Commissioner proposes a reinforced industrial health service

1 December 2004 the Commissioner surveying the Swedish industrial health service presented a proposal of a reinforced health service to the Government. A specific law of industrial health service is one of the elements of the proposal.

1 December 2004 the Commission of Industrial Health Service (Företagshälsovårdsutredningen) delivered to the Government a report about measures to make the current industry health service an 'improved instrument for preventive work environment and the working life directed rehabilitation' (Utveckling av god företagshälsovård, ny lagstiftning och andra åtgärder, SOU 2004:113). The Government appointed in 2003 a Special Commissioner, Kurt Eriksson, chief lawyer at the Swedish Mediation Agency, to survey the situation of the industrial health service in Sweden, (Direktiv 2003:87).

One of the proposals is a new law that promotes the development of a good industrial health service, carried out by separate health service units that are given the possibility to achieve a special 'quality stamp' from the state authorities. The so-called 'qualified health service' should have competence in the areas of medicine, technique, behavioural sciences and ergonomics. The qualified health service should work in an interdisciplinary way and use a quality system.

A second proposal is the establishing of an Industry Health Service Board (Företagshälsovårdsnämnd). The Board should contain representatives from the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket), the Swedish Working Life Institute (Arbetslivsinstitutet), the Insurance Authority (Försäkringskassan), the social partners and the industry health service business. The Board should handle issues on the development of the industry health service and be responsible for the authorization of industry health service units.

The Commissioner also finds that the Working Life Institute should be given a clear responsibility for the education in the industry health service and the development of this education. The volume of the education will have to be increased in the coming years. The Institute should also promote the research in the field of industry health service.

The co-operation between the industry health service and the public health and sick care must be deeper, the Commissioner ends. A cooperation project is proposed, aiming to that qualified health service units will be able to conclude co-operation agreements with the city councils, in Sweden responsible for most of the public health and sick care.

The special commission’s work has a background : the current big economic and social costs for the Swedish ill health. The Government hopes that the industry health service should be able to contribute to improving the health in working places. In 1993 the former state subventions to the industry health service were abolished. The industry health service business for the time being contains actors in a free market. The survey states that a part of what is actually industry health service now does not follow the comprehensive rules in the Work Environment Act. The industry health service often includes for example issues like health promotion that has nothing to do with proper industry health service.

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