Is an OHS handbook required by law in Norway?

The law does not use the word handbook, but section 5 of the Internal Control Regulations requires several parts of OHS work to be in writing. A handbook is the usual way to collect them.

How long should it be?

As long as the risk requires and short enough to be read. Small, low-risk employers often manage with a few pages plus routines.

How often should it be reviewed?

On material changes to operations, risk or organisation — and at least once a year is common practice.

What is the difference between an OHS handbook and internal control?

Internal control is the duty: mapping risk, having routines, handling deviations and reviewing systematically. The handbook is where all of that is written down. The handbook is the form, internal control is the content.

Who should write the handbook?

Someone who knows the operation. Management owns the content, and the safety representative and employees take part. External help can structure the text, but the routines must describe how the work is actually done.

OHS handbook: what it should contain

Written by Nicolai Bjerknes Slinning, Founder, Sydera.io Technologies AS. Last reviewed 15 September 2026.

An OHS handbook is where an employer writes down what it has decided about health, safety and the working environment. It is not the same as the routines, and it is not an archive of forms. This page covers what the handbook should contain, and how to see whether it actually governs practice.

Six parts that must connect

A handbook covering section 5 of the Norwegian Internal Control Regulations contains OHS objectives, responsibilities and roles, hazard mapping with risk assessment, plans and measures, deviation routines, and review of the system itself. It usually also needs something on employee participation, safety representatives and occupational health services where relevant. The point is not the headings, but that each item points to the next.

Handbook, routine and action

The handbook says what the company has decided. The routine says how it is done. Systematic work means the two hang together — and that what happens leaves traces that can be reviewed. A handbook without routines is a statement of intent; routines without a handbook are habits nobody decided.

Three questions that reveal the most

What has to happen before anything happens? Who has to take the initiative? And which needs are covered by default, without anyone having to ask for them? The answers show whether the handbook describes an arrangement that works on its own, or one that assumes an individual raises a case first. Many handbooks look complete and are still built on the latter.

Keep it short enough to be used

A handbook nobody reads governs nothing. Write it short enough for a new hire to read, and keep the detail in routines that are easy to update. Set a fixed review date and note what changed. Then the document becomes a trace rather than an archive.

Who the handbook is written for

A handbook has three readers at once: the new hire who needs to know what applies, the manager who has to act on it, and the outsider who has to be able to verify it. Write only for the last and the text becomes legalistic and useless day to day. Write only for the first and the trace is missing. The answer is a short main text everyone understands, with routines and annexes for the detail.

What is enough for a small employer

For a small, low-risk employer this is enough: one page of objectives and responsibility, one page mapping what can actually go wrong here, one page of measures and deadlines, one paragraph on deviations, and one line stating when the handbook is reviewed. Safety representative, training and occupational health service are included where relevant. Anything beyond that should be justified by risk, not by a template.

Common mistakes

The most common is borrowed text: a handbook from another industry where the hazards do not match. The second is impersonal responsibility. Then come handbooks that mix what has been decided with how it is done, so every change to a routine forces a new version of the whole document. Finally, handbooks that describe support «on request» in areas where the need is predictable — leaving the individual to take the initiative before anything happens.

Version, date and trace

Put a version number and date on the front page, and keep a short change log at the back: date, what changed, who approved it. This is the cheapest part of the handbook and the part that does most at an inspection, because it shows the document is in use. Without a date the handbook is a memo; with a date and a change log it is a governance document.

What to do first

Take the handbook you have and mark every place that states what happens when something is found. If there are few, start there — not by writing new objectives. Then set a review date. If you want an outside read of the governance logic in the document, you can have it reviewed.

Test your OHS handbook

One governance document reviewed free of charge. The document must not contain personal data.

Sources

Frequently asked questions

Is an OHS handbook required by law in Norway?: The law does not use the word handbook, but section 5 of the Internal Control Regulations requires several parts of OHS work to be in writing. A handbook is the usual way to collect them.
How long should it be?: As long as the risk requires and short enough to be read. Small, low-risk employers often manage with a few pages plus routines.
How often should it be reviewed?: On material changes to operations, risk or organisation — and at least once a year is common practice.
What is the difference between an OHS handbook and internal control?: Internal control is the duty: mapping risk, having routines, handling deviations and reviewing systematically. The handbook is where all of that is written down. The handbook is the form, internal control is the content.
Who should write the handbook?: Someone who knows the operation. Management owns the content, and the safety representative and employees take part. External help can structure the text, but the routines must describe how the work is actually done.