Sweden
Inspection campaign
SAM-POL (Systematic OSH-management in politically controlled organisations)
- Duration: The programme had no set timeframe; for the individual organisations covered by the programme, the timeframe was determined by the term of office (usually 4 years) of the leaders of the political organisation in question.
- Sector: organisations forming part of the public administration, led by political appointees, in particular basic units of local authorities and health administration
- Number of inspected entities: The records of activities focused on the procedures implemented – 3419 procedures (information, inspections, follow-ups) were carried out as part of the campaign; the campaign covered more than 300 entities with approximately 1.3 million employees.
- Number of labour inspectors engaged in the campaign activities: 90
The aim of the campaign was to raise awareness among the leaders of political organisations of their responsibility for the systematic management of occupational health and safety. The addressees of the activities gained knowledge about the role of working environment monitoring in organisational management, as well as about the tasks and activities of the Swedish Work Environment Authority (SWEA).
The programme consisted of two phases. The first was informative and aimed at those taking over the management of political organisations at the beginning of their term of office. The second phase was inspections and post-inspection measures being carried out at politically led organisations. As a result of the inspections, the labour inspectors found, in many cases, the lack of an effectively functioning health and safety management system.
The priority area of the campaign was selected on the basis of an analysis of the data contained in INES, the labour inspectorate's own database (data from projects carried out in 2012-2019), data on sickness absences of workers in Sweden collected by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, and data collected by research centres, including universities. It also resulted from proposals for action by the inspectorate formulated by the social partners, mainly employers' organisations.
The Office decided to conduct the campaign (information as well as inspection activities) in all municipal and regional entities in the priority area. An important aspect in the selection of the entities to be inspected was the large number of women employed and the high rate of sickness absence among them.
The implementation pattern of campaign activities was constant: informing the person leading the political organisation, preparatory meeting with the political leaders, inspections of selected subordinate units, follow-up meeting with the political leaders. All campaign activities were carried out remotely (COVID-19 pandemic period). The duration of inspection activities carried out at the inspected entity was up to 2 hours.
The activities undertaken within the framework of the campaign were carried out by a team of labour inspectors selected for their education and experience, comprising between 30% and 50% of the office's staff. The labour inspectors during the implementation of the campaign were provided with: a rationale and description of the objectives of the programme, as well as a description of the means of its implementation, a guide for labour inspectors containing a description of the campaign activities, checklists, a description of the requirements for feedback on the actions taken and examples of how to respond to typical abnormal situations. In addition, labour inspectors had the opportunity to participate in meetings with the steering group, which provided ongoing guidance on the campaign activities.
The effects of the campaign were assessed on the basis of the number and type of legal measures issued by the inspectors and how they were implemented by employers. The course of the campaign and its effects were described in a report prepared by the SWEA, which was published on the office's website.
non-inspection campaign
Undramatic stories
- Duration: The campaign started in 2021 and is still ongoing.
- Sector: all economic sectors with a focus on small and medium-sized enterprises
- Number of establishments covered by the non-inspection activity: The main target group of the campaign are small and medium-sized enterprises – there are approximately 280 000 small (1-9 employees) and over 45 000 medium-sized (10-49 employees) enterprises in Sweden.
- Number of inspectors engaged in the non-inspection activity: 5
- Number of specialised staff involved in implementing the non-inspection activity: Due to the fact that the campaign covered all small and medium-sized enterprises, taking into account many sectors and many risks, experts from various fields were involved.
- Budget: 2021 – 7.6 million SEK, 2022 – 18.7 million SEK, 2023 – 15 million SEK, first months of 2024 – 6.5 million SEK
The main purpose of the campaign is to bring about a lasting change in attitudes of employers and employees. The project supports employers who have already taken action to improve the working environment, and encourages those who have not yet done so to take such initiatives. The idea is to increase employers' interest in, and knowledge of, occupational health and safety issues. The campaign also aims to raise workers' interest in their health in the workplace, their rights and the tools they can use to enforce them.
When preparing the campaign, the Swedish labour inspectorate (SWEA) used mainly their own databases of work-related injuries and work-related deaths. Information was also obtained from interviews with employers, work safety experts and inspectors. The so-called zero measurement was conducted in order to learn about the current state of the facts. The analysis covered four different sectors: trade, office, craft and restaurant. The sectors were selected to ensure a good spread in terms of gender and age of employees.
The media strategy of the campaign involved three basic rules: Reach – the message should reach as many entities as possible; Activation – the purpose of the message is not only to inform but mainly to engage the target audience to take specific measures; Always on - the core message of the campaign must be seen and heard at all times in order for it to have the necessary force and power.
The project helps foster awareness that employers who have good and systematic work environment management in the workplace do not get any unpleasant surprises, either in the form of human tragedies that affect workers, or unexpected costs.
Each effort in the project is evaluated via telephone interviews or via web surveys with the target group of employers and employees in small and medium enterprises. The evaluations are based on interviews with 300-500 employers and the same number of employees. The purpose of the evaluations is to find out if the target group has been reached and understands the message of the campaign.
The results from the latest measurements indicate that the efforts up until the first months of 2023 reached 200 000 employers and 830 000 employees in small businesses.