Most companies realise the importance of the safety, health and well-being of employees but how is this to be managed effectively? There is always a risk that health and safety (H&S) may be overlooked if people focus too much on the pressing needs of everyday work. This must not be allowed to happen and keeping H&S issues in focus is always a challenge. Novo Nordisk's H&S organisation in Denmark underwent a major change in 1997 to integrate these aspects into the daily work at all levels of the organisation.

A Danish company must have an H&S organisation with a statutory number of employee and management representatives, no matter whether the company has minor or major health and safety risks.

Novo Nordisk saw the current regulations as not allowing enough flexibility in organising H&S work. This resulted in parts of our organisation having representatives who sometimes lacked clear responsibilities and tasks due to an excess of representatives compared to the level of H&S problems.

Departing from the regulations
We sought and received dispensation to restructure our entire safety organisation with more emphasis on management responsibility so it was in tune with our real needs, not just in keeping with the Danish regulations. Approximately 230 H&S representatives have been elected and empowered to devote up to 20% of their work time to H&S issues. In cooperation with their immediate superiors, all the representatives must draw up a personal training programme which will equip them to participate in solving all relevant H&S problems within their own department. Five representatives have been elected to Novo Nordisk's H&S Committee, which is responsible for H&S policies, guidelines and new targets.

The intention behind this new H&S organisation is to create a flexible structure for H&S work, to strengthen and develop employees' influence on H&S work and to strengthen management motivation to engage in H&S issues.

Training and commitment
Through better-defined descriptions of line management's obligations, we achieve a far stronger commitment from line management and their staff than previously. To reinforce H&S skills, all managers in the Danish organisation must attend a training programme which was rolled out in 1998.

Line management holds the ultimate responsibility for providing a safe working environment. A critical part of the new organisation is that line managers have the final say in setting the goals for their particular business unit. So there is a much better chance that the goals will be met than if they are imposed from outside. To support this process, the Occupational Health Service department prepares a profile to highlight possible focus areas in each business unit.

The consequences of the reorganisation will be evaluated over four years and reported in coming social reports from Novo Nordisk.