The Roles and Responsibilities of Work Environment Engineers in Sweden: Insights from a Qualitative Study

Sammanfattning

This thesis investigates the role of Occupational Health and Safety professionals and their integration into Swedish organizations. Two methods have been used to achieve this end. First, 50 job postings have been analyzed to identify on-job responsibilities and requisite skills for OHS jobs across different sectors and locations throughout Sweden. Second, 13 interviews with OHS professionals were conducted to understand their on-job responsibilities, duties, and the challenges they face in the profession, and to understand how they implement safety policies and manage risk at their workplace. The findings suggest that the current OHS professional has to take a multidisciplinary approach to ensure regulatory compliance and practical safety using advanced technology, economic and legal knowledge, as well as interpersonal communication skills. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) and other educational and training frameworks have been identified as necessary to achieve this. A gap has been observed between applicants’ skill-set and job market demands which is worsened by a lack of clarity in employers’ expectations during recruitment. It is recommended that initiatives such as better educational programs, establishment of competency frameworks, and introduction of clarity in roles and expectations be taken to improve the workplace health and safety standards in Sweden.