Report environmental matters

Last changed: 19 September 2025

On this page, SLU students and employees can report environmental non-conformities and improvement proposals. All suggestions are welcome.

Non-conformities and improvement proposals are important to identify what is not working, or what can be improved to fulfil the continuous improvement requirement in the environment and quality management standards (ISO 14001 and ISO 9001).

If you notice something that does not comply with the regulations in force, or with SLU’s own procedures, you can report it as a non-conformity in the IA reporting system. You can also submit improvement proposals if you have a suggestion for how to improve SLU’s environmental impact.

Click the “Submit report” button and select the type of report you want to submit – environment, quality, work environment or security. You can only choose one type for each report.

NB. To report an environmental matter, select “Environment” in the field labelled “What?”. A box with the heading “Underhändelsetyp” (subtype) will open; select “Avvikelse” (Non-conformity) or “Förbättringsförslag” (Improvement proposal).

What to report?

Environment – non-conformities

Non-conformities that should be reported through the IA system include harmful incidents such as the unintentional release of pollutants to air, ground or water, and cases of significant waste of resources. You should also report procedures and local instructions that do not comply with environmental legislation, other requirements or SLU’s environmental management system. Failure to fulfil established objectives or action plans can also be reported as a non-conformity.

Environment – improvement proposals

If you have a suggestion for how SLU can reduce its negative or increase its positive environmental impact, you can submit a suggestion through the IA system. This could be e.g. more efficient use of energy or resources, promoting biodiversity on SLU campuses or improved ways of working. All suggestions are welcome.

If you are unsure whether something should be reported or not, contact your environmental representative, environmental coordinator or the Environment Unit.

When to report?

Environment – non-conformities

Any environmentally harmful incidents should be reported through the IA system, as should any of the non-conformities listed under “What to report”.

Ideally, you should report an incident as soon as possible after it takes place or came to your attention. This is to ensure you have a fresh memory of it and to enable those responsible to take the necessary measures.

Environment – improvement proposals

If you have a suggestion for how SLU can improve its environmental impact, you can submit a suggestion through the IA system. All suggestions are welcome.

Why submit a report

All SLU staff must take responsibility for reporting environmental non-conformities and improvement proposals, including for events outside their own area of activities.

Environment – non-conformities

To make it possible to prevent and avoid non-conformities, big and small, all employees need to do their bit by reporting environmental matters as soon as possible after they happen or are discovered.

This helps us identify patterns and follow up statistics, thereby ensuring that measures are taken in a structured and systematic manner. What may seem like an isolated incident can be part of a series of incidents and form a pattern.

Environment – improvement proposals

Improvement proposals are an important part of environmental management and continuous improvement as they enable us to reduce our negative environmental impact and increase our positive impact. Continuous improvement is a requirement under the environmental management standard.

What happens next?

Once you have submitted your report, the Environment Unit will receive an email notification. They will then appoint someone to investigate and/or take suitable measures. This person, the incident manager, will automatically receive an email notification from the IA system. Once the case has been closed, the person who submitted the report will receive a notification.

The incident manager is responsible for managing and following up reports on non-conformities and improvement proposals, as well as following up on the measures taken. Cases vary in character as does the time they remain in the system. As a rule, a report should not be active for more than 3 months, but there are exceptions.