This paper explores employer responsibility regarding “breaches against the Swedish Work Environment Act” (“brott mot arbetmiljölagen”) and “violations of the Swedish Work Environment Act” (“arbetsmiljöbrott)”. The rules and regulations governing employer responsibility is overly complex and hard to interpret. By highlighting and analyzing relevant aspects of existing rules and regulations, the paper aims to clarify the meaning of employer responsibility. There are also a range of different workplace environment circumstances that can lead to either a breach against the Work Environment Act or a violation of the Work Environment Act. Neglecting to make the necessary improvements of a workplace environment may constitute a breach against the Work Environment Act even if an accident does not occur as a result of the failure to act. If, on the other hand, an accident does occur, the same negligence could get an employer charged for a violation of the Work Environment Act. The objective of this paper is to examine what responsibilities employers have according to the Swedish Work Environment Act (SFS 1977:1160), systematic work environment management (AFS 2001:1), organizational and social work environment (AFS 2015:4), the swedish penal code (SFS 1962:700), as well as the difference between a breach against the Workplace Environment Act and a violation of the Work Environment Act. To reach objectives, we apply a legal dogmatic method and, drawing from the relevant legal sources, define what constitutes established law. A legal analytic method has also been applied to analyze the material from a wider perspective. The results show the employers have a wide and varied responsibility, where many different areas need to be considered. To understand the full extent of employer responsibility, there needs to be an understanding of both law and complementary regulations. Regarding violations of the work environment act, there are some necessary conditions that need to be fulfilled for a person to be convicted. This includes gross negligence and a causal connection between an act and the incident. When it comes to breaches against the Work Environment Act, the Swedish Work Environment Authority represents the first instance. If they uncover any wrongdoings or flaws in the work environment, they have the authority to issue an order or a prohibition. To ensure employers rectify noted issues, the order or prohibition can be complemented by a fine. The fine represents a means of pressure to ensure employers comply with the Work Environment Act and its complementary regulations, and, by doing so, work preventatively against unhealthy environments and accidents.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-125778 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Strümpel, Anna, Petersson, Malin |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för rättsvetenskap |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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