Background
This rapport gather knowledge and experience from relevant stakeholders concerning work-related crime and its relationship with or consequences for the work environment and systematic work environment management. The aim was to obtain an in-depth picture of the knowledge of relevant stakeholders of how work-related crime affects the work environment and the health and wellbeing of employees, and of interventions to prevent, reduce or impede work-related crime, thus strengthening the work environment and systematic work environment management.
Main results
The trade unions, industry and employer organisations and public authorities taking part in the study are in agreement that it is difficult to study the impact of work-related crime on the work environment. They underline that there is a significant lack of empirical analyses of this relationship. According to interviewees, there are a number of reasons for this, including that work-related crime takes place in the shadows and that the damage it does to the workplace largely goes undocumented in these organisations. The picture painted by the trade unions and public authorities in particular is however that, based on their work in the field, work-related crime can have a negative impact on the work environment that in turn may lead to injury and illness, both physical and mental. Representatives of trade unions and public authorities also testify that employees have suffered extensive physical and psychological harm – and in some cases, even death – in conjunction with work-related crime.
Author
Anders Fredriksson, PhD, Vilna AB