Occupational Safety and Health: International and European influences on a National level

Abstract: Occupational safety and health is an important aspect concerning every worker and employer. It is not only of concern on a national level but also internationally, where a lot of regulations has its beginning. Membership in the International Labour Organisation and the European Union comes with obligations for its members. This is why we are interested in studying how we need to implement their standards and what the sanctions may be for non-complying. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the impact that international and European legislation can have on the national legal system. Like most legal essays, we use the traditional legal dogmatic method focusing on the primary legislation provided on each level. The research has shown that Sweden more often has ratified conventions issued by ILO, and done as members of EU what is needed to comply with the EU legislation. In some areas the Swedish legislation is even stronger than what is needed in relation to what the ILO and EU has stated. Another interesting thing that occurred to us during the research was that the occupational safety and health legislation on all levels is in the form of framework legislation with a lot of complementary regulations for specific concerns, which makes the understanding of the legislation and regulations more complicated than needed. The research shows that some organisations have really strong sanctions while others are weaker, this is due to the legal basis of these organisations. We also provide our thoughts on both the subject of occupational safety and health and the efficiency of the sanctions.