Complain about your (or somebody else’s) working environment

You can complain to the Danish Working Environment Authority if you suspect that the health and safety regulations have been violated. It doesn’t matter if you work at the company yourself or if it is somebody else’s work environment you want to complain about.

You can also submit a complaint if you suspect that a foreign company conducting work in Denmark has violated the health and safety regulations.

You can choose whether to remain anonymous or not

The Danish Working Environment Authority processes all complaints with full confidentiality unless you give your digital consent for the Authority to suspend its duty of confidentiality in relation to your complaint. In other words, it is up to you whether or not you wish to be anonymous.

Why give consent?

By giving your consent to suspend the duty of confidentiality, you give the Danish Working Environment Authority greater scope to respond to the health and safety problem your complaint concerns. This is because the Danish Working Environment Authority will be able to actively use the information in your complaint during their inspection to help them clarify and document any potential violations if they are able to freely disclose the details of the complaint.

Be aware that you cannot give consent for the Authority to suspend their duty of confidentiality on behalf of another person complaining about the work environment. Only the complainant themself can suspend the duty of confidentiality in relation to their complaint.

What does it mean to give consent?

Pursuant to the Danish Working Environment Act, the Danish Working Environment Authority has a special duty of confidentiality which restricts the Authority from disclosing to the employer or to others that they have received a complaint about the working environment, unless the complainant has given their consent to this.

When you give your consent, you give the Danish Working Environment Authority permission to disclose information about your complaint to your employer and to others. The purpose of this is to give the Danish Working Environment Authority better opportunities to clarify and document any potential violations of the Danish Working Environment Act by enabling the Authority to discuss the content of the complaint with the company during its supervisory inspection.

You can read more about what consent means for you in the complaint and consent form.

No matter whether you complain anonymously or not, your complaint is important in allowing the Danish Working Environment Authority to supervise the work environment at your workplace or the workplace of another.

Select complaint form

I give my consent for the Danish Working Environment Authority to disclose the details of my complaint – form – virk.dk

I wish to complain anonymously – form – virk.dk

You can also complain to the Danish Working Environment Authority by ringing the Danish Working Environment Authority Call Centre:

Tel: +45 70 12 12 88

However, you must use the above complaint and consent form if you wish to give your consent for the Danish Working Environment Authority to suspend its duty of confidentiality in relation to your complaint.

Before you complain

Before you submit your complaint to the Danish Working Environment Authority, it is important you consider whether there may be others in the company who can help you. We recommend that you speak to your manager, your health and safety representative, your union representative or the company’s health and safety officer.

What happens after we receive your complaint?

A complaint will not always lead to a supervisory visit. This will depend on a concrete assessment of the individual complaint. As a general rule, we will always conduct a visit if we consider there is an acute danger.

You will not be notified automatically as to whether or not your complaint will be followed by a supervisory visit. If you would like more information about how we process your complaint, you can apply for access to the case files.

Read more about access to case files