HSE annual plan: template and example

What is an annual plan?

An annual plan puts the HSE tasks on a timeline across the year. Each activity has a month, an owner and a deadline, and the wheel repeats from year to year. It means things are not forgotten, and everyone can see what happens when.

Is it a legal requirement?

No, not under the name annual plan. We did not find the term in the Working Environment Act, in the Internal Control Regulations or on the Labour Inspection Authority’s page on internal control. But several requirements in the law mean you need something similar:

• Goals and plans. The employer must set goals for the HSE work and map hazards, assess risk and make plans and measures (section 3-1). Goals, responsibilities and plans must be documented in writing under section 5 of the Internal Control Regulations.
• Review. Internal control must be monitored and reviewed systematically, and this must be documented in writing (section 3-1 and section 5 of the Internal Control Regulations). The requirements do not say how often. The Labour Inspection Authority writes that the company must go through the system and assess whether it has worked.
• Risk assessment. It must be repeated regularly and when things change, according to section 7-1 of the Regulations on Organisation, Management and Employee Participation.
• Annual report from the working environment committee. If you have one, it must report each year to the governing bodies and the employee organisations (section 7-2). See the guide on the working environment committee (AMU).

An annual plan is therefore a practice for meeting the requirements, not a requirement in itself.

Suggested content month by month

This is an example you can adapt. Add what suits the company and the industry:

• January: Review last year’s deviations and statistics, and update HSE goals.
• February: Review risk assessments, and update those that have changed.
• March: Safety inspection. See the guide on safety inspections.
• April: Review training and certificates that are expiring.
• May: The chemical register. See the guide on the chemical register.
• June: Plan holidays with staffing and safety in mind.
• August: Whole-company meeting on the HSE work after the holidays.
• September: Safety inspection and review of procedures.
• October: Emergency preparedness and a fire drill, if it suits you.
• November: Appraisal conversations and follow-up of sick leave.
• December: Annual review of internal control, and a plan for next year.

If you have a working environment committee, add its meetings to the wheel too.

How to make an annual plan

1. List all HSE tasks that must be done regularly, from the law and from the company’s own procedures.
2. Spread them across the months, and avoid putting too much in the same month.
3. Give each task an owner and a deadline.
4. Follow up in the management team and in the committee or with the safety representative.
5. Review it every year, and adjust the wheel. See also the guide on internal control.

How the portal helps

The HSE system has an HSE annual plan and tasks with an owner and a deadline, in one place. You also get an HSE handbook, safety inspections, risk analysis from templates and statistics on deviations and HSE work. The HR system has a separate HR annual plan, for example for appraisal conversations.

Read about the HSE system

Sources

The rules change. Always check the current text with the sources below. Most sources are in Norwegian. This guide is general information and not legal advice.

• Working Environment Act section 3-1 on systematic HSE work (Lovdata, Norwegian)
• Internal Control Regulations section 5 on content and documentation (Lovdata, Norwegian)
• Regulations on Organisation, Management and Employee Participation section 7-1 on risk assessment (Lovdata, Norwegian)
• Working Environment Act section 7-1 on working environment committees (Lovdata, Norwegian)
• Internal control (Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, Norwegian)