Procedure for managers responsible for the working environment of employees

In Swedish

• Introduction
• Systematic work environment efforts
  • Employee knowledge
  • Training and information aimed at employees
  • Assess risks related to risky and harmful use
  • Examples of risks to investigate at the workplace level 
  • Incidents and accidents

Introduction

An employee who engages in risky or harmful use poses a health and safety risk to themselves and others in the workplace. Risky or harmful use may be due to an individual's heredity and environment, but it may also be linked to factors in the workplace. Systematic health and safety work creates the conditions for counteracting factors that may influence or accelerate risky or harmful use in the workplace.

Systematic work environment efforts

As part of your duties within systematic work environment efforts, you as a manager are responsible for investigating and addressing risks to health in the workplace and for determining whether any employees are in need of work adjustments or rehabilitation.

As a manager, you collaborate with the safety representative on initiatives relating to the work environment throughout the workplace and with any employee organisation on initiatives relating to individual employees.

Employee knowledge

As a manager, you are responsible for ensuring that all your employees are aware of and comply with guidelines and associated procedures relating to risk and harmful use at Lund University. Your employees should know that you are the first person they should turn to if they need work adjustments or rehabilitation, or if they are concerned about a colleague.

Training and information for employees

The Competence Portal offers courses on risk and harmful use for employees, managers and HR. The Employee Web contains information specifically aimed at employees.

Employees at Lund University have access to advice and recommendations via the Occupational Health Service's information in the areas of stress, sleep, alcohol, diet, physical activity and relaxation. Each area contains advice, tests and exercises that can help employees in both preventive and rehabilitative purposes.

Assessing risks related to risky and harmful use

When investigating and assessing work environment risks, you should also assess risks related to risky and harmful use. As a manager, you can get support from your HR partner or your work environment coordinator and from the Occupational Health Service when conducting a risk assessment. When assessing risks related to risky use and harmful use, you should assess at the workplace level, not at the individual level.

For support, you should use Lund University's risk assessment template with the accompanying action plan. In the action plan, you should specify the measures that need to be taken to prevent any identified risks from occurring.

Incidents and accidents

Incidents and accidents related to harmful use in the workplace are reported in the IA system. In the event of serious incidents or accidents at work, alcohol and drug testing may be offered as part of the investigation into the cause.

Read more about testing and monitoring sobriety

As a manager, you must cooperate with the safety representative in efforts concerning the working environment at the workplace and with any employee organisation in efforts concerning individual employees.

In Swedish

Are there factors at work that could increase the incidence of risky and harmful use?

For example:

• High workload, significant responsibility, insecurity, shift work, remote work.
• Representation and business travel.
• The alcohol culture that prevails in the workplace.
• Joint gaming systems and wine lotteries.
• Lack of knowledge about procedures for detecting and managing risky and harmful use in a timely manner.

Are there any risky work tasks that must not be performed under the influence of alcohol or other drugs, or when hungover?  

For example:

• Handling of vehicles, machinery, money, systems, chemicals.

Are there any risks that may arise when alcohol is served at staff parties or other internal or external events?

For example:

• Violations and harassment.
• Conflicts.
• Co-dependency.

Alcohol in connection with entertainment and parties – think before you act

Staff parties or other internal and external entertainment events where employees, students or external guests meet have a clear connection to Lund University's activities. As representatives of Lund University, managers and employees need to bear this in mind. This may involve both behaviour on site and how the event is presented on social media, for example.

Alcohol may be served at staff parties or other internal and external hospitality events, in moderation (a maximum of two glasses of wine or beer) and in accordance with the University's regulations for hospitality. Alcohol may not be served in connection with, for example, mulled wine parties, Lucia celebrations or simple refreshments.

As a manager, you are responsible for approving whether alcohol may be consumed at staff parties or at events hosted by the university, and you are responsible for ensuring that alcohol is handled with good judgement. Of course, non-alcoholic alternatives must always be available, and no one should be questioned if they do not wish to drink alcohol.

