Swedish national pension fund AP3 said it is tackling portfolio companies operating in Sweden on safety in the workplace, after a big rise in the number of lives lost due to accidents at work.
Releasing its 2024 Stewardship Report this week, the SEK534bn (€47bn) buffer fund said it had noted a marked increase in 2023 in the number of fatal accidents at Swedish workplaces, with three sectors standing out in particular — transport, industry and construction.
Fredric Nyström, AP3’s head of sustainability and stewardship, said: “The fund has a large exposure to the real estate sector and the construction industry and therefore feels a particularly big responsibility to ensure that the fund, together with the companies, can reverse the negative development and improve