New working time arrangement are becoming still more abundant partly due to globalization (the 24-hours global economy with around-the-clock communication and transport of gods and services) and increasing demands for productivity and quality both in private and public sectors. The new working time arrangements are associated both with company -based flexibility, referring to the needs of employers to modify, extend or reduce work hours according to production needs, and with individual flexibility that provides more influence over own work schedule for the employees but also contains the risk of over-commitment. I all Nordic countries an increasing public debate on stress, mental health problems and conflicts between work and private life have emerged during the last decade. To some extent the public debate seems to be governed more by beliefs than by knowledge and scientific evidence. The knowledge in this field is far from complete, but in some areas research has provided good knowledge, and several ongoing research projects will provide new and important knowledge the coming years. The present report - being the result of a Nordic expert group - provides an excellent review of the current international scientific knowledge with regard to direct social consequences (mental well-being, stress and work-life balance) of long and irregular working hours and employee influence on working hours. Furthermore, the labour market development in the Nordic countries is presented in relation to new working time arrangements. The report provides a well-structured insight in the social consequences of new working time arrangements. I am convinced that decision makers, working environment professionals, and researchers will gain a lot by reading the report.   Monday, 24 September 2007     Otto Melchior Poulsen Research Director National Research Centre for the Working Environment

Positive psychology is about studying and understanding positive psychological phenomena - the things that work for people, organizations and societies. The insights of positive psychology have also manifested themselves within work and organizational psychology. These trends have entailed a focus on more positive work-related phenomena, as for instance flow, work engagement, meaningfulness, and well-being at work. The aim of this report is to conduct a closer inspection of central concepts in positive work and organizational psychology. Firstly, the report assesses the validity of a series of measures of positive concepts and secondly, the report analyzes relationships between positive concepts and a series of positive individual and organizational outcomes. The analyses yield interesting findings that may contribute to a new working life research front with a strong potential generating knowledge that may prove useful in enhancing a healthy work environment.

Positive psychology investigates the positive aspects of human life. Positive psychologists contend that it is difficult to understand the factors that create health, balance and meaningful lives through studying sickness, dissatisfaction and suffering. Accordingly, positive psychology represents a turn for a more positive approach to psychology. The ideas of positive psychology are also applicable within the sphere of work and organisational psychology. It is a central contention of this report that positive psychology may provide interesting answers to some of the challenges that are confronting the Nordic welfare states in the years ahead. The aim of this report is to give a theoretical and methodological overview of existing Nordic research about positive factors at work. The report contains a series of operationalised concepts that measure positive factors at work. These measures of positive factors at work are brought together in a theoretical model that the authors of this report will use as a starting point for further research into positive psychology at work in a Nordic context. This research has been funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

Alle arbeidstilsyn i Norden arbeider ut fra en uttalt risikobasert tilnærming. For å nå denne målsetningen er det nødvendig med en metodikk som er i stand til å identifisere risikoutsatte virksomheter, næringer og arbeidstakere. Per i dag er det stor variasjon mellom de nordiske arbeidstilsynene med tanke på hvor langt etatene har kommet i utviklingen av slike metodikker. For flere av landene er derfor utviklingspotensialet på dette området stort. Hensikten med foreliggende rapport, er nettopp å ta fatt i dette utviklingspotensialet. Rapporten presenterer og deler kunnskap om utfordringer og aktuelle løsninger for risikobasert tilsynsvirksomhet på tvers av de nordiske landegrensene. I studien som ligger til grunn for rapporten er det hentet inn data og opplysninger fra arbeidstilsynene i Norge, Sverige, Danmark, Finland og Island.

This report presents a preliminary knowledge status about implications of the sharing economy for labour markets and employment relations in the Nordic countries. It also reviews how the Nordic countries and their social partners approach the sharing economy and issues relating, amongst other, to its legality, regulation, taxation, and terms of competition. There is so far scant supply of statistics, data and research in this field. The employment potentials and consequences of the sharing economy will, amongst other, depend on the governments’ and the organized actors’ responses to these challenges. Currently, all the actors seem to be in a phase of knowledge gathering and deliberation of possible policy options, cautiously avoiding taking steps that might obstruct the development of the sharing economy.

Globalisation and demographic trends underline the twin challenge of the Nordics with productivity stagnation and a decreasing work force. Increasing productivity and the work force will be an answer to both. A good work environment can do both: If less people have to take sick leave as result of bad work environments, this will contribute to increasing the work force. Also, for some time, a relationship between work environment and productivity has been hypothesised. Happy, healthy workers, in short, are more productive than not-so-happy and not-so-healthy workers are. This report is based on the most comprehensive empirical study of the cohension between working environment and productivity. It confirms the hope of many, i.e. that improvements in working environment and improved productivity are highly correlated. The results are robust across time and the investigated countries.

