The responsibility for coordinating work environment management rests, according to chapter 3 section 7 of the Work Environment Act, with the person in charge of the permanent workplace where the work takes place. The person in charge of the workplace can delegate the coordination responsibility to someone else. When it comes to loading and unloading ships, the shipowner can also be responsible for coordination.

The person with coordinating responsibility must

• coordinate the work of preventing risks of ill health and accidents
• ensure that working hours are planned so as to prevent risks of ill health and accidents
• establish general safety devices and ensure that they are maintained
• issue general safety rules for the workplace
• clarify who is responsible for the special safety devices that may be needed for certain jobs
• establish sufficient staff spaces and sanitation arrangements.

All employers at a joint workplace must participate in coordinated work environment management Everyone must also ensure that their own activities and their own devices at the joint workplace do not entail risks of ill health or accidents.

In the case of fixed devices in a joint workplace, it is the person in charge of the workplace who is responsible for ensuring that such fixed devices can also be used by anyone who works there, even if they are not their own employees, without them being exposed to the risk of ill health. The person in charge of the workplace must also ensure that other fixed devices in the workplace can be used without such risk.

Where are the boundaries between provisions on ship safety and the work environment?

Provisions on the work environment relating to shipping are mainly found in the Work Environment Act and the Ship Safety Act.

The Work Environment Act applies to every activity where employees perform work on behalf of an employer. It applies to both onshore and maritime work.

Maritime work means work on behalf of the ship that is carried out on board or elsewhere by someone accompanying the ship. For maritime work, the Work Environment Act applies unless otherwise stated in that act or follows from the Ship Safety Act. According to the Ship Safety Act, it is the master on board the ship who can be equated with an employer.

Ship Safety Act (2003:364), Riksdagen website

Railway lines and coordinating responsibility

Railway lines are commonly found in harbours. The person in charge of the railway line, called the Infrastructure Manager according to the Railway Safety Act, has overall responsibility for the fixed operating location that a railway line constitutes; thus they also have a coordinating responsibility pursuant to the third chapter of the Work Environment Act.

According to the Railway Safety Act, the infrastructure manager responsible for coordination must coordinate with other neighbouring infrastructure managers, and also establish procedures for all contractors operating within his track area, according to the Work Environment Act.

The procedures must provide information on how everyone concerned should work to prevent risks of ill health and accidents, as well as contain information on how the coordinator is to follow up on whether the employees follow the instructions and procedures that have been announced.

Permission from the infrastructure manager is required to enter a track area.

Find out more about regulations for railways from the Swedish Transport Agency.

For those who work in the railway sector, the Swedish Transport Agency's website