Background
Notification concerns the reporting of censurable conditions at the workplace. Through their employment, employees may become aware of matters that are or could be contrary to:
- Legal acts and regulations
- The company’s policies
- The general perception of what is justifiable or ethically acceptable
The Working Environment Act gives permanent and contract workers the right to notify censurable conditions. The notification rules in the Working Environment Act cover cases where an employee notifies censurable conditions in his or her own company. The Act also entitles contracted employees to notify censurable conditions in the contracting company.
In connection with its systematic HSE work, the employer must prepare procedures for internal notifications or implement other measures to facilitate the right to notify censurable conditions. This right shall contribute to strengthening employees’ genuine freedom of expression in the workplace.
Result
We have received a copy of COSL’s “Procedure for notification of censurable conditions”. The submitted procedure describes how the employees can notify different types of cases and how management follows them up. It is assessed that the notification procedure meets the requirements defined in Section 2A-3 of the Working Environment Act.
From the company’s description of employee participation in preparing the procedure, it is not apparent that there was collaboration with the employees during preparation, but that the procedure was presented and announced in the central working environment committee (AMU).
The audit has identified an improvement points concerning:
- Inadequate participation in preparation of the procedure
The results of this audit series will be summarised in a report and published at psa.no