A good start

Hopefully you are all now well underway with this year's APV process. And hopefully the Well-Being Barometer has been a good starting point for your dialogue about the working environment at your department.

We would like to remind you that the deadline for submitting your APV action plans is June 30th, 2026. The plans must be submitted to the Working Environment Section at arbejdsmiljoesektion@adm.aau.dk.

It is important that you meet this deadline, as HAMiU must receive a status update on the APV process at AAU at the committee’s meeting already on September 14th, 2026.

The Working Environment Section will use the intervening period – naturally excluding the holiday period – to review all plans, among other things in order to create an overview of themes and focus areas in the APV work at AAU. This is expected to be a substantial task – in the 2024 APV year, the Working Environment  Section reviewed more than 150 APV action plans.

Here you will find the material you need

Supporting material for the Well-Being Barometer can be found on HR's website: Well-Being Barometer (NB: reguires login - if needed use the link at the bottom of this newspage). Here you will find both guidance on how to get from numbers to dialogue, and dialogue materials that you can use when working with the themes from the Well-Being Barometer.

You can find the mandatory action plan template on the working environment website; for further details, please see the news item from 13 February: New action plan template.

The Working Environment Section has already seen the first action plans – and looks forward to reading yours as well! We wish you every success with the work ahead!

The AEU working environment conference is an excellent opportunity to develop your working environment skills through inspiring presentations, workshops, poster sessions and network dialogue with colleagues from both AAU and other Danish universities.

Participation in the conference counts as 2 days of supplementary working environment training for AL and AMR in your working environment groups. There is a participation fee.

Please note that the deadline for registration is July 1, 2026.

Read more about the conference here: AEU working environment conference 2026 (in Danish).

AEU is a collaboration between the 8 Danish universities with the aim of promoting networking, knowledge sharing and cooperation between the universities, including in the field of working environment. AEU is organized under Universities Denmark.

What is BFA?

The five Sector Working Environment Councils (BFA) support Danish enterprises by providing information and guidance on occupational health and safety, among other things through guidance materials, conferences, and training.

The BFAs are funded partly through the national budget (the Finance Act) and partly by employers’ organisations and trade unions.

You can find the portal for the BFAs and other occupational health and safety stakeholders here: BFA-web (in Danish).

BFA for the universities

The universities fall under BFA Welfare and Public Administration. You can find their website here: Good Working Environment (in Danish). On the website, you can find a range of training opportunities and events that may be relevant to you. We encourage you to explore these offerings further with a view to supplementary occupational health and safety training for the members of your Working Environment Organisation (AMO).

Only a couple of examples are mentioned here:

Workshop: Strengthen the Systematics and Energy of Your Working Environment Efforts
At the workshop, you will be introduced to tools to support your systematic occupational health and safety work.

The workshop is held in five locations across Denmark, including Aalborg, Copenhagen and Middelfart.

Participation in the workshop counts as approximately half a day of supplementary occupational health and safety training. Please note that there is a modest participation fee.

Read more here: Strengthen the Systematics and Energy of Your Working Environment Efforts.

Ergonomics Lab: Create Variety in the Working Day
Ergonomics Lab is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about how to create greater variety in the ergonomic working environment.

The workshop is held in Køge and Aalborg in November 2026.

Participation in the workshop counts as approximately half a day of supplementary occupational health and safety training. Please note that participation is free of charge.

Read more here: Ergonomics Lab: Create Variety in the Working Day.

Other training needs?
If you would like information about other training opportunities, you are welcome to contact the Working Environment Section.

The Working Environment Section has prepared a new action plan template and published it on the website. It replaces all previous templates.

You can find the new template in the APV annual cycle. Click on the Action Plans block, and you will find links to the template in the text on the right. The guide From Problem to Action has also been updated accordingly.

The new template is designed to support your compliance with the legislative requirements for action plans, while at the same time functioning as your primary management document for your APV process.

The template has been created as a fillable PDF file, which you must download and complete when preparing APV action plans.

Use of the template is mandatory in connection with the periodic APV process, which you carry out every two years, including here in the spring of 2026.

If you have comments on the new template, please write to the Working Environment Section at arbejdsmiljoe@adm.aau.dk.

An English version of the template will be available very soon.

