4. Statutory Powers
Statutory text:
Section 1
The Government or the authority decided by the Government is allowed to, in questions of technical provisions or substances which can cause illness or accident, notify regulation as
- conditions of manufacture, use and labelling or other product information,
- testing or inspection to ensure that prescribed requirements or conditions are satisfied, and
- prohibitions against or certain conditions for or other limitation of emissions to the market.
Section 2
If necessary for the prevention of ill-health or accidents at work the Government or, by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may prescribe that a permit, approval or some other certificate of compliance with current requirements is necessary
- before work processes, working methods or facilities may be used,
- before technical devices or substances capable of causing ill-health or accidents may be placed on the market, used or delivered to be used.
Section 3
The Government or, by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may prescribe
- the keeping at worksites of a list of technical devices of certain kinds or certain substances occurring there which are capable of causing ill-health or accidents,
- the keeping by employers of a register of employees subjected to exposure which can lead to ill-health, including particulars of the work and exposure, and the transmission by employers to physicians of particulars from the register.
Provisions concerning the investigation of safety conditions in a certain type of activity and concerning the installation of technical devices may be issued in the same manner.
An employee shall be given the opportunity, when requesting the same, to inspect entries in a register as referred to in subsection one 2. and referring to him or her personally.
Section 4
If special considerations of safety so demand, the Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may prohibit the use of work processes, working methods or technical devices or substances capable of causing ill-health or accidents.
Section 5
If a particular type of work entails a risk of ill-health or accident, the Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may prescribe an obligation to arrange for the medical examination or vaccination or other preventive treatment against infection of the persons employed or about to be employed in the work concerned. A prohibition may also be issued against the use in such work of any person whom medical examination has shown to be suffering from a disease or weakness rendering him particularly vulnerable to such a risk.
Section 6
If a particular type of work entails a special risk to certain groups of employees, the Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may prohibit the use, for the work concerned, of employees belonging to such a group, or prescribe that special conditions are to apply when the work is done by such employees.
Section 7
The Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may provide that registers containing the names of the persons examined and the results of their examinations are to be kept in connection with medical examination prescribed by authority of Section 5 or 6.
Section 8
The Government or the authority decided by the Government is allowed to notify regulation as
1. preliminary application
a) when it is regarding obligation for the person who orders execution of building or construction work to make sure that such a report is submitted to the supervisory authority, and
b) in general, and
2. the obligation to in general make a report or provide information to supervisory authorities or to store files which are of significance from a protection point of view.
The Government or the authority decided by the Government is further allowed to notify regulation as
1. that the person who orders execution of building or construction work shall make sure that
a) a work environment plan is established,
b) for the project type suitable documentation is drawn up to be considered at following jobs, and
c) the work environment plan and documentation is appropriate in consideration to how the work proceeds and the eventual changes that have taken place,
2. that a building work environment co-ordinator in accordance with Chapter 3 Section 7 a shall establish or have established a work environment plan and draw up such documentation as mentioned in 1,
3. that a building work environment co-ordinator in accordance with Chapter 3 Section 7 b shall see to that necessary adjustments of a work environment plan and such documentation as mentioned in 1 are carried out, and
4. obligation to in general establish documents which are of significance from a protection point of view.
Section 9
The Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may issue Provisions concerning the duty of a physician to notify a supervisory authority of disease which may be connected with work and to furnish the supervisory authority with information and assistance.
Section 10
The Government, or by authority of the Government, the Work Environment Authority may issue such further Provisions concerning the state of the working environment and general obligations in respect of the working environment as are necessary for the prevention of ill-health and accidents at work.
Provisions may be similarly issued to the effect that a person carrying on business, singly or together with a member of his family without employees, shall comply with the Provisions made in this Act and by authority of the same concerning obligations in respects other than those referred to in Chap. 3, Section 5 (2).
Comments on Chapter 4:
The power of the Work Environment Authority to issue Provisions
In Chap. 4 of the Work Environment Act, the Parliament has given the Government extensive power to issue Provisions concerning the working environment. In the Work Environment Ordinance, the Government has further entrusted these powers to the Work Environment Authority. Over the years the Authority has issued a large number of rules. At present there are in the Work Environment Authority’s statute book (AFS) approximately 100 current regulation books and general counsels.
Formally speaking, General Recommendations cannot form the basis of stipulations by the supervisory authority. In individual cases, on the other hand, stipulations can be given the same wording as a recommendation, but if so this has to be supported by the authority of a Section of the Work Environment Act. This is conditional on the authority having found the wording of the recommendation to make a suitable stipulation in the particular case involved.
Inspection of technical devices and dangerous substances
Inspection of technical devices and dangerous substances plays an important part in practical work environment policy. Chap. 4 empowers the Work Environment Authority to issue Provisions with requirements concerning product control, product information and use where devices and substances of this kind are concerned. The Work Environment Authority can also intervene in such products being released to the market.
The main stipulation is that of Section 1 of the Work Environment Act. Through this and Section 18 the work environment ordinance the Work Environment Authority is allowed to stipulate conditions for a product at all stages affecting its safety and design, from technical design and manufacture to marketing and use. The Authority can, for example, stipulate quality systems of the kind necessary for ensuring that the product affords adequate safety. This empowerment ties in with the requirements of the EC Product Directives and makes possible the adaptation of Swedish Provisions to those requirements.
