You have to go back as far as 2010 to find figures that are as dark as this year's statistics on fatal accidents at work. In addition, Monday's elevator accident in Sundbyberg was the worst since the Estonia disaster in 1994.
Risk assessment not carried out
In western Sweden, 12 people have died and something that is common to almost all cases is that the prescribed risk assessment has not been carried out.
"In all cases where people died at work, no risk assessment was carried out in an adequate way. It was a survey we did in 2018-2019, but we see no improvement there," says Per Nylén, department director at the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
According to Per Nylén, the death rate could be reduced if it is ensured that companies carry out risk assessments properly.
"One possibility is to introduce a very significant economic consequence of working in a life-threatening way," he says.
The pandemic behind this year's high death toll
But why 2023 stands out in the statistics is not really known. One theory is that the pandemic years have led to people changing industries and not receiving sufficient retraining before they were put to work.
"People who have changed industries are put to work before they are ready to start working in a safe way," says Per Nylén, department director at the Swedish Work Environment Authority.
Hear more about how fatal accidents can be prevented and the work against work-related crime in the clip.