The Swedish Work Environment Authority 2005, some examples of initiatives
Roughly half the available inspector days during the year will be spent examining the working environment in the following six priority sectors:
- Health care
- Schools
- Caring and social services
- Construction and civil engineering
- Transport
- Timber goods industry
For each of these sectors a special programme group has been formed to which liaison officers from the Authority’s ten districts have also been affiliated.
In addition, work is continuing on the following general priorities:
- systematic work environment management (as per AFS 2001:1)
- organisational and social conditions
- musculoskeletal ergonomics
Nationwide supervision
The co-ordinated supervision of multi-district undertakings, which began following the formation of a single Work Environment Authority in 2001, is continuing. Twelve large undertakings with nationwide operations are included in the supervision which began in 2004.
The purpose of the supervision is to identify deficiencies occurring at several points in the operation with regard to preventive work environment management, and to address any stipulations for remedial measures to the national management. The legislation requires systematic work environment management to be a part of day-to-day work, which calls for the involvement of the company board and management.
An external evaluation of the multi-district supervision was carried out in 2003.
Upwards of 400 inspectors
Following a major increment of inspectors who have completed a comprehensive in-house training programme, there are now more than 400 active inspectors affiliated to the Work Environment Authority’s ten districts. This equals the number in service before funding allocations were reduced at the beginning of the 1990s.
Some 36,000 workplace initiatives (inspections, visits, follow-up visits) are planned for 2005.
Supervision campaigns in 2005
- Chemistry laboratory work in schools. Taking place in week 5, February. Sector programme Schools.
- Traffic as a working environment and part of the employer’s systematic work environment management. Taking place during week 21, May. Sector programme Transport.
- Noise in the workplace. Taking place as part of the initiatives during the European Week, week 43, October. Special project management.
Other supervision initiatives
The Authority’s co-operation with the Social Insurance Office with a view to identifying employers defaulting on their duties with regard to job modification and rehabilitation is based on uniform action plans.
Regulatory work
The Work Environment Authority is responsible for amplifying the Work Environment Act, which is a framework enactment, through rules and recommendations issued in a special Statute Book, AFS, which at present comprises some 120 instruments. The aim is to reduce this number to about 80. Great importance is being attached to the simplification of language. For the first half of 2005, resolutions are planned concerning a dozen revised or new Provisions on the following subjects:
- Thermosetting plastics
- Inspection of pressurised devices
- Fabrication of certain containers, tubing and installations
- Microbiological hazards of the working environment
- Cytostatics
- Noise
- Vibrations
- Medical examinations
- Occupational exposure limit values and measures against air contaminants
- Testing at gauge and negative pressures
Statistics
The Work Environment Authority is responsible for Sweden’s national statistics concerning occupational accidents and work-related diseases. Publications during the year will comprise:
- Occupational accidents and work-related diseases reported in 2004 at overarching level. End January/beginning February
- Fatal occupational accidents (cause, victim’s occupation etc.). April
- Preliminary statistics concerning occupational accidents and work-related diseases in 2004 (occupations, industries). May
- Work-related disorders in 2005, survey supplementing the SCB (Statistics Sweden) Labour Force Survey (AKU). June
- Final data on occupational accidents and work-related diseases in 2003 (inc. sickness absence, relative frequency of injuries in different occupations, industries etc.). July.
