health management.
The working and study environment at KI should be characterised by a good social climate with mutual respect, consideration and accountability, encouraging and fair leadership, participation and empowerment. There should also be conditions for reflection and recovery in the work/study.
KI's work environment management shall prevent ill health and accidents in work and studies. If incidents and work injuries do occur, they must be managed (to prevent similar events from occurring again) and documented in the internal incident reporting system for employees and students. 
Departments/representatives should formulate their own objectives with accompanying activities regarding the organisational and social working environment in their local business plans.
Target achievement is monitored and followed up in annual safety rounds, in employee interviews, in questionnaire-based employee and student surveys, in departmental activity reports, in internal audit reviews and in the annual follow-ups of the systematic work environment management carried out in the KI's local work environment groups.

Responsibility for achieving the objectives

It is the mutual and shared responsibility of everyone working and studying at the KI to contribute to good health and safety. The KI's management will work with strategic and coordinated efforts to support and create the conditions for the departments' and joint functions' work on occupational health and safety. Departments/representatives must allocate resources, implement measures and continuously monitor their work environment and health work for employees and students. Managers/leaders should exercise clear and supportive leadership that promotes physical and mental well-being and actively lead local work environment and health work. Employees and students should take responsibility for their own well-being and actively contribute to good safety and a good working environment.

Applicable laws and regulations

The Work Environment Act and The Work Environment Ordinance
The Social Insurance Code AFS 2001:1 Systematic Work Environment Management
AFS 2015:4 Organisational and social work environment