In Swedish

Codependency

Codependency is a form of behaviour in which employees protect and take responsibility for another colleague in a way that has a negative impact on their own working environment. When someone is feeling unwell at work, regardless of the reason, the rest of the group adapts to this.

Codependency can manifest itself in enabling risky or harmful behaviour, for example by taking on a colleague's work tasks, contributing to a party culture where drinking alcohol is expected, or lending money to someone who asks their colleagues for a loan.

Even you, as a manager, can become codependent. This may involve turning a blind eye to signs such as repeated short-term absences, mood swings and performance slumps. It may involve enabling your employee's use, for example by allowing them to work remotely or frequently represent the company in situations where alcohol is present.

In Swedish

Managers' responsibilities for the work environment are specified in each manager's division of tasks within work environment management. Responsibilities regarding risky and harmful use are clarified in Lund University's guidelines and associated procedures regarding risky and harmful use. 

Read more about managers' responsibilities for the work environment: Division of tasks and responsibilities

Prohibition of smoking in and around the University's premises

Ban on smoking in and close to university buildings (Regulations, Staff web)

Procedures for handling alcohol and narcotic substances from a teaching and research perspective

Chemical safety and handling of narcotic substances in the workplace (Staff pages) Publiceras inom kort. 

Employees who use medication that may affect their ability to work and safety

The pages on systematic work environment management (SAM) contain information about how employees who use medication that may affect their ability to work and safety are encouraged to inform their immediate manager.

In Swedish

Behavioural changes

• Mood swings
• Tired and depressed
• Irritable or aggressive
• Anxious, restless
• Anxiety in the work group
• Withdraws from the group
• Increased sensitivity to stress
• Long toilet breaks
• Financial problems

Change in work performance

• Lack of or change in capacity
• Decreased or altered quality
• Difficulty concentrating
• Indifferent
• Ignores safety instructions

Change in attendance

• Increased sick leave, short-term absences
• Stretches flexitime
• Unexplained absences
• Forgets times/appointments

Substance-related signals

• Under the influence
• Hangover
• Sluggish and dull
• Behaving inappropriately at parties, courses, business entertainment or similar events
• Smell of alcohol
• Hyperactivity
• Pupil changes

Gambling-related signs

• Gambling during working hours
• Tiredness
• Difficulty concentrating
• Asking for advance payments or to borrow money from colleagues

In Swedish

Things to consider before the discussion

If you are concerned and, as a manager, are not entirely sure what is causing your employee's behaviour, you should base your approach on the signs of ill health you see and the effect this has on work. Tell them that you are concerned about their health and that you care about the working environment and health in the workplace. Seek support from your HR partner or occupational health service before the conversation.

It is important to bear in mind that signs that cause concern may have causes other than, for example, alcohol, gambling or drug-related ill health. It is also not uncommon for mental health issues to co-occur with risky or harmful substance use.

Regardless, it is important that you, as a manager, take action, but remember that it is up to healthcare professionals to assess whether the cause is related to risky or harmful substance use and to make any diagnoses.

A concerned conversation can lead to various measures

The concerned conversation can provide you, as a manager, with sufficient information to dismiss concerns about risky or harmful use. Perhaps you will conclude that there is a need for other work adjustments, such as help with prioritising work or for your employee to address lifestyle factors that affect their health at work or their ability to perform their duties satisfactorily.

Adjustment and rehabilitation

If the  concerned conversation shows that there is risky or harmful use, measures for adjustment and rehabilitation will be initiated. As a manager, you should contact your HR partner and the occupational health service for support and guidance. Inform your employee early and continuously about their right to have a union representative present during the period when measures are being taken.

Medical assessment

If the meeting with the employee does not lead to any adaptation or rehabilitation measures, but your concerns about risky or harmful use or other ill health remain, you as a manager can contact the occupational health service for a medical assessment.

Follow-up meetings

As long as you are concerned about your employee or if you see an impact on how the work is performed, you as a manager need to have regular follow-up discussions with your employee. Check with your HR partner on how to proceed.

Read more in the section Ordering procedures on the page about support from the occupational health service.

