The system was tested by nine departments or divisions in autumn 2022, with employees reporting incidents at or in connection with the workplace through the system. The incidents in this case are linked to the work environment and involve incidents and occupational injuries, that is, accidents, travel-related accidents and occupational illnesses.

Caroline Löfberg, Anna Maria Näslund and Karin Karlström at the University Administration formed part of the project group that has worked to implement the system. They report overwhelmingly positive reactions from the departments that have tested the system in the pilot study.

Work environment incidents in one place

There have previously been many ways to report occupational injuries and incidents, referred to as work environment incidents: email, internal post, telephone or organisational mailboxes. Löfberg explains:

“This has made it difficult to produce statistics and follow up on work environment-related incidents. A central system for reporting, investigating, remedying and following up cases enables everything to be documented in the same place, making it easier to produce statistics.

Anyone can report

All members of staff can report an incident. The system will make it easier to submit a report and manage occupational injuries and incidents in a legally certain manner.

The ‘IA’ system can be used in preventive and strategic work environment management in close cooperation with staff, that is, at each local workplace, and University-wide. The system will be an important work environment management tool.

“More active work environment management will enable us all to contribute to the University’s efforts to work preventively on the work environment and thus avoid occupational accidents and work-related illness,” explains Näslund. Individual staff members will get updates on the progress of the case by email if they submit their email address.

There is also an app that serves as a complement to the web-based reporting system. Any staff member with a work mobile phone can report incidents via the app.

Reported work environment incidents reduce risks

When someone reports an incident in the IA system, the line manager receives an email stating that the incident has been registered. The manager is responsible for investigating the incident and ensuring that appropriate physical, social and organisational work environment measures are taken in order to reduce or eliminate the risk of the same incident occurring again.

Serious incidents are to be reported to the Swedish Work Environment Authority by the employer. Occupational injuries can also be reported to Försäkringskassan. The employer can report both types of incident directly via the system.

As it will now be easier to report incidents and occupational injuries in one place, the hope is that more people will report incidents concerning the work environment.

“This will enable us all to contribute to the University’s efforts to work preventively on the work environment and thus avoid occupational accidents and work-related illness,” notes Löfberg.