In accordance with point 3 in Section 1 regulations can be notified which means prohibition against releasing products with certain technical properties on the market. The regulations can also state conditions for the release of some products or in other way limit the first provision on the market. Such rules must be able to be issued in Sweden for us to be able to live up to the EU’s demands on implementation of certain decisions that the commission can make with support of the machinery directive. Through such decisions the commission can decide that the member states shall prohibit or limit the possibility to release certain types of particularly dangerous machines to the market.
The same point also confers a power of issuing Provisions on labelling and other product information concerning machinery and other technical equipment or concerning dangerous substances. This can apply, for example, to signage with handling rules, warning texts or other labelling. It can also apply, for example, to requirements concerning declaration of the noise or vibration properties of a machine in connection with marketing.
By authority of Section 1, point 2, all the Provisions on testing and inspection can be issued which are necessary for compliance with the product testing and inspection procedures applying within the EU. This can also, for example, involve the question of testing through special “notified bodies”.
The Authority make the use of certain work processes, working methods or facilities subject to prior permission, prior approval or other certification of compliance with current requirements. The Authority can also decide that certain machines, other technical devices or substances may not be delivered or used without such permission, approval or other certificate of conformity(Section 2). The expression “certificate of conformity” refers to such documents as manufacturers’ declarations, type certificates or certificates from registered bodies under the EC Product Directives.
List of machinery and dangerous substances
The Work Environment Authority may require employers to keep lists of machinery and technical equipment or certain chemical products used in an activity (Section 3). The Authority can also demand investigation of safety conditions in a certain type of activity. This can, for example, mean measuring noise or air pollution. Furthermore, the Authority may prescribe the way in which technical devices are to be installed.
Exposure register
Some EC Directives require the employer to keep a list of the employees who have been exposed to certain dangerous substances. That list must also include particulars of the nature of the work and the extent of the exposure. The Work Environment Act has therefore been made to include a stipulation empowering the Work Environment Authority to make provision concerning such registers (Section 3).
Prohibitions
Certain kinds of machinery and other technical equipment, chemical products, work processes or working methods can entail such great risks to the employees that their use should not be permitted at all. A general prohibition of their use can then be issued by the Work Environment Authority (Section 4).
Medical examinations etc.
The Work Environment Act presumes that the employer provide the resources necessary for a modern work environment control and for monitoring employees’ conditions in terms of safety and health. The employer must take responsibility for measurement, sampling, analysis and evaluation being conducted to a sufficient extent. The employer also incurs a general duty of ensuring that health supervision and medical checks materialise when needed. This is where occupational health services come in. The aim is for all employees to have access to occupational health services.
If a certain type of work entails a risk of ill-health or accidents, the Work Environment Authority may issue Provisions making it the duty of the employer to provide medical examinations for the employees. Provisions of this kind may include both examination before hiring and regular examinations for the duration of employment. The Authority may also prescribe vaccination or other types of preventive treatment (Section 5) and make provision concerning the duty of keeping records of medical examinations performed.
The Act employs the expression “arrange for medical examination”. This is taken to include a duty of organising the medical examination, inviting the employees to undergo it, paying for the investigation and ensuring that none but persons who have undergone the examination are employed on the hazardous work.
No special stipulations for women
The Work Environment Act does not contain any special stipulations concerning women. Certain groups of employees may, however, be particularly vulnerable to hazards of the working environment. Special risks, for example, may be incurred by expectant mothers. The Work Environment Authority may therefore prohibit the employment of certain groups at risk on a certain kind of work. The Authority may also lay down other, special conditions for work, e.g. that the employer is to make arrangements for medical examination (Section 6).
Duty to compile documents
Under Section 8, the Work Environment Authority can require employers and others responsible for safety to compile documents of importance from a safety viewpoint. This can, for example, mean activity or work environment plans of different kinds, such as the safety and health plan which, under the EC Directive on the implementation of minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction sites, has to be drawn up before work begins. The Authority can also stipulate that the supervisory authority is to be notified or supplied with other particulars. This can be instanced by prior notification before certain machines, technical devices or dangerous substances are put into service, or again by prior notification of construction work under the EC Directive already mentioned.
Physicians’ duty of notification
This Chapter also authorises the Work Environment Authority to issue Provisions making it the duty of physicians to notify the Authority of cases of illness which may be connected with work (Section 9).
Further provisions on the working environment
This Chapter ends with a general empowerment of the Work Environment Authority to issue further Provisions on the working environment and concerning obligations relating to it (Section 10). Thus empowered, the Authority can issue Provisions not mentioned in other Sections of this Chapter. Unlike other Provisions by authority of Chap. 4, however, those based on this empowerment do not carry direct penal sanctions; the question of penalties only arises if there is a breach of a prohibition or injunction issued by the Work Environment Authority. In practice, most of the Authority’s Provisions are issued under the power conferred in Section 10.
This Section also enables the Authority to decide in certain fields that the Act and the Authority’s Provisions are to be more extensively applied to one-man and family undertakings than is indicated by Chap. 3, Section 5. This is connected with certain EC Directives making heavier demands on such undertakings than has hitherto been the case in Sweden. A corresponding empowerment has previously been exercised in the Provisions of the Work Enivornment Authorithy on construction work.
