The Coronavirus And Employers In Sweden

Sweden is currently considered a low risk for coronavirus, but are there measures that employers should be considering or implementing? This article provides guidance.

About the coronavirus (covid-19)

The Public Health Agency of Sweden is continuously monitoring developments and considers the risk of infection spreading in Sweden to be very low. There may be sporadic cases connected to 'imported' cases, before the infection is halted. However employers in Sweden, can take action in certain ways.

Responsibility

To minimise the risk of infection spreading in Sweden, all employers should make a risk assessment according to the provisions issued by the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Swe: Arbetsmiljöverket) relating to systematic work environment management (AFS 2001:1) and infection spreading (AFS 2018:4). The employer should plan how a potential outbreak in the workplace would be handled, identify the particular work tasks that needs to be done continuously and make sure that all the employees that carry out these tasks work under as safe conditions as possible.

The employer is responsible for the organisation being run in such a way that the work environment is well run and no one becomes sick or hurt themselves because of their work. If the employer lacks the necessary knowledge to ensure this, it should reach out to relevant sources, such as the occupational health care authorities. A risk assessment should be made in collaboration with safety representatives.

General recommendations

If an employee has been in an area where the virus is spreading within the past 14 days, the employer should contact the employee before he or she returns to the workplace to check how he or she is feeling. If the employee has developed respiratory symptoms such as a cough, difficulty breathing or fever, he or she should call 1177 (i.e. the general health guide number in Sweden) for health advice as soon as possible and potentially not come back to the workplace in the immediate future.

Employers should take employees' concerns seriously. The coronavirus is classified as a disease that is dangerous to public health and to society. Therefore, it is appropriate for employers to take certain actions. For work environment reasons, the employer can instruct an employee who has visited an area where the virus is spreading within the past 14 days to work from home for ten to 14 days, regardless of whether they have any symptoms or not. There are also rules in...