Risky and harmful substance use is a public health problem that affects individuals, workplaces, families and society. The individual consequences include physical and mental ill health, accidents, deaths, violence and other crimes, as well as family and relationship problems. Relatives and loved ones are also affected, with children and young people being particularly vulnerable.

Anyone who becomes aware of or suspects that a child is being harmed is urged to report their concerns to the social services in the municipality where the child lives. This also applies to employees at Lund University who are not legally obliged to report such cases.

Sometimes it can be difficult for the person reporting to know whether the situation is such that a report should be made or not. It is not the responsibility of the person reporting, but of social services, to investigate and determine the seriousness of the child's situation. Those who are not legally obliged to report have the option of remaining anonymous. This requires that you do not reveal your identity when you contact social services.

Related information

• Report concerns about children – Social services in Lund municipality
• Report concerns about children – Information from the National Board of Health and Welfare and link to other

In Swedish

Content: 

• Checklist when you, as a manager, assess that your employee is not fit to perform their work
• Assessing whether an employee is fit to perform their work
• Sobriety checks
• Send your employee home safely
• If your employee refuses testing and medical assessment
• If the test is positive
• Possibility of supportive and rehabilitative measures
• Document everything that happens in the case on an ongoing basis
• Support functions for you and your employees
• Right to have a union representative present

Checklist when you, as a manager, assess that your employee is not fit to perform their work

• Remove your employee from work.
• Contact your HR partner for support and advice.
• Contact the occupational health service for testing/checking sobriety on the same day.
• Accompany your employee to the occupational health service for testing/soberness check.
• Send your employee home safely. If possible, ensure that someone is there to receive them at home.
• Inform the relevant employee organisation, if your employee so wishes.
• Book a follow-up meeting for the next working day.
• Conduct awareness-raising discussions regarding the misconduct.
• Offer a medical assessment via the occupational health service.
• Document.

Assessing whether an employee is fit to perform their work

As a manager, you are responsible for assessing whether an employee is fit to perform their work.

Based on your assessment, you can take immediate action if, for example, your employee appears to be under the influence, shows signs of a hangover or other behaviour that leads you to conclude that your employee is not fit to perform their work safely and adequately or without affecting the working environment.

Sobriety checks

The occupational health service can carry out sobriety checks, known as suspicion-based testing. Suspicion-based testing is most common when an employee smells of alcohol, has slurred speech or falls asleep at work, for example.

Slurred speech can be caused by your employee having a stroke, for example.

If your employee falls asleep at work, there may of course be several different reasons for this, such as staying up late playing games online, having an allergy or taking medication that affects alertness.

If you are not entirely sure of the reason, it is sufficient to refer to the signs that form the basis of your assessment that your employee is unable to work. The important thing is that you take action and accompany your employee to the occupational health service.

If there are no appointments available for testing at the occupational health service on the same day, you should contact a contracted supplier.

Read more about signs that may indicate risky or harmful use.

Testing at the occupational health service can show individual alcohol consumption for up to a couple of days afterwards. To avoid your employee claiming that the alcohol consumption took place after they were taken off work, the test must be carried out as soon as the suspicion arises.

It is not as easy to determine the time of consumption when it comes to the influence of drugs.

Read more on the page about testing.

Send your employee home safely

You must ensure that your employee does not drive a car or ride a bicycle or similar when they are going home after a test. If possible, you should contact a relative or friend of your employee who can take them home.

Before you and your employee part ways, you should tell your employee that you expect them to be fit for work and back at the workplace the next working day. You should then have an awareness-raising conversation about the incident with your employee.

Concerned conversations

Behaving under the influence at the workplace is misconduct. Seek support from your nearest HR partner before, during and after the concerned conversations. Your employee may bring their union representative along for support, if they wish and provided that the union representative is available on that day. It is important that the conversation takes place immediately after the incident. If the union representative is unable to attend the first meeting, another meeting can be scheduled.

During the meeting with your employee, you offer a medical assessment via the occupational health service to assess whether there is a more extensive problem or other ill health underlying the situation.

