Council for Work Environment and Equal Terms

The local council/group is part of the RALV organisation, Stockholm University's organisation for systematic work on work enviroment and equal terms. In 2015, the President made a decision that all departments/equivalent units should establish a local council/group. The council/group should collaborate on work environment and equal terms issues affecting the department/equivalent unit and serves as an advisory body to the head of department/equivalent.

The local council/group is a forum for collaboration between employers and employee/student representatives at the department/equivalent unit regarding work environment and equal terms issues. Different departments/equivalent unit have chosen various names for these local councils/groups, such as Local RALV, Workplace Environment Group, Workplace Environment Committee, Equal Opportunities Group etc. (Arbetsmiljögruppen, Arbetsmiljöberedningen, Lika villkorsgruppen, etc.). The departments/equivalent units themselves decide what the local council/group should be called.

The local council/group is an advisory body to the head of the department/equivalent. The head of the department/equivalent is responsible for ensuring that work environment and equal term efforts are carried out in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, as well as Stockholm University's procedures and guidelines. Ultimately, the employer makes the decisions, but they must also gather views and discuss the matters with employee and student representatives before making a decision.

Employer, employee, and student representatives collaborate on work environment and equal terms issues related to the department/equivalent unit in the local council/group. Therefore, at least, there must be an employer representative (who also serves as the chairperson) and a work environment representative. In operations where relevant, a student representative and a PhD student representative should also be included. The chairperson of the local council/group is either the head of the department or the employer representative who has been formally assigned this task by the head of department/equivalent.

Beyond the above, the department/equivalent unit decides who should be part of the local council/group. Since the purpose of the council/group is to gather views and discuss work environment and equal terms issues, it is important that the composition of the group reflects the department/equivalent unit, for example, in terms of different job categories. It is also important to strive for a balanced gender representation among the group's members.

In the local council/group, discussions should be held on work environment and equal terms issues concerning the department/equivalent unit. The focus should be on the department´s systematic work environment and equal terms efforts, meaning issues of an overarching, strategic, and structural nature. Individual matters should not be discussed in this group, such as rehabilitation cases or conflicts between individuals.

Some examples of topics to discuss in the local council/group are:

• Have measures been implemented based on the action plan from the latest safety inspection?
• If the department/equivalent unit conducts laboratory activities: How is the safety and work environment management in the labs functioning? Do all those working in the labs have sufficient knowledge? Are established routines and guidelines being followed? Are responsibilities clearly defined?
• Have all departments/equivalent units developed action plans based on the employee survey? Have all employees been involved in this work? Do we need to take department/equivalent unit-wide measures based on the department´s/equivalent unit´s overall results?

• What is the situation regarding reported occupational injuries and incidents in our department/equivalent? How do we work systematically to follow up on these?
• Are all employees aware of the procedures regarding victimisation, harassment and sexual harassment that we have at the university? Do we have an inclusive working climate at our department?
• Make proposals and follow up annually on the department's/equivalen´s work environment and equal terms plan. Ensure that active measures (according to the Discrimination Act) are included in the department's/equivalent's work environment plan.
• Has everyone in the department/equivalent had a performance review? Do we need to take any measures at an overall level based on the results of these ( NOTE: not individual level)?
• What is the sickness rate in our department/equivalent? Is everyone aware of our sick leave procedures? Are employees aware of the occupational health service and what support they can offer if they are not feeling well? Are we aware of the university's central policies and guidelines on rehabilitation?

Work environment and equal terms issues are raised in the same way as other types of issues that cannot be handled locally: according to the university's decision-making and delegation policy, as well as the written distribution of work environment and equal term tasks. Sometimes, questions may arise in the local council/group that the department/equivalent cannot control. In such cases, it is the head of the department who assesses whether the issue should be escalated within the organisation. As a work environment representative, you can always contact one of the Chief safety representatives for advice. Student representatives and PhD student representatives can turn to the student union for guidance.

Contact your department´s student or doctoral council to find out who is the equality/study environment representative. If there is no one, you can reach out to Stockholm University’s Student Union by emailing studentombud@sus.se, as they have information on all councils.

If there is no active student or PhD student council, departments can contact the Stockholm University Student Union for assistance in finding student representatives: studentombud@sus.se.

You, who are the chairperson of the local council:

• Support each other! How have another departments/equivalent unit handled this? Contact another chairperson — you can find a list of all chairpersons of local councils/groups at Stockholm University at the bottom of the page in a downloadable PDF.
• Annually, network meetings are organised for all chairpersons of the local councils.
• The Human Resources Office provides advice and support related to the role of the employer, i.e., the responsibility we have towards the university's employees. Contact your department's HR advisor at the Human Resources Office – see who your HR advisor is.
  
• The Student Services provides advice and support related to the role of education provider, i.e., the responsibility we have towards the students. Contact Ingemar Dahlgren (ingemar.dahlgren@su.se) at the Student Services.
• The Property Management Office provides advice and support regarding physical work environment and equal opportunities issues, such as work injuries and incidents, safety inspections, accessibility, security work, etc. Contact the Property Management Office via the Serviceportalen.
• The Central RALV can answer certain questions and help guide your inquiry to the right person. Send your question to ralv@su.se.

You who are a work environment representative:

Support each other! How have other departments/equivalent units handled similar situations? Contact another work environment representative. You can also always reach out to one of the chief safety representatives.

On the page Work environmental representative on medarbetarwebben, you will find contact details for the chief safety representatives as well as a list of all work environment representatives at Stockholm University.

You who are a study environment representative/PhD student representative:

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact studentombud@sus.se at Stockholm University's Student Union.

• Minutes from RALV meetings 2026 (Swedish)

• Minutes from RALV meetings 2025 (Swedish)

• Minutes from RALV meetings 2025 (Swedish)

• Minutes from RALV meetings 2025 (Swedish)

• Minutes from RALV meetings 2025 (Swedish)