Globalisation pressures and demographic trends affect the chances of the Nordics to be prosperous and indirectly threaten the welfare states as we know them. These pressures and trends underline the twin challenge to the Nordics of productivity stagnation and a decreasing work force. A contribution to an answer to both challenges can be an increase in productivity and new ways to increase the work force. A good work environment can do both. In this context, the Nordic Council of Ministers has initiated a project aiming at clarifying the impact on productivity of work environment and well-being in companies. This report presents an indicator manual for use in measuring work environment in the Nordic countries. The report also outlines and defines a common Nordic concept of work wellbeing. The indicators serve as important first steps on the way to thorough econometric analysis of the relationship between work environment, well-being, and productivity.

The project shows that the working environment is rarely the sole cause of early retirement, but working environment factors may explain a large fraction of the transition to disability pension in particular. Several working environment predictors of early retirement are well-documented in the Nordic countries, but workplace policies and activities to retain older workers rarely aim to improve the working environment. There may be great potentials in developing workplace interventions which combine prevention of working environment risk factors (e.g. risk factors for accidents, strenuous work/high physical work demands, insufficient recovery between work shifts, quantitative work demands, conflicts at work and bullying/harassment, and age discrimination) with increment of job satisfaction through increased control/influence, possibilities for development and recognition from management.

This report outlines how the authorities in the five Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, carry out their inspections of the psychosocial working environment at the enterprises. Starting out with a description of the psychosocial risks, the report proceeds with a comparison of the differences between the different national regulations as well as an outline of the similarities. The report offers a comparison of the Nordic working environment strategies and a detailed presentation of the different targets and areas of initiative. It also presents how different methods are used in the selection of enterprises, sectors and job groups for inspection and how the inspectors are trained to carry out the inspections. The report rounds off with a description of the different national inspection methods and how to measure their effects.

A sustainable working life that prevents work-related health problems and facilitate inclusion of young workers is vital to ensure the health, safety and work participation among young workers in the Nordic countries. This report provides Nordic statistics, scientific knowledge and discussions on how to achieve a sustainable work life for young workers in the Nordic countries. Under the Swedish presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2013, the focus was on youth and young workers' working conditions. As part of this focus, the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned this report. The report shows that an inter-disciplinary and comprehensive approach is essential to ensure a sustainable work life among young workers. Six characteristics are emphasized as important: the characteristics of the worker, the workplace, the work task, the employment, the education and the youth.

Arbejdsmiljøcertificering vinder frem i de nordiske lande og specielt i Danmark, hvor de certificerede virksomheder som udgangspunkt har været fritaget for Arbejdstilsynets screeningsbesøg siden 2001, og certificeringsorganerne dermed delvist har overtaget tilsynsforpligtelsen for de certificerede virksomheder. Det er intentionen at indføre et tilsvarende system i Sverige. Gennem litteraturstudier og samtaler med interessenter belyser projektet arbejdsmiljøeffekten af arbejdsmiljøcertificering, der ind til nu er meget dårligt belyst, og validiteten af et arbejdsmiljøcertifikat og samspillet mellem arbejdsmiljøcertificering og myndighedstilsyn problematiseres. Med udgangspunkt i bl.a. en interessentworkshop har projektet udarbejdet en række anbefalinger til, hvordan kvaliteten i certificeringsorganernes auditering kan optimeres til glæde for virksomhedernes fremadrettede arbejdsmiljøarbejde, samt hvordan der kan etableres et konstruktivt samspil mellem arbejdsmiljøcertificering, regelfastsættelse og myndighedstilsyn.

Indflydelse, samarbejde og mening i arbejdet. De særlige træk ved det nordiske arbejdsmarked bygger på, at arbejdsgivere og fagbevægelse tidligt har anerkendt hinanden. Samarbejdet har været afsæt for de forskningsprojekter og forsøg med udvikling af arbejdsorganiseringen med en høj grad af indflydelse for medarbejderne. Den nordiske forskningstradition har opfattet medarbejderne som aktivt og kollektivt handlende og har fokuseret på sammenhængen mellem arbejdsopgaven og fællesskabet – i modsætning til de individuelle teoriers fokus på motivation og selvudvikling. Forfatterne ser et behov for at revitalisere den nordiske forskningstradition og bringe den i spil i forhold til ny teknologi og globalisering. Derigennem kan forskningen bidrage til et bæredygtigt arbejdsmarked, som er sundt, udviklende og produktivt, så nordiske virksomheder kan klare sig i den internationale konkurrence.

