The company was chosen as study context, since it represents a
workplace with a variety of internal risks because of the nature of
the industrial work. The work is often heavy and demanding on the
body, and it is a hot, sweaty, and sooty environment. In some production
lines the steel is hot and the risk for burns is present, while
in others there is processing of cold steel, and the risk for crushing
injuries is present along with a noisier environment. Some bluecollar
staff work close to the production line, while others operate
in a cockpit, supervising the production line or controlling a crane.
Some staff work in maintenance, and are thereby subjected to further
risks because of the need to troubleshoot the machines when
they fail. Newly invested machines have modern and effective
built-in safety procedures, while other machines from, for example,
the 1960s involve more risks, since it is easy to access moving
parts of the machines because of the way they are constructed. The
modern standards for built-in safety in machines, demanded by
European (2006/42/EC) and Swedish (AFS 2008:3) safety regulations,
are not imposed retroactively, meaning that it is not required
to rebuild old production lines.