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Environment, climate, and work-environment

Revised 22.06.2023

Environmental policy Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF

Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF is a municipal enterprise that works to promote public health, sewing skills, sports, and culture in Voss Herad. We are responsible for the organization and operation of Voss Sports Hall and Vossabadet, as well as the management of buildings and facilities in a sustainable manner.

The company is dedicated to working for the highest possible activity in the halls, having a clear environmental profile, and being innovative. Our goal is to contribute to Voss Herad reaching the goals set out in the municipal plan, the community section, and their action plan/financial plan. Furthermore, the company will contribute to Voss being a strong regional center by offering attractive, innovative, and inclusive activities. This will affect our ability to reach the sustainability goal of "good health".

Climate and environment

Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF are concerned with being environmentally sustainable and are particularly attentive to our social responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. We will keep our climate commitments by implementing continuous and immediate measures to combat climate change and its consequences in accordance with the UN climate goals. Overall, we will support Voss Herad's planning and strategy. We make regular assessments to reduce our energy consumption within the framework of being a municipal enterprise. We continuously assess how, within these frameworks, we can best contribute to Voss Herad's overall goals, the Norwegian Environment Agency, and how we can work to achieve the UN's sustainability goals.

Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF have an environmental management system based on ISO 14001 and will at any time be certified as Environmental Lighthouse. We are part of Voss Herad's climate budget, climate accounting, and the strategies, initiatives, and goals Voss Herad has for climate, environment, and working environment. Our operations are required to be based on current environmental legislation, authority requirements, and regulations within the environmental area, as well as other binding requirements determined by our owners (Voss Herad), customers, and others. Continuous improvement of our environmental management system and environmental work takes place through annual audits, environmental certifications, handling of deviations, HSE/documentation system, and risk assessments. The environmental work includes the identification, control, and follow-up of important aspects that are assessed to have an environmental impact, as well as the measurement of selected key figures specified in the standards we follow.

The employees at Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF are required to reduce their environmental impact:

  • In the company's daily processes, such as recycling and sorting waste, consumption of resources such as electricity, paper, and other materials, or choice of means of transport and travel.
  • In the planning and implementation of projects, such as contributing to the development of analysis methods that require smaller sample quantities, use of smaller quantities of chemicals, transition to chemicals with less environmental impact, or contribute to the safe handling of chemicals.
  • When purchasing goods and services, choose suppliers with more climate-friendly materials, cleaner production, and more environmentally friendly transport.
  • Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF will try to influence external and internal stakeholders to increase awareness, motivate the staff, and encourage them to come up with ideas and suggestions for improvement. The management, Voss Herad, and the company's environmental manager must ensure that our environmental policy and environmental management system are implemented and in use. The environmental policy is communicated via Vossabadet's website and in documents linked to the Environmental Management System and the document archive.

Work environment

In Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall, there shall be no discrimination between gender, age, and ethnicity in matters concerning pay or working conditions. The company is dedicated to being a workplace where there is full equality between women and men. Gender equality is ensured through day-to-day operations. Vossabadet needs to have both men and women at work at any time, to be able to carry out the tasks that are necessary for the operation of the bath. The distribution between women and men in the company is even.

We facilitate integration, and training and have employees from several different nationalities.

For many young extrahelps, Vossabadet is their first meeting with an employer, and this is a responsibility the company is dedicated to managing in a good way.

As a municipal enterprise, Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall are covered by Voss Herad's general personnel policy and personnel handbook and operate in line with KS (the municipal sector's employer organization) goals and strategies for the working environment and personnel policy.

No employee of Vossabadet and Voss Sports Hall should suffer physical or mental illness or be injured as a result of their job. Should it still happen, Vossabadet and Voss Idrettshall KF and Voss Herad, as employers, have routines in place to handle the situation and help the person affected.

Based on our risk assessments and current working environment regulations, as well as Voss Herad and KS's standards, we work systematically preventively and focus our work regarding the work environment on the following focus areas:

  • Prevent unhealthy workloads by promoting a balance between demands and resources at work.
  • Prevent deficiencies in the physical working environment related to working position, equipment, lighting, and ventilation.
  • Operate in line with our zero tolerance for offensive language, special treatment, bullying, and sexual harassment in accordance with AKAN guidelines and the action plan from Voss Herad.
  • Create an inclusive culture.
  • Systematic HSE work in collaboration with Bedriftshelse1, to make the working environment the best possible.

In KS's employer strategy, employer policy is about developing three relationships:

  • the relationship between manager and employee/chosen organization representative
  • the relationship between employees and residents/users/partners
  • the relationship between employer and labor market

A good employer policy:

  • form a common foundation of values ​​for public authorities, managers, employees, and employee representatives
  • promotes development and goal achievement, a good working environment and well-being
  • can be used in communication with the surrounding area to increase the municipality's attractiveness

Combined with the Working Environment Act and the Labor Disputes Act (laws and regulations), collective agreements are central to the design of the interaction between the employer and the employee. When it concerns the local employer policy, it is expressed through policy guidelines, local salary policy, and/or equivalent documents.

Read more:

Voss Herad ethical guidelines
Vossaklima 2030
UN's Sustainability Goals
Staff handbook, Voss Herad
For employees: Regulations, routing and guidelines in Voss Herad< br/>For employees: HSE in Voss Herad
KS: The municipalities' personnel handbook, chapter 7.6 "Employer policy and management"
KS: Employer: Proud and unique – Employer strategy towards 2020
KS: Ethics (ks.no