Even close calls are incidents to learn from
Annica Hofberg is one of ITM’s three main Safety representatives, recently appointed by the local unions.
What do you do in this role?
“We act as a representative of the employees when it comes to work environment issues at ITM. We strive for a good working environment, both physical and psychosocial and monitor that there are measures against ill-health and accidents at work, and ensure that the employer meets the requirements of the Work Environment Act with a systematic work environment work.”
”Large workplaces often have many Safety representatives. A main Safety representative coordinate the representative’s activities.”
With what types of matters can an employee turn to you?
“Often, it’s the employees closest to the organization that first see what can pose a risk and what may need to change. Incident reports are also important and we should get many more of those. It's important to know about “close calls” even if nothing serous happened. This way we can prevent accidents.”
“Since we have an obligation of confidentiality, employees can always ask if what they are wondering is an issue that lies within our area.”
How come you want to take on this role?
“At House of Science (Vetenskapens Hus) school classes visit us frequently and try advanced laboratory work in a university environment, supervised by students. Therefore, it’s important that we always do risk analyzes and doing that, I got in contact with a safety representative. I discovered that there are many useful tutorials, instructions and courses for them that I also can be of use in my regular work. For the past five years I have been a Safety representative and this spring I became a Main Safety representative.”
How much time do you spend doing this?
“It usually takes two days a year with inspection rounds, meetings and education. If something happens it may take a few hours there and then. Now, this might consume more of my time since I will be communicating with all the representatives at ITM. “
How do you do working from home these days?
“My regular work at House of Science works well thanks to Zoom, email and phone calls. However, there has not been so much to do as a Safety representative.”
Contact Safety Representatives at the ITM School
Text: Anna Gullers