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Let’s talk about safety

All companies on the building site must participate in the client’s start-up and safety meetings, and they must continuously involve employees in the planning of work and preventive health and safety measures.

A worker spots a ladder where one rung is broken. The worker tells an occupational health and safety representative about the problem. The occupational health and safety representative tells the construction management about the problem. The occupational health and safety representative looks on while a worker climbs a ladder. The ladder no longer has a broken rung.

Companies working in Denmark must involve their employees in the work to safeguard and promote health and safety.

As an employee, you are entitled to have a health and safety representative, who is elected by the employees, if the company you work for has at least five employees, who work for 14 days or more on a worksite in Denmark.

The companies have an obligation to participate in the cross-site health and safety work held by the client’s health and safety manager, such as start-up and safety meetings.

What is a health and safety organisation?

A Health and Safety Organisation is a company’s internal organisation for health and safety cooperation between the employer, work supervisors and other employees on the construction site. It establishes a framework for the ongoing health and safety dialogue of the company.

The contractor’s duties

If you are a contractor with a minimum of five employees working for 14 days or more on a building site, you need to set up your own health and safety organisation for the worksite. This creates a framework for continuous dialogue around health and safety on site between management and employees – and it can help to prevent occupational accidents.

The health and safety organisations that generate the best value, are organisations where employees, the health and safety representative and the work supervisor are all in daily dialogue about the work processes and problems which regularly occur.

The client’s duties

As a client, there is a lot you can do to take the lead and ensure constructive and effective health and safety cooperation. For example, you can lay the right foundation to help companies prioritise health and safety cooperation on the construction site by establishing health and safety requirements in the contracts and agreements you conclude with your contractors.

One of the most important factors for good health and safety cooperation on the worksite is for enterprises to participate via their management representatives and health and safety representatives in the safety meetings that you hold as the client.

FACT SHEET

The most important rules – for clients

Arbejdstilsynet, The Danish Working Environment Authority, has prepared a fact sheet for clients on their duties.
The fact sheet is available in English, German, Polish and Danish.

A good framework for health and safety cooperation at construction sites (English)Samarbejde om arbejdsmiljø på bygge- og anlægspladser (Danish)Gute Rahmenbedingungen für die Zusammenarbeit im Bereich Arbeitsschutz auf Baustellen (German)Dobre ramy dla współpracy w zakresie bhp na budowie (Polish)

Poster

Help us spread the word about the rules

Arbejdstilsynet, the Danish Working Environment Authority, has produced a poster about health and safety cooperation on worksites.

You can hang the poster at your company premises, in your trailer or on notice boards around the construction site itself.

The poster is available in English, German, Polish and German.

Download the poster:

Let’s talk about safety (English)Snak om sikkerhed (Danish)Reden über Sicherheit (German)Porozmawiajmy o bezpieczeństwie (Polish)

Any questions?

Contact the Ministry of Employment

Telephone hours
Monday to Thursday 8.30-16.00
Friday 8.30-15.30

+45 72 20 50 00

bm@bm.dk