Due to high demand, AEU is repeating the thematic day Strengthening the Psychosocial Working Environment at Universities.
The thematic day will take place on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, at Hotel Odense (OCC).

Please note: The registration deadline is 23 January 2026.

The thematic day is aimed at members of occupational health and safety organisations and provides knowledge and tools for working with well-being and stress prevention.

During the thematic day, psychologist and researcher Malene Friis Andersen will share research-based knowledge on well-being and stress prevention. In addition, Stig Ingemann Sørensen, occupational health and safety consultant from BFA, will present practical tools for working with the psychosocial working environment.

The day will involve active work with case studies, reflection, and cross-disciplinary dialogue, and there will be ample opportunity to share experiences and build networks across universities.

You can find more information about the thematic day by following this link (in Danish only):
https://www.aeu.dk/arrangementer/arbejdsmiljoe/

At the same site, you can also find information about other current events organised by AEU.

Requirement Notice on Chemical Risk Assessments

In recent months, the Danish Working Environment Authority has issued requirement notices to two departments at AAU, requiring them to carry out risk assessments of work processes involving or generating hazardous chemical substances and materials. In both cases, the departments had already prepared Chemical Risk Assessments (Chemical APVs) for several work processes, but far from all of them.

This indicates that the Danish Working Environment Authority has tightened its inspection practices and is no longer satisfied with Chemical Risk Assessment work merely being “under way,” but now expects the work to be fully completed.

As is well known, the purpose of a chemical risk assessment is to make decisions—based on the STOP principle—on measures to prevent exposure to hazardous substances and materials. Another purpose is to establish a written basis for the training and instruction of the individuals performing the work, ensuring that they know how to apply the measures effectively.

The Danish Working Environment Authority is, among other things, focusing on workshop processes that generate harmful fumes, aerosols, vapours, or dust, such as welding, soldering, thermal cutting, machining, or handling dusty materials.

Support Available

Preparing Chemical Risk Assessments can be a substantial task, especially if many assessments must be completed within a deadline set by the Danish Working Environment Authority.

The Working Environment Section has therefore initiated a collaboration with, among others, BUILD to prepare Chemical Risk Assessments for some common workshop processes, such as welding. Since a Chemical Risk Assessment for welding can almost certainly be used in several locations at AAU—possibly with minor adjustments—becoming familiar with assessments that are being prepared may significantly ease your workload.

We therefore encourage you to contact the Working Environment Section at arbejdsmiljoe@adm.aau.dk if you are about to start preparing a Chemical Risk Assessment.

Read more about Chemical Risk Assessments on the Danish Working Environment Authority’s website:
Requirements for chemical risk assessments (in Danish).

Have you considered your responsibility for the work environment?

Many AAU employees – including those without managerial duties – are tasked with ensuring safe working conditions for other staff and students on behalf of AAU.

For example, many supervisors are responsible for checking students’ planned safety measures when working with hazardous laboratory tasks. It is, of course, important that this control task is carried out carefully. But what if something still goes wrong due to safety deficiencies – and a student gets injured? Can the supervisor then be held liable?

This and other examples are addressed in a new guide prepared by the Working Environment Section at the request of the Main Occupational Health and Safety Committee (HAMiU).

You can find the guide on the website along with a “quick reference” version in the form of an overview table: Roles and responsibilities in the working environment

If you have questions about the guide – or are unsure about your own responsibilities – please contact the Working Environment Section: arbejdsmiljoesektion@adm.aau.dk

All work must, according to occupational health and safety legislation, as far as possible be carried out either sitting or standing, whereas work lying down, kneeling, or squatting should be avoided.

For seated work, a chair is of course a necessary work tool – and at the same time of great importance for the ergonomic work environment.

Work chairs come in countless versions, and it can be difficult to get an overview of which requirements chairs must meet to ensure a safe working environment in a given work situation.

Therefore, the Working Environment Section prepared a professional, schematic guide for internal use a few years ago – and we have now chosen to make this guide public.

Find the guide on the website: Requirements for work chairs

Please note that the guide only covers movable chairs used by employees – and not, for example, benches or fixed seats in auditoriums. Furthermore, the guide has only limited validity for chairs intended for employees with special needs, e.g., due to physical disabilities.