ErgoVSM is an intervention process tool stimulating a dialogue for creating more sustainable value streams at hospital wards. It represents a complement to traditional Value Stream Mapping. Work environment issues are integrated in the Lean-management method Value Stream Mapping. The focus is to describe the current state through dialogue and visualisation followed by designing a future state and developing an action plan. During this process, performance, physical ergonomics and work content are considered.

The 2014 workshop on "Co-ordination of research on working hours and health in the Nordic countries" was held at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health on the 23rd-24th October 2014. The overall purpose of the workshop was to provide a platform for cooperation and development of high-quality research projects on working hours and health in the Nordic countries. The project is supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The present report summarizes the presentations and discussions at the workshop with main focus on opportunities for future collaborations.

This is the first Nordic report on the current scientific state of art of prevention activities regarding workplace bullying in the Nordic countries. During the last 20 years the Nordic countries have been among the leading ones regarding research on this important workplace stressor. Common features among the Nordic countries made it possible to eventually compare the Nordic countries' national data on both measurements, risk factors, consequences and the prevention of bullying at the work place. Hence, after these first 20 years of pioneering research a Nordic bullying network consisting of the leading research institutions in this field within the Nordic countries was established a few years ago with the aim to coordinate research efforts and existing knowledge combined with increased cross-national collaboration and fertilization in this field. Furthermore, the network aims to contribute to establishing a joint Nordic theoretical, empirical, conceptual and methodological platform for science and for the prevention of bullying at the workplace. Factsheet related to the report can be found here.

The main objective of the report is to review the international, quantitative literature on the effects of individual, task, social, group, leader and organizational factors on both employee well-being and performance at work. We also report the results of national workshops in Nordic countries, which provide practitioners ideas on workplace initiatives to improve employee well-being and performance. From our literature review, we conclude that individual and organizational factors are more often related to both employee outcomes than group or leadership factors. Employee performance was found to be a stronger outcome than employee well-being for all workplace factors. National workshops indicate that initiatives can develop factors to improve well-being and performance. We conclude with a model that identifies the different factors that promote employee well-being and performance.

Changes in the labor marked globally and in the Nordic countries involve new forms of work and atypical employment among young workers. A significant proportion of young workers are in temporary positions, working irregular working hours, and part-time work. This also applies to the young workers portrayed in this report. They are working at online platforms as e-sport gamers, YouTuber or Influencers, an thus move into the borderland of the meanings we usually ascribe to the categories ‘work’ and ‘working environment’. This development also apply to traditional professions, such as carpentry work or service work, but the new aspect is that the work is mediated through online platforms, which seems to affect the working environment for those young workers. It is important to know more about new employment forms if we are to improve working environment among these young workers.

Rapid growth in the nanoparticle industry is anticipated in the Nordic countries owing to highly focused national research and investment initiatives. Knowledge on consequences for occupational exposures to engineered nanoparticles and appropriate technical control levels is still limited. This report explores existing knowledge on exposure risks and technical control approaches. The report concludes that data are too limited to allow general conclusions to be drawn regarding risks of exposure to engineered nanoparticles. Engineering techniques for controlling nanoparticle exposure can build on the current knowledge and approaches to control exposure to e.g. welding fume and carbon black. There is a need for improving the quality of information provided in Material Safety Data Sheets.

Et arbeidsliv som prioriterer forebyggende arbeidsmiljøarbeid, er viktig for å sikre helse, sikkerhet og høy arbeidsdeltakelse. Denne rapporten oppsummerer forskningslitteraturen som omhandler arbeidsmiljø, arbeidsforhold og arbeidshelse blant sysselsatte innvandrere i Europa og Canada, og gir en nærmere omtale av ulike datakilder og kunnskapsstatus på dette temaområdet i de nordiske landene: Norge, Sverige, Danmark og Finland. Rapporten viser at arbeidsskader og opplevd mobbing og diskriminering er mer utbredt blant sysselsatte innvandrere enn blant øvrige sysselsatte. En annen hovedkonklusjon er fraværet av store undersøkelser som følger innvandrergrupper over tid. Slike undersøkelser er nødvendig for å studere hvordan ulike aspekter som innvandreres sosioøkonomiske bakgrunn, språkferdigheter og tid i landet har betydning for yrkesdeltakelse, arbeidsmiljøeksponering og helse.

