Swedish Work Environment Authority

What Swedish Work Environment Authority does

Arbetsmiljöverket (Swedish Work Environment Authority) is the Swedish government agency responsible for occupational safety and health regulation, operating under the Ministry of Employment. The authority issues binding work environment regulations (known as AFS — Arbetsmiljöverkets föreskrifter), conducts announced and unannounced workplace inspections across all Swedish industries, and provides guidance, statistics, and e-services to employers, employees, safety representatives (skyddsombud), and foreign workers. It also serves as a designated authority under Sweden's whistleblower protection law (visselblåsarlagen), administering external reporting channels and EU Commission statistical reporting. Its core products include a multilingual website portal (av.se) available in 20+ languages plus easy-to-read and sign language formats, e-services for professional qualification assessments covering occupational health, diving, and blasting, dedicated permitting services for Biocidal Products Class 1, the AFS 2023:15 medical controls regulations, and a digital library of publications and guidance materials distributed via a webshop.

The agency's business model is non-commercial: core regulatory services are provided free of charge, with operations funded through Swedish state budget appropriations. The webshop generates only nominal revenue from publications and signage. Reach is delivered through a multi-channel strategy including the av.se website, social media (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube), a podcast series ("Hallå arbetsmiljö!"), newsletters, and public events such as Almedalsveckan. The General Director is Lars Lööw. There is no proprietary technology stack described, no AI/ML capability disclosed, no APIs or SDKs, and no headcount or revenue figure publicly available in the supplied data.

The agency has no private shareholders, parent company, or subsidiaries, and operates as an independent statutory authority. As of 2025, approximately 50 people die in work accidents annually in Sweden (53 deaths recorded in 2025, of which 45 were in the Swedish workforce), representing the principal outcome metric against which the agency's regulatory and inspection activities are judged.

Name

Swedish Work Environment Authority

Legal name

Arbetsmiljöverket

Website

https://av.se

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket) is Sweden's statutory government agency responsible for occupational safety regulation, workplace inspections, and compliance guidance across all Swedish industries, funded through state appropriations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Occupational Safety and Health Regulation

NAICS

Administration of Public Health Programs (923120), Regulation, Licensing, and Inspection of Miscellaneous Commercial Sectors (92615), Public Administration (92)

SIC

Foreign Governments (8888)

akta.pro primary industry

Occupational Safety & Health Authorities (Workplace Safety Regulators) (HLAJAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Workplace Injury & Illness Reporting, Compliance & Enforcement Programs (HLAJAFAK), Occupational Health & Workplace Safety Public Health Regulation (BPAIAJAL), Industrial Hygiene & Exposure Standards Regulators (Air/Noise/Chemical/Biological) (HLAJAFAC), Occupational Health Surveillance & Worker Health Monitoring Programs (HLAJAFAL)

Keywords

• Occupational safety regulation
• Workplace health inspections
• Labor standards enforcement
• Work injury reporting
• Professional qualification assessment

Headquarters

HQ city

Solna

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Arbetsmiljöverket is the official Swedish government authority responsible for regulating occupational safety and health. It issues binding regulations (AFS), conducts workplace inspections, enforces compliance through sanctions, and provides free guidance, statistics, e-services (work-injury reporting, posting notifications, professional qualification assessments), and publications to all Swedish employers and employees.

Product overview

Arbetsmiljöverket operates as a Swedish government authority website providing a comprehensive digital portal for work environment regulations and compliance. The core offering is the website itself, supplemented by e-services for professional qualification assessments (for foreign workers in fields such as biocidal products, medical controls, diving, and blasting), electronic permit applications, and a digital library of regulatory publications. The AFS 2023:15 provisions on medical controls represent key regulatory content accessible through the platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Professional Qualification Assessment Service E-service for assessing foreign professional qualifications in occupational health, diving work, and blasting operations against Swedish standards. Used by foreign professionals and posting employers.
• Biocidal Products Class 1 Permit Service E-service for applying for permits and qualifications to use biocidal products classified as class 1 in Sweden. Targets foreign workers and regulated users.
• Publications and Resources Webshop Webshop offering work environment publications including regulations, guidelines, brochures, reports, checklists, and research-based guides. Available for purchase by employers and individuals.
• Workplace Inspection Services Statutory on-site workplace inspections conducted by Arbetsmiljöverket inspectors across all Swedish industries, covering announced and unannounced inspections, inspection statistics from 2008-2025, and enforcement of work environment regulations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Arbetsmiljöverkets inspections and regulatory work contribute to reducing approximately 50 annual work-related deaths in Sweden

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• EU-OSHA (European Agency for Safety and Health at Work): The EU's tripartite agency for occupational safety and health, based in Bilbao. EU-OSHA coordinates policy, research, and awareness campaigns across member states and provides the framework within which Arbetsmiljöverket operates, making it a supra-national peer and primary coordination partner.
• US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): The US federal workplace safety regulator operating under the Department of Labor. OSHA shares Arbetsmiljöverket's core mandate of inspection, regulation, and enforcement, but operates at much greater scale across a larger and more diverse workforce, with state-level analogues adding jurisdictional fragmentation.
• German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA): Germany's federal OSH research and regulatory body under the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Combines regulatory functions (AShG regulations) with applied research on workplace hazards—broader scope than Arbetsmiljöverket, but comparable in statutory mandate and EU coordination.

Regional players

• Safe Work Australia: Australia's national workplace safety policy body, operating as a tripartite council under the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Comparable in mandate (national OSH strategy, model regulations, statistics) but with a federal-state implementation split absent in Sweden.
• Dutch Labour Inspectorate (Inspectie SZW): The Netherlands' labor inspection authority under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. Conducts workplace inspections, enforces OSH and labor-market regulations, and shares a comparable European regulatory style with Arbetsmiljöverket despite differing institutional structure.
• WorkSafe New Zealand: New Zealand's primary workplace safety regulator under the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. Conducts workplace inspections, enforces the Health and Safety at Work Act, and shares a common-law regulatory heritage with the UK HSE lineage that informs Arbetsmiljöverket's structure.
• Danish Working Environment Authority (Arbejdstilsynet): Denmark's national workplace safety regulator under the Ministry of Employment. Operates an analogous inspection and guidance regime for Danish employers and employees, sharing Nordic regulatory traditions, EU framework integration, and a similar workforce scale.
• Finnish Occupational Safety Authority (Työsuojeluviranomainen): Finland's national workplace safety regulator under the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. Shares Arbetsmiljöverket's Nordic regulatory model, mandate scope, and integration with EU OSH directives, making it a close regional peer despite Finnish-language differences.
• Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (Arbeidstilsynet): Norway's national workplace safety regulator under the Ministry of Labour and Social Inclusion. Directly comparable to Arbetsmiljöverket in mandate, structure, and Nordic labor-market context, including petroleum-sector-specific safety regulation extending beyond Sweden's equivalent scope.

Direct peers

• UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE): The UK's national workplace safety regulator with statutory inspection, enforcement, and guidance functions analogous to Arbetsmiljöverket. Both agencies operate national-level OSH mandates with binding regulations, workplace inspections, and free public guidance; comparable in scope, structure, and digital maturity.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/arbetsmiljoverket
• Facebookfacebook.com/arbetsmiljoverket
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/arbetsmiljoverket
• Instagraminstagram.com/arbetsmiljoverket_av
• Xx.com/Arbetsmiljo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Swedish Work Environment Authority