Remember: before purchasing chairs, contact CAS’s furniture team or the Working Environment Section for advice and guidance. The furniture team is working together with the Working Environment Section to prepare an overview of recommended office chairs.

The Finance and Account Department at AAU has entered into a new purchasing agreement for work clothing and protective footwear.

The agreement has been made with Carl Ras, which has stores in several locations across the country, including Aalborg, South Harbor in Copenhagen, and Esbjerg. The previous agreement with Stark has therefore expired.

Find the workwear purchasing agreement here (in Danish only).

Note: This agreement should not be confused with the agreement for purchasing laboratory gloves.

As part of the workwear agreement, it has also been agreed that students can receive a 25 % discount upon presenting their AAU card when, for example, they need to purchase safety shoes or a helmet for workshop work or fieldwork at AAU.

The Working Environment Section's guidance on protective footwear and helmets can be found here: Personal Protective Equipment.

Get introduced to new materials on Occupational Health and Safety

Every year, BFA Industry invites everyone to join a roadshow where they present the latest guidelines and other materials on workplace safety. This is more relevant now than ever, as the Danish Working Environment Authority has recently made significant cuts to its own guidelines.

BFA Industry is 1 of 5 Sektor Councils on Working Environment. These are established in accordance part 3 of the Working Environment Act and are as advisory organs primarily finansed by the state of Denmark.  

Although BFA Industry naturally focuses on manufacturing companies, many of their guidelines are also relevant for a university setting.

The roadshow will be held at several locations across the country in January and February, including Aalborg, Esbjerg, and the Copenhagen area. The event lasts about 3 hours and participation is free of charge.

Read more about the event and register here (link to website in Danish): Working Environment Roadshow 2026

As announced in a newsletter in 2024 we have now launched 2 new websites in English:

• www.workenvironment.aau.dk (this site)
• www.preparedness.aau.dk

We hope our English-speaking colleagues will find the new pages helpful.

We welcome your input if there is content you would like to see on the sites. 
Write to us at arbejdsmiljoesektion@adm.aau.dk.

Following the AMR election, two sessions of the mandatory health and safety course at AAU have currently been scheduled.

See more on Plan2Learn (course description in Danish). Both the health and safety representatives (AMR) and the managers (AL) are required to complete the course.

So, if you need the training, sign up quickly while there are still spots available.
For those unable to attend or in need of English-language courses, alternatives must be arranged.
Please write to us at arbejdsmiljoesektion@adm.aau.dk so we can assess the need.

Also write to us if you have suggestions for supplementary occupational health and safety training.

As you hopefully know, everyone – both AMR and AL – is entitled to supplementary training during their term of office. It is often best and cheapest to organize training at AAU ourselves, so we are happy to do so if possible.

As you may know, AAU is consolidating more people into existing rooms to better utilize space. While this can be done without major issues, it may feel like a significant change for those used to having private offices.

We at the Working Environment Section have pointed out that there are limits to how many workstations can be placed in existing office spaces, such as shared offices.
These limits are often tied to the capacity of the ventilation system. If the number of people exceeds what the room is ventilated for, it can negatively impact indoor air quality in an unsafe way.

There are also physical limits to how closely people can be seated while still allowing safe movement and sufficient workspace.

There are basic occupational health and safety requirements for spaciousness at the workplace, but until now, it has been somewhat technical to determine what this means in practice—such as the required desk surface area in an office.
This is further complicated by the wide variety of tasks performed at AAU office workstations, which naturally affects space needs.

The Working Environment Section have made a professional assessment, and you can now find a simple schematic guide on the website regarding desk size requirements. Use this guide as a reference when setting up your workspaces.
Find the guide on the website: Desk size requirements.

Reminder: Before purchasing desks, please contact CAS’s furniture team or the Working Environment Section for advice and guidance.

The Danish Center for the Educational Environment (DCUM) will close on 1 July 2025.

A number of DCUM's tasks will then be taken over by the Danish Agency for Education and Quality (STUK). This includes guidance on the educational environment.

The formal supervision of the educational environment will cease, but STUK will more generally monitor how the educational environment legislation is administered.

At the time of writing, it has not been clarified how the accessibility of DCUM's materials will be in the future.