Response to interpellation 2023/24:570 on measures against fatal accidents in the workplace
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
L argues that the employer has the ultimate responsibility for the work environment 1 and that it is important to combat crime in the workplace to prevent fatal accidents 1. L emphasizes the importance of meetings with the parties to clarify the employers' responsibilities 2 and argues that a broad palette of measures is needed, including agency cooperation and analysis of criminal schemes 3. L also believes that safety representatives play a very important role 3. L argues that the government has presented concrete measures 4 and that more proposals regarding regional safety representatives are being prepared 4. S argues that the knowledge of employers needs to be strengthened and suggests that the number of subcontractor leads be limited 5. S believes that the government does not have the ability to come up with measures for regional safety representatives 6 and wants the assistant Minister for Employment to present a broad palette of proposals 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! Johanna Haraldsson has asked me, by reason of the meetings on fatal accidents held with representatives for the labor market parties on February 13 and 14, 2024, what conclusions I draw from the meetings regarding which measures are necessary to reverse the development of an increased number of fatal accidents, and what further measures I will take to reduce the number of fatal accidents, especially within the most affected industries.
I would like to start by thanking Johanna Haraldsson for the commitment to these important issues, a commitment that I and the rest of the government fully share. It is important that we have a fundamental consensus on these serious issues, and it is a prerequisite for being able to set clear demands on all actors in the working life.
Meeting the most affected employer representatives and the employees' organizations in February 2024 was significant and provided a good picture of the current situation.
The work environment legislation is clear: it is always the employer who has the responsibility for the work environment. Employers must prevent both the risks that can lead to fatal accidents and the work environment risks that lead to ill health in the long term and, in the worst case, a premature death. In this work, it is very important to have knowledge about the work environment and where the risks are, as well as how these can be prevented.
In Arbetsmiljöverket's inspections of fatal accidents, it can often be established that there have been deficiencies in the systematic work environment management. In some cases, the deficiencies are linked to work-life crime. Work-life crime involves, among other things, that competition is distorted so that serious entrepreneurs are competed out by unscrupulous companies and the work environment becomes more unsafe and insecure. It is therefore important to also combat crime, cheating, and abuse linked to the labor market in order to prevent fatal accidents in the workplaces.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer to my questions.
Just as the Minister said: Against the background of the many fatal accidents at Swedish workplaces during 2023, the Minister for Employment and the Deputy Minister for Employment met representatives of the labor market parties in the worst-affected industries.
On the first day, the employers were met, and on the second day, the unions. I might think that it is a somewhat odd solution. The parties in the Swedish labor market are used to meeting and often share common ground on important issues in the labor market. Being in the same room creates the conditions to reach an agreement.
Why is it that the Ministry of Employment did not want to meet both parties at the same time? That is a question I would like to have an answer to.
I think, despite that the parties were not met collectively and simultaneously, that it is important from the government's side to invite the parties to meetings on how to prevent people from being injured at work.
I and many others are very interested in what came out of these talks. Therefore, I also sent my questions to Paulina Brandberg. She is welcome to elaborate on the answers to them in her upcoming posts, as the first answers, in my opinion, were not so extensive.
A prerequisite for the work environment work to function is that one actually knows what to do and how to do it. The Minister mentioned in her first contribution how important knowledge of the work environment is for employers. She also mentioned that there have been deficiencies in the systematic work environment work at workplaces where fatal accidents have occurred. Based on these two statements, I naturally still wonder what measures the Minister considers necessary to solve the problem of lacking knowledge and lacking risk assessments.
Are these the measures that several trade unions have raised previously and which I assume they also raised at the meeting held with them in February? They say that knowledge needs to be strengthened among employers and those responsible at the companies regarding work environment laws and regulations and their obligation to work systematically with the work environment. Does the Minister of the Interior think that is necessary? How should the Minister of the Interior then act so that it becomes a reality that knowledge about the work environment is strengthened among the employers?
Already today, there are requirements that employers shall ensure that those who have responsibilities in the work environment work have sufficient competence to conduct a well-functioning and systematic work environment work. But despite these being such fundamental requirements, there are no sanctions linked to just this. It is unclear what is intended, and there is no reliable way to check that one actually has sufficient competence.
