Vem bär ansvaret för arbetsmiljön vid arbete hemifrån? - En framåtsyftande studie om ansvaret för det förebyggande arbetsmiljöarbetet samt för skada vid arbete hemifrån

Sammanfattning: Summary Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, society has demanded that more and more workers work from home in order to contribute to reducing the spread of infection. Although teleworking is not a new phenomenon, the pandemic has led to the question being raised as to whether the possibility of teleworking for certain groups of workers should also exist in the future. The demarcation between when and where we work may therefore become increasingly unclear in the future. This may consequently give rise to discussions as to whether the applicable law regarding work environment responsibility is compatible with the changed working method and whether the work environment responsibility is to some extent affected in line with the changes in the working method. According to the provisions of the Work Environment Act (1977: 1160) (hereinafter AML), the employer bears the ultimate responsibility for the work environment (Chapter 3, Section 2 AML) regardless of where the employee has his workplace. As more and more workers work from home, the risk of various types of stress and psychosocial disorders also increases because the home is in many cases not adapted to a working life. In addition to the employer's work environment responsibility, the law imposes on the employee a responsibility to cooperate with the employer by actively creating a good work environment for their own part (Chapter 3, Section 1a and Section 4 AML). This is of particular importance when the employee works from home because the employer has no control over the workplace when it is located in the employee's home. A more flexible working life where more and more people work remotely can therefore pose challenges for the employer as their opportunities and conditions to see, handle and remedy problems in the work environment are thereby limited. Thus, it can be assumed that this development may entail a shift of the work environment responsibility from the employer to the employee to meet the conditions required for a satisfactory work environment in the home. This in turn leads to the emergence of most questions about, among other things, the responsibility for stress problems, psychosocial problems and accidents in the working environment that have arisen as a result of homework. In this context, it is important to highlight the shortcomings of occupational injury insurance in domestic work. In order for an employee to be able to receive compensation for his or her injuries at home, a direct causal link must be proven between the injury that occurred and the work. Otherwise, the insurance is not valid, which differs from whether the injury occurred at the regular workplace. Based on this, it is particularly interesting to investigate whether the employee receives equally strong legal protection in the event that he works from home.