Before SVT Småland's and TT's revelations, the Swedish Work Environment Authority had no information that the trainee Niklas ended up alone trapped with a tiger at Öland Zoo in 2017. This is despite the fact that an employer is required by law to report serious incidents within a day – otherwise they risk a fine.
After the fatal accident at the park in August, the authority has now also asked questions to the park about what happened to Niklas.
The law is clear: The employer has the burden of proof
In their response, Öland Zoo writes that they sent in a notification by regular mail - but that they cannot answer where at the authority it has been registered.
The Swedish Work Environment Authority does not want to comment on the individual case, but replies via email that the law is clear: It is the employer's obligation to prove that they have made a report. An obligation that cannot be avoided by blaming the loss of letters.
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Niklas Pederson was locked up with a tiger in 2017. He does not believe that the park filed any complaint. Photo: Olof Peterson/SVT
Planned inspection – without mentioning the incident
On August 18, 2017, one of the Swedish Work Environment Authority's inspectors came to a planned and pre-announced inspection at Öland Zoo. Eleven days after Niklas was in the life-threatening situation. Yet it is not mentioned in a word in the inspection notice written after the visit.
According to Carola Bergkvist, who is a business developer at the Swedish Work Environment Authority, this indicates that the inspector who was on site did not know about what had happened.
"I assume that the person who was on site would have asked questions about this incident if it had been known," she told SVT Småland.
Öland Zoo itself addresses the current inspection in its response to the Swedish Work Environment Authority and points out that the authority then had no remarks on the park's work environment work around the predators.
But the park does not want to answer questions about whether they themselves reacted to the fact that the Swedish Work Environment Authority did not ask questions about what happened to Niklas.