The Building Workers' Union has, among other things, proposed that there should be quality assurance of work environment training and trainers, and knowledge tests for those responsible for the work environment. Does the Minister of the Interior think these are good proposals? Will she present new requirements for training, and if so, how will they be followed up?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! It is true that we had two separate meetings, one with the labor organizations and one with the employer organizations. I shall also inform you that Arbetsmiljöverket also participated in both meetings.
The reason we divided it in this way is that they were meetings with different perspectives.
The meeting with the labor organizations was primarily for listening, so that we could receive their perspectives and views on which measures can reverse this development.
The meeting with the employers' organizations was, of course, also listening, but from the government's side, we also wanted to clarify the responsibility that the employers have. It is ultimately the employers who are the ones who can ensure that we have a functioning systematic work environment management at our workplaces, and this meeting was partly aimed at, from the government's side, emphasizing the responsibility that the employers have.
It is exactly as has been said. We know that the key factor is that we have a systematic work environment management. If we have that in place and if it is followed, very many of these accidents can be avoided. We know it and have said it many times. The question is how we ensure that this work functions.
At both meetings, several things were raised. Just as was mentioned here, it is very much a question of knowledge. We talked about how we ensure that there is knowledge even among those employees who do not speak the Swedish language and are not familiar with the Swedish safety culture at our workplaces.
We also talked about the culture that exists in some workplaces where people do not take the questions very seriously. One might not put on the safety equipment even though one knows that one should.
We had good discussions, and the Swedish Work Environment Authority also informed at the meeting about how they are working with the issues and how they take their responsibility to contribute to an increase in knowledge on these issues. That being said, it is obvious that we need to find ways to further increase knowledge.
We also spoke about crime in the working life. Just as I said in my opening remarks, there is a strong connection between crime in the working life and the lack of occupational health and safety work and, in the long run, also the fatal accidents that occur at workplaces. Here, both the employers' organizations and the employees' organizations expressed a strong concern over how crime in the working life is spreading and the shadow society that exists on the Swedish labor market. It makes it difficult for the serious companies that want a functioning systematic occupational health and safety work to compete with the unserious actors.
Everything that emerged during the work was an important basis for the Swedish Work Environment Authority, which participated in the meeting, for their continued work, for the government's continued plan for how we shall work with the issues and in our work with the work environment strategy when it eventually expires.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the clarification regarding the setup of the meetings. It is important that the government is clear that the greatest responsibility lies with the employers. This also applies to creating the culture that the Minister mentions. It is a shared responsibility, but the heaviest responsibility always lies with the employer.
I asked how knowledge should increase. I still want to return to the question of how we should proceed. There are a number of proposals on the table, and I am convinced that they were raised during the meetings. Are these proposals that they take with them for continued preparation?
It is good that the government continues the work against workplace crime that we Social Democrats initiated, but I think it is problematic that the minister so quickly falls into reasoning about workplace crime when we are discussing fatal accidents. A majority of those who died at work during the last year did not work at companies that I or the minister would call criminal. Problems with lack of knowledge and poor risk assessments exist across the entire labor market. Therefore, we need stricter requirements and better follow-up across the entire labor market, not just targeted at criminal actors. But it is important that, in parallel with that work, we strengthen the work against workplace crime.
Another major problem affecting a number of actors, especially within the construction industry, is that there are amounts of subcontractors at the same workplace. This often results in that no one takes responsibility for the working environment and ensures that the entire workplace is safe. It is as if the responsibility disappears in long chains of subcontractors.
At the workplace where five people died in the elevator accident in December, there were over 100 subcontractors registered in four tiers. In several countries, the number of subcontractor tiers has been limited to address the problems. Norway is often highlighted as a good example. I cannot imagine that the Minister has missed that there are also requirements in Sweden to limit the number of subcontractors, and I am also quite sure that it was raised during the talks in February.
What is the government's position on limiting the number of subcontractors? Is it something that could be considered? If it works in Norway, it should work here.
There are also other things that can be done to make the responsibility for the working environment and safety in the workplaces clearer. The Social Democratic government investigated an expanded management responsibility. Since 2022, there have been proposals implying that the person who can influence the design of the workplace and the working environment is also the one who has the working environment responsibility, to put it simply. It also concerns proposals for legislative changes that give safety representatives an expanded right to demand measures and stop work at subcontractors.
