Who should notify of their activity?

It is only if you intentionally work with or store concentrated infectious agents in risk classes 2, 3 or 4 that you must notify of the activity. Give notification no less than 30 days before you intend to start.

The provisions on notification are to be found in chapter 4, section 8, first subparagraph, point 2, of the Work Environment Act and in section 29 of the Swedish Work Environment Authority’s regulations relating to infection risks (AFS 2018:4).

The Work Environment Act at the Government of Sweden's website, in English, opens in a new window

Smittrisker (AFS 2018:4) Swedish

Who does not need to notify of their activity?

You do not have to notify of an activity if

• you intentionally work with infectious agents in
  • primary culture or concentration directly from a sample from humans or animals, with no further cultivation,
  • work with genetically modified infectious agents where the activity has been notified or has authorisation under the regulations on the contained use of genetically modified microorganisms (AFS 2011:2),
• infectious agents are present in the activity but you do not work intentionally with them, for example in
  • care for infected humans or animals,
  • biochemical analyses of samples from humans or animals,
  • disposal of waste containing infectious agents,
  • cleaning up of bird droppings,
  • working with sewage,
• you work with infectious agents in risk class 1 which do cause illness in humans.

Notify of and update information on time

Notify the Swedish Working Environment Authority no later than 30 days before you

• begin working with infectious agents for the first time,
• move the activity to another address,
• change the business identity code,
• change the direction of the activity,
• need to work at a different level of protection than you notified.

We need to have the information in order to be able to assess the activity from a protection point of view and to be able to carry out inspections. If you do not give notification at least 30 days in advance, you must pay a sanction fee.

Also notify of changes which do not affect the protection level

You must also notify of other changes which do not affect the protection level. It may be, for example, who your contact person is, who has management responsibility at your undertaking, or the fact that you identified new risks and therefore introduce new protective measures. Notify the Swedish Work Environment Authority within 30 days of the changes taking place.

Carry out a workplace investigation

You must carry out a workplace investigation. This means that you must examine the working conditions of your activity and assess the risks of working with the infectious agents. You must then decide which protective measures you need. You must submit the risk assessment as an attachment to the notification, for example as a Word file or pdf.

In the investigation you must pay particular attention to

• which parts of work could entail a risk of infection,
• how the infectious agents could cause infection,
• what consequences this could have for workers and how serious those consequences are,
• how long the workers are at risk of exposure to the infectious agents,
• the risk class to which the infectious agent belongs according the list in Annex 1 to the regulation on risk of infections (AFS 2018:4). If your infectious agent is not included in the list, you must classify it according to the definitions set out in section 4 of that regulation.

Describe what safety measures are necessary and what level of protection you have to work on to handle the infectious agent safely. You are obliged to do so under section 6 of the regulations.