Engineer Karsten Nielsen, supervisor of the occupational health and safety committee, and production manager Mogens Larsen, day-to-day safety manager and chairman of the occupational health and safety committee.

In October 2010 the new rules for occupational health and safety cooperation took effect, and in this connection Nørager Dairy contacted ALECTIA in order to arrange an information meeting for the occupational health and safety organization. At the meeting the new rules were reviewed and the possibilities of reorganization were discussed.

As a result of the meeting, the occupational health and safety organization of Nørager Dairy was reorganized in April 2011 so that it now consists of an occupational health and safety committee, a day-to-day safety manager and three occupational health and safety groups, which cover the entire dairy. The occupational health and safety committee works with a five-year plan that will allow long-term planning and make decisions and prioritizations more visible.

The representatives in the three groups have become key persons in the occupational health and safety areas. One is the key person for machinery safety and safety reviews, another is the key person for workplace instructions for substances, materials and personal protection equipment, and the last representative is the key person for workplace assessments (WPA), ergonomics and accident prevention. The key persons work across the departments in the dairy.

Furthermore, the occupational health and safety groups and the key persons have been given the task of purchasing first aid courses, personal protection equipment, eye wash products, gloves, ear protection, etc.

Positive reception of the new initiatives
The occupational health and safety representative from Nørager Dairy Finn Langbak tells that the new roles and the new organization have been a positive experience, and that the occupational health and safety representatives have been given more responsibility and more influence.
The management has also supported the work and given the representatives the necessary time for the tasks, just like the way to the decision-making processes has become shorter.

Another positive initiative is a new occupational health and safety office which the representatives can use when they need to concentrate on tasks to be solved. This means that they will not be disturbed with other tasks and operational questions in the department. In this way the work will be more efficient and require less time.

Moreover, due to the new organization of the occupational health and safety cooperation, the managers and employees at Nørager Dairy have become familiar with the occupational health and safety work. As the production manager Mogens Larsen says: “We experience that the occupational health and safety work in the dairy has moved from the desk to the floor.