Has Paulina Brandberg taken a position on that proposal? Is it something that will be moved forward? Will the government do anything about the fact that the responsibility for the working environment seems to disappear in long chains of subcontractors?
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! As has been said before, there is no single measure that solves the problems, and we need to work with a broad palette of measures.
The government is working continuously with the issues. The meetings in February were important and productive, but we have ongoing other meetings and are taking ongoing measures in the area. As an example, I can mention that some months ago I visited the Prosecution Authority's Environmental and Occupational Environment Unit. It is a unit within the Prosecution Authority that works with occupational environment crimes. I was told how they work with the investigations. Also present were the police officers who work with the investigations. It is of course important that there is no impunity for that type of crime.
From that meeting, we took away several important perspectives. We could also observe that some of the things they told us about, for example workplaces with multiple contracting leaders, is something that we have also received from other actors.
The latest we have received is a report from the Delegation against work-life crime, which has submitted a partial report. It concerns agency cooperation regarding work-life crime. Lessons are presented from, among other places, Belgium and cross-border work. Through the partial report, we are provided with additional measures to work with.
Parallel to the presentation of the partial report, the government also issued new additional directives to the Delegation against crime in the labor market. The Delegation has now been tasked with analyzing crime-in-the-labor-market schemes in industries where the risk of labor market crime causing major societal problems is greatest. This includes, among others, the construction industry, which is an industry we often return to when we talk about the most serious accidents in our workplaces. Here, I look forward to receiving the delegation's conclusions when specifically looking at the industries that are most relevant.
Just as the interpellor says, it is not only a question of crime in the workplace. I can tell you that in the recent past, we have given a mandate to Arbetsmiljöverket to develop a new model for reporting on regional safety representative activities. The mandate shall be carried out in consultation with LO, TCO, Saco, and Svenska Hamnarbetarförbundet. From the government's side, we believe that safety representatives have a very important role in ensuring that the systematic work environment work functions. We have therefore given that mandate to Arbetsmiljöverket, and since earlier, there has been a mandate aimed at getting more people to engage as local safety representatives.
The government's work will continue from several different perspectives so that we can have effective measures in place.
Johanna Haraldsson (S)
Mr. Speaker! I thank you for the debate.
Now, the proposal highlights the assignment to Arbetsmiljöverket to introduce a new reporting model. They have, therefore, taken the time to pick out a small administrative part from the investigation on the regional safety representatives and are going to implement it. But the big question in the investigation on the regional safety representatives was to ensure that the regional safety representatives can help support the work environment work at more workplaces. There, the government does not have the ability to come up with measures.
We know that the regional safety representatives contribute to a better working environment, especially in small workplaces. In a situation where the local safety representatives become fewer, the regional safety representatives could contribute to a much greater extent than today, if one took the step and actually did what is proposed in the main proposal regarding expanded access rights in the investigation on the regional safety representatives.
I also think it is strange that the Minister highlights the assignment to Arbetsmiljöverket regarding more safety representatives. It has been condemned by the collective trade union movement as a first step towards separating the safety representatives from the unions.
I want to urge the Deputy Minister for Employment to present a broad palette of proposals. There is no lack of proposals from the opposition, but also from the labor market parties and from the authorities, on what can be done to prevent more people from losing their lives at workplaces. It is time to act.
Statsrådet Paulina Brandberg (L)
Mr. Speaker! I also want to thank you for this debate and for the opportunity to come here and once again present the government's work to turn the development regarding not only fatal accidents but accidents in general at Swedish workplaces.
Regarding the government's concrete measures, I have presented some here today. When it comes to the regional safety representatives, it is correct that there are more proposals, which are now being prepared within the Government Offices. There are objections from some referral bodies here that are important to consider carefully when taking a position on how or if one should proceed with certain proposals.
With that said, the government will continue to gather relevant views and perspectives from the actors who are relevant and have insight into the issues and conduct continuous work to achieve a better functioning work environment at our workplaces. We shall make it easy to do the right thing and ensure that actors who, for various reasons, do not do the right thing and thereby gain competitive advantages are removed.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.