Second corrected edition. The Nordic countries have a close co-operation in the field of occupational safety and health (OSH). The objective of this study is to compare OSH policies in the Nordic countries in relation to the Nordic co-operation programme and strategies of the EU as well. The study was conducted through a qualitative content analysis of the strategies or corresponding programmes. The policies were analysed from the point of view of different themes and dimensions. The study shows that the strategies or programmes emphasise quite different viewpoints. The state has a different role in these programmes, which results in different cultures regarding the OSH policy practices and their development. The report shows interesting differences in the strategic approaches in the Nordic countries. Some of these differences have not been clearly shown and explained before.

The project identified good Nordic management practices by analysing Nordic research on management, working conditions, and productivity. The project identified 2760 publications combining these topics and analysed in detail 38 core publications combining all three topics. The main findings were:

1. Nordic research that combine all three topics is limited in extend but broad in content and therefore fragmented

2. Values related to cooperation and participation permeated the publications, which sets them apart from EU and US publications.

3. The core publications identified positive relations between management practices, working conditions and workplace performance

4. Positive management practices are characterised by dialogue and cooperation between managers and subordinates.

The research was conducted in 2012-2014 at Aalborg University, SINTEF, VTT, and Karlstad University.

This report is a review of the Nordic countries systems regarding fatal occupational accidents, i.e. the reporting process, the investigation process, the registration process, the registries, and the legal statutes. The report shows that during the time period 2003-2008 the total number of fatal occupational accidents in the Nordic countries was 1243, i.e. between 1.51 to 2.49 fatal occupational accidents per 100,000 workers per year varying between countries. The report also shows that more than 93 % of these fatal accidents involved males, which reflects the predominance of men in the most dangerous branches, i.e. agriculture, construction, transport, and communication. The report concludes that in order to make data on occupational accidents more comparable among the Nordic countries and improve our common ability to identify prevention strategies, a closer collaboration in the field of occupational accident investigation and registration is needed.

Østutvidelsene av EU fjernet grensene mellom nasjonale arbeidsmarkeder med svært ulike nivåer i arbeids- og levekår, og har ført til stor mobilitet av arbeidskraft fra øst til vest i Europa. I dette prosjektet har vi studert hvordan arbeidstilsynene i Danmark, Norge og Sverige gjennomfører kontroll, tilsyn og veiledning av utenlandske virksomheter og arbeidstakere innenfor bygge- og transportnæringene. Selv om mange av utfordringene er felles, er det store variasjoner mellom landene når det gjelder hvilke tiltak og reguleringer som er iverksatt. Studien viser at det også er forskjeller i hvordan tilsynsarbeidet organiseres, hva slags registreringsordninger som brukes, hva som kontrolleres og hvilken teknologi som er tilgjengelig for tilsynsinspektørene.

The objective of this study was to find out how legislation and legal practices concerning labour inspections differ in the Nordic countries. To accomplish this, individual eports on each Nordic country were made. Three areas concerning labour inspection were investigated in each report: An examination on how labour inspection is administered in order to gain an insight into how labour inspection is governed in each country. Secondly, the scope of legislation concerning labour inspection was examined to establish whether the Labour Inspection Authorities in the Nordic countries are expected to enforce only legislation concerning occupational safety and health, working conditions in general, or whether the Authorities have been additionally entrusted other duties, e.g. enforcement with the terms and conditions of employment of workers. Furthermore, it was also examined to whom the legislation applies and the content of the provisions of the legislation. Finally, the follow-up systems of the labour inspection legislation were examined.

Den europeiska kommissionen har uppmanat medlemsländerna att genom marknadskontroll undersöka om tillverkare och importörer av partikelfilter, vars filtereffekt helt eller delvis baseras på elektrostatiskt laddade filtermaterial, vidtagit tillräckliga åtgärder för att säkerställa att filtren uppfyller direktivets krav. Ett gemensamt nordiskt marknadskontrollprojekt genomfördes därför under 2007 för att undersöka om partikelfiltren som säljs i de nordiska länderna uppfyller kraven. Resultatet redovisas i denna rapport. The European Commission has requested the member states to, by market control, investigate if manufacturers and importers of particle filters, whose filter function partly or totally is based on electrically charged filter materials, have taken sufficient steps in order to ensure that the filters fulfil the requirements of the Directive. A common Nordic market controll project was for that reason performed in the year 2007 to investigate if particle filters offered for sale on the Nordic market fulfil the requirements. The result is presented in this report.

