ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT. There is now a web-based environmental course that has been developed by Sahlgrenska Academy’s Environmental Council on instructions from the dean. All employees and master’s students should take the course, which can be completed in about an hour.
The course can be taken here (reserve about an hour): sahlgrenska.learnways.com/
Two versions
The course is required for all staff and for all master’s students working in a laboratory at Sahlgrenska Academy.
It is currently only available in English, to ensure everyone is able to take it. There are two versions of the course to choose from: a standard version and one for laboratory staff, which covers more specific information about regulations related to laboratories. Rita Grandér, the faculty’s environmental coordinator, feels that environmental management touches on many issues that are also important for the work environment:
“The course provides answers to certain safety questions and how to handle hazardous chemicals in the lab, and I think lab managers will appreciate having a course that can complement lab safety information with routines and chemical management from an environmental perspective. With the course, they know the individuals who come in to work for periods in the lab have received basic training, particularly from an environmental perspective.”
Pilot last spring
The course received good reviews from employees at Core Facilities, the Department of Dentistry, and the Department of Caring Sciences and Health, who tested it during the pilot. It has now been made widely available within the Sahlgrenska Academy.
The course is part of the faculty’s environmental certification, since it fills knowledge gaps that employees may have about environmental management at the University of Gothenburg and Sahlgrenska Academy.
“At the next environmental audit, we will have ensured that there is good awareness of how to work with environmental management at Sahlgrenska Academy. The course will also lead to a greater awareness of how each of us can contribute to a more sustainable development in our local environment and in the world,” says Rita Grandér, who led work developing the course.
Responsibility for following up that employees have had the opportunity to take the course currently lies with unit heads and research team leaders, but the hope is to be able to introduce a way to more easily summarize how many staff and students have taken the course.
“We will update the course and, if there are funds and interest, it may also be relevant to produce a Swedish version. We will have to wait and see.”
TEXT: ELIN LINDSTRÖM
