As a manager or supervisor in Sweden you carry a great deal of responsibility for keeping the workplace safe. This course goes through the rules you need to know. The most important law is the Work Environment Act (arbetsmiljölagen, 1977:1160). It applies to almost everyone who has employees.
What the law aims to achieve
The work environment must be satisfactory with regard to the nature of the work and to social and technical developments in society (chapter 2, section 1). Working conditions must be adapted to the fact that people have different abilities, both physically and mentally. Employees must be given the chance to take part in shaping their own working situation. Technology, work organisation and job content must be designed so that nobody is exposed to strains that can lead to ill health or accidents.
The employer's basic duty
Under chapter 3, section 2, the employer must take all the measures that are needed to prevent ill health and accidents. The starting point is that everything that can lead to ill health or accidents must be changed or replaced, so that the risk disappears. Only when that is not possible is there reason to choose protection in other steps.
The employer must also:
- see that premises, machines and protective equipment are well maintained
- provide personal protective equipment when protection cannot be achieved in any other way (chapter 2, section 7)
- give employees knowledge of the risks in the work (chapter 3, section 3)
- take account of the employee's particular circumstances
Who is the employer?
The employer is the company or the organisation. As a manager you carry out the employer's tasks when they have been delegated to you. The responsibility nevertheless stays with the employer, even when tasks have been placed on managers and supervisors. In the Work Environment Authority's regulations, anyone who hires in labour is treated the same as an employer.
The Work Environment Authority's regulations
The Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) is the authority that issues regulations. They are collected in the AFS, the Authority's series of statutes. Since 1 January 2025 a new structure applies, with new numbers and a new division of the regulations.
- AFS 2023:1 Systematic work environment management, basic duties for anyone with employer responsibility. It replaced AFS 2001:1.
- AFS 2023:2 Planning and organising work environment management, basic duties for anyone with employer responsibility. Among other things it covers the organisational and social work environment, workplace adaptation, first aid and crisis support, violence and threats, lone working, and pregnant workers and minors.
Regulations (föreskrifter) are binding. General recommendations (allmänna råd) are not binding. They show how you can or should act, and are often a good way to meet the requirements.
The employee's role
The work environment is not only the manager's business. Employees must take part in work environment management, follow the regulations they are given and use protective devices (chapter 3, section 4). Employers and employees must cooperate for a good work environment (chapter 3, section 1 a).
What you still have to do yourself
The course is an introduction. It does not replace the risk assessment at your workplace or the special rules that apply in your own industry. You must make sure yourself that the law and the regulations are followed where you work.