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The employers’ organization of the municipalities and regions of Sweden does not agree with the municipal requirements for protective equipment for elderly care staff. SKR advocates for local risk assessments and the need for good dialogue in the workplace.
Visor and mouth guard, or just visor. The employers’ organization Sweden’s municipalities and regions do not want to give unequivocal advice to their members. Stock Photography.
The question of how much do the protective equipment of the elderly personnel need to work with crown-infected walls. The municipality threatens more protection stops unless staff can wear visorized mouth guards. Last week, work stopped at a retirement home in Stockholm because oral protection was not deemed necessary. Later, the municipality considered that the decision was valid for other workplaces in the elderly care sector, but the authorities do not want to see it that way. The Swedish Authority for the Work Environment, the Public Health Authority, the Health and Care Inspection (IVO) and the National Board of Health and Welfare issued a joint statement over the Easter weekend that each case must be examined individually .
“We evaluate each ombud safety stop based on the conditions that exist in the specific workplace. If the situations seem the same, then the requirements will be the same. But we have to see that anyway, we have to deal with the safety ombud stops, ”writes Håkan Olsson, Deputy Director General of the Swedish Work Environment Authority to TT.
The site of the employer, the municipalities and regions of Sweden (SKR), has welcomed the message from the authorities, which annoys the Municipal.
But SKR cannot go in and give its members recommendations on protective gear, explains Caroline Olsson, head of SKR’s employer policy department.
– We do not do our own evaluations. This is what the Public Health Authority and the Swedish Work Environment Authority are doing, and the decision by the Swedish Work Environment Authority was concise, she says.
The Public Health Authority does not provide detailed rules on how staff should be equipped in different situations. Instead, it says that “the visor (should) be used for work steps that involve the risk of contact with bodily fluids. If the visor is not completely protected against splashing against the mouth, it is combined with oral protection,” according to the recommendation that It was updated a couple of weeks ago.
Caroline Olsson explains that local risk assessments are the key, when each work step needs to be reviewed, and the need for equipment needs to be tailored to the risk. She says SKR supports municipalities to carry out risk assessments. According to her, it is very important for employers that personnel have the appropriate protective equipment.
– The employer is obliged to carry out risk assessments. This must be done in conjunction with safety representatives at each workplace. The most important thing to find good routines is to have a good dialogue.
The Swedish Work Environment Authority is also aware of the importance of good dialogue. “It is the employer who has responsibility for the work environment and it is extremely important that the employer perform a risk assessment so that all employees can work safely. It is about identifying hazards in various work steps and how they can be counteracted, for example, by changing work methods, job content, or personal protective equipment. Here, dialogue between employers, union representatives and security representatives is very important in finding sustainable solutions, ”writes Håkan Olsson.
But in the midst of the crisis, it looks like there will be a fight, with more and more job protection stops.
TT: Is it time to make a change and let staff get the protective gear they need in the crisis?
– It is good to have a continuous dialogue and create a good dialogue. But also to support risk assessments and trust the advice given by the authorities, says Caroline Olsson.
