Subject areas - Internal control

Follow-up must take place in collaboration with the employees and their representatives. The Internal Control Regulations are actually called Regulations on Systematic Health, Safety and Environment Work in Enterprises, and it is precisely systematic and continuous work on HSE that is the goal and that gives the best results.
In principle, the Internal Control Regulations apply to all businesses that produce, sell or offer goods and services.

How extensive the documentation in the internal control/HSE system needs to be depends, among other things, on the product and service delivery, its activities, risk and size. Some companies will need to carry out thorough risk analyses with accompanying documentation, while others may be content with a simpler approach.

It is a great advantage to systematize the work and for those involved to make good assessments of the company's needs. In order to achieve a well-functioning system, it is important that the employees contribute directly and indirectly through their representatives to the development of the system and continuous improvement. Achieving good internal control is entirely dependent on employees being familiar with how internal control in the area of health, safety and the environment is practiced, as well as the expectations and requirements placed on them as employees.

Section 5 of the regulations describes the requirements for documentation; these are the minimum requirements, and the company may need documentation beyond these.

• What are the company's goals for HSE?
• Show how HSE work is organized, including the distribution of responsibilities and tasks
• Show how the company has mapped hazards and assessed risk based on this, with associated plans to reduce risk conditions.
• Have prepared and implemented, corrected and prevented violations of internal control requirements.
• Have procedures and persons responsible for systematically monitoring and reviewing internal control to ensure that it functions as intended and as intended.

There are many ways to build a well-functioning HSE system. The most important thing is for management to take the initiative, starting with their own business and involving all relevant parts of the business right from the start, including employees or their representatives.

Below are some key points for success:

• Involve relevant parts of the business.
• Decide how HSE work should be organized, including the distribution of responsibility and authority.
• Together, map out what legislation applies and what procedures and documentation the company already has.
• Create a plan to solve the identified tasks with responsibilities and deadlines.
• Involve the whole business where appropriate and relevant, the more employees are involved in developing their own system, the greater the ownership and loyalty to it.
• Have good communication across the organization.
• Decide how the system will be followed up once it has been drawn up, as this is when the real work on HSE starts.

The internal control regulations are linked to a number of laws and regulations and responsibility for these is managed by various authorities. The most important of these are the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Preparedness, the Norwegian Environment Agency and the Industrial Safety Authority. These also supervise compliance with the regulations.