Denne rapport indeholder dokumentation fra det Nordiske Arbejdsløshedsforsikringsmøde 2007, som blev afholdt på Færøerne. Møderne afholdes hvert andet år. Mødestederne går på skift mellem de nordiske lande hvor sekretariatsfunktionen bliver ivaretaget af det land hvor mødet finder sted. Møderne er planlagt i fællesskab af den Permanente Kommitte for Nordisk Arbejdsløshedsforsikringsmøde. Emnerne for de to forelæsninger var: De nordiske lande, en beskrivelse af de nordiske landes forskelle, demografi m.m., og EU - den justerede forordning 1408. Der blev afholdt fem workshops med følgende temaer: Udveksling av oplysninger mellem myndigheder med IT i sagsbehandlingen Ledige og sygdom Mere flexible arbejdsformer - krav til forsikring Polens erfaringer med EU's medlemskab med henblik på arbejdsmarkedsområder Hvorfor forskellige regler for at komme ind i et andet nordisk lands forsikringssystem?

Denna rapport innehåller dokumentation från det nordiska arbets-löshetsförsäkringsmötet som hölls i Finland den 10–12 juni 2009. Det första arbetslöshetsförsäkringsmötet hölls år 1949 och mötet i Finland var sålunda ett 60–årsjubileum. Med anledning av detta fanns på programmet en överblick över de senaste tio åren från år 1999 till 2009.  Mötena arrangeras vartannat år och planeras gemensamt i den permanenta kommittén för det nordiska arbetslöshetsförsäkrings-mötet. Mötena erhåller ekonomiskt stöd från Nordiska Ministerrådet. Huvudtemat för mötet var arbetskraftens rörlighet i Norden med fokus på arbetslöshetsförsäkringen i framtiden. Temat inleddes med en rapport om ett nordiskt/skandinaviskt forskningsprojekt. Mötets andra tema var EG-förordning 883/2004 och dess tillämpningsförordning med fokus på elektroniskt informationsbyte (EESSI). Workshoparna var fem stycken: - Statusrapport över den sammanslagna socialförsäkringen i Norge.- Arbetsmarknadsparadoxen - brist på arbetskraft, ändå svårt att komma in på arbetsmarknaden.- The scope for a positive interplay between labour market flexibility and social protection.- Den svenska arbetslöshetsförsäkringen - förändringar och deras effekter.- The experiences and consequences of labour migration in the Baltic countries.

Den här rapporten är en dokumentation av det nordiska arbetslöshetsförsäkringsmötet som hölls i Sverige den 9-10 juni 2011. Rapporten innehåller också bilaga med redovisningar för de nordiska ländernas arbetslöshetsförsäkringssystem med några nyckeltal för åren 2009 och 2010. Nordiska möten om arbetslöshetsförsäkring arrangeras vartannat år och planeras gemensamt i den permanenta kommittén med representanter för berörda myndigheter och organisationer i de nordiska länderna. Mötena erhåller ekonomiskt stöd från Nordiska Ministerrådet. Årets tema var ”Ökat behov an nordisk samverkan i en föränderlig omvärld”. Mötet inleddes med en föreläsning om globaliseringen och dess effekter på de nordiska social- och arbetslöshetsförsäkringssystemen. Det andra föreläsningstemat handlade om arbetet för fler rätta utbetalningar. Föreläsningarna följdes upp i fem seminarier som hade följande rubriker:

• Nordiskt erfarenhetsutbyte – kan bättre samverkan i Norden bidra till fler rätta utbetalningar.

• De nya EU-förordningarnas bestämmelser om bättre samverkan mellan de nordiska institutionerna och utvecklingen av EESSI.

• Den ekonomiska krisens effekter på migrationen i Norden och dess konsekvenser på effektiviteten och kvalitén på ärendehanteringen.

• Nordiska erfarenheter av ett år med de nya EU-förordningarna.

• Arbetsmarknadspolitiska strategier i Norden för utsatta grupper och branscher.

The study is based on a combination of previous research and historical initiatives taken by authorities in the respective Nordic countries to promote safety in fisheries. So far there has been limited knowledge about what has worked and has positively influenced the rate and severity of occupational accidents, and fishermen's own experiences with prevention has not been studied. Therefore, the project has been supplemented with a joint Nordic investigation of fishermen, focusing on the accumulation of the fishermen’s experience regarding actions that have played a preventive role in terms of occupational accidents in fisheries. On this basis, the results of the study have been summarised. Possible explanations for the significant reduction in the work accidents highlighted by the report, and recommendations for dissemination of the results of the project have been outlined.