Read more on the page about ordering occupational health services

If your employee refuses testing and medical assessment

If your employee refuses testing or investigation via the occupational health service, you must document this.

One way to motivate your employee to undergo testing and medical assessment is to point out that it can be an objective way to rule out any suspicion of alcohol or drug influence. Without testing and medical assessment, you will not be able to offer your employee support regarding their health. When you, as a manager, do not have an assessment from healthcare regarding your employee's health, you cannot implement the right work adjustments or other support measures to help them.

If they still do not want to participate in testing or medical assessment, you need to tell your employee that your assessment that they were not fit to perform their work stands, even if they do not agree to testing. Such events constitute misconduct and may lead to consequences under labour law.

Read more on the page about testing

If the test is positive

When your employee's test shows that they have alcohol or other non-medically prescribed drugs in their system, this is an important part of the subsequent awareness-raising conversation. In that conversation, you also make it clear that being under the influence at work is a breach of the employment contract and that it can lead to consequences under labour law.

Read more about handling misconduct

Possibility of supportive and rehabilitative measures

Based on the occupational health service's medical assessment, it may be appropriate for you as a manager to initiate an adaptation and rehabilitation plan together with your employee.

If risky or harmful use is identified, an agreement on treatment and support measures may also be necessary.

Read more on the page about adaptation and rehabilitation in cases of risky or harmful use

Document everything that happens in the case on an ongoing basis

As a manager, you are responsible for documenting everything that happens in the case, including awareness-raising discussions and support measures.

Read more in the section on documentation.

Support functions for you and your employees

As a manager, contact your HR partner for guidance. You and your HR partner will receive support in the process from the occupational health service and, if necessary, from the HR department.

Right to have a union representative present

Early in the process, you should inform your employee of their right to have a union representative present at meetings. Remind them of this right throughout the process.

In Swedish

The employee

Employees at Lund University must keep themselves informed about and comply with Lund University’s guidelines and associated procedures regarding risky and harmful use.

Employees who need work adjustments or rehabilitation, or who are concerned about a colleague, should first contact their immediate manager.

Employees have a duty to participate actively in their own work adaptation and rehabilitation.

Immediate manager with personnel responsibility

The immediate manager with personnel responsibility is responsible for ensuring that Lund University’s guidelines and associated procedures regarding risky and harmful use are known and complied with by employees.

This responsibility includes implementing preventive measures in the workplace, in collaboration with safety representatives and employees, as well as being attentive to signs of ill health, initiating adaptation and rehabilitation measures, and following up on any misconduct.

Safety representatives

Safety representatives work to promote a good working environment and represent employees in working environment issues within the area of safety. Safety representatives draw attention to deficiencies in the working environment and participate in risk and impact assessments and the establishment of action plans.

Employee organisations

Trade union representatives from employee organisations support their members and represent them in individual matters, if they so wish.

HR partners

HR partners provide support to managers in matters relating to risky and harmful behaviour. They guide managers on both support measures and labour law measures, assist in work adaptation and rehabilitation, in ordering occupational health services and other treatment, and in drawing up agreements on treatment for harmful use.

The HR Division at Lund University

The HR section provides guidelines, procedures and templates for working with risk use and harmful use. These are primarily intended to support HR partners and provide recommendations for drawing up adaptation and rehabilitation plans and agreements on treatment for harmful use.

The HR Division provides advice on ordering occupational health services and support from external actors. The HR Division also provides support in cases of misconduct and labour law measures.

Occupational health services

Occupational health services perform medical assessments, evaluate work capacity and refer employees to appropriate care or treatment. Occupational health services collaborate with managers and employees and provide recommendations for the design of adaptation and rehabilitation plans and treatment agreements. They are involved in follow-up treatment and testing.

External actors

External actors are contacted as needed for assessment, counselling and care.

The public health and social services in the municipality offer various support and care options.

The university also has agreements with providers offering inpatient treatment as well as outpatient day treatment.

Safety coordinators

The safety coordinators at the Safety and Environment Department provide guidance and support to the operations in matters concerning safety measures in cases related to risky and harmful use.