The work environment act

The Work Environment Act applies to the entire labour market with the exception of work performed in the employer’s own home and aboard privately owned vessels. Special legislation applies to these workplaces.

The Work Environment Act is a framework law, which means that it does not contain any detailed regulations but only specifies the framework for how work concerning the working environment is to be carried out. The detailed regulations are issued by the Swedish Work Environment Authority in the form of directives.

The state of the work environment
The work environment shall be kept in a satisfactory state having regard to the nature of the work involved and social and technological evolution. The work must be adapted to human physical and mental capabilities. It is important that the work be organised so that the employees themselves have the opportunity to influence their work situation.

The Work Environment Act also contains a number of general requirements concerning special work environment factors. As regards the design of the workplace, for example, it is stipulated that ventilation, acoustics, lighting and other conditions must be satisfactory from the point of view of work environment and worker protection.

The employer has the main responsibility
The local health and safety work at the workplace should be carried out by the employer and the employees together. The main responsibility for the working environment, however, rests with the employer. He is obliged to take all necessary action to prevent the employees from being exposed to health and accident risks at the workplace.

The employer is responsible for planning, directing and controlling the work environment work regularly and systematically. Measures for protecting the workers must be planned for the future if they are not possible to implement immediately.

The employer is also responsible for ensuring that there are organised work adaptation and rehabilitation activities suitable to the operations.

The responsibility of the employees
The employees also have a responsibility for the work environment. They are obliged to follow given instructions and to use existing protective devices and other safety equipment.

In other respects the employees must also show such care at work that ill-health and accidents are avoided.

The manufacturer’s responsibility
Anyone manufacturing, importing, selling or hiring out a machine or other technical equipment is obliged to ensure that it is provided with such protective devices that accidents and ill-health are prevented.

Chemical health hazards
Anyone manufacturing, importing or supplying a substance hazardous to health is obliged to take necessary measures to prevent and counteract risks in the intended use of the substance.

Young people
Anyone under the age of 18 is counted as a young person. No one under the age of 16 years or who has not completed his or her schooling may be employed. The exception is for simple and non-hazardous duties such as light office work.

Children and young people under the age of 13 years may only perform such work as does not entail physical or mental strain, such as selling Mayday pins or Christmas magazines.

Safety delegates
There is to be a safety delegate at all workplaces with at least five employees. The safety delegate is appointed by the local trade union organisation. If there are more safety delegates at a workplace, one of them is to be appointed head safety delegate, with the task of co-ordinating the work of the safety delegates and representing the group in certain questions.

A safety delegate represents the employees in matters of safety and is to work for satisfactory safety conditions. For this purpose, in his or her safety area the delegate is to supervise the protection against ill-health and accidents.

The delegate shall participate in the planning of new or changed premises, devices, work processes and working methods as well as in the planning of the use of substances that may cause ill-health or accidents.
The safety delegate should also supervise whether the employer fulfils his responsibility of ensuring that the work environment fulfils the requirements of the Work Environment Act by means of internal control and has organised work adaptation and rehabilitation activities suitable to the operations.

The safety delegate may in certain cases be appointed from outside the circle of employees at the place of work, so called regional safety delegates.

Safety committee
At workplaces with at least 50 employees there is to be a safety committee. If the employees so require, such a committee shall, however, be set up even if the number of employees is less than 50.
The safety committee is made up of representatives of both employer and employees. Its task is to supervise the health and safety work and to follow developments in matters concerning prevention of accidents and ill-health.

Supervisory authority
The Swedish Work Environment Authority and the regional Labour Inspectorates function as the supervisory authority and their task is to ensure that the Work Environment Act is complied with.

The Labour Inspectorate has the right to issue injunctions on employers if this is necessary to ensure compliance with the Work Environment Act or the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s regulations. The Labour Inspectorate is also entitled to issue prohibitions, such as against the use of machines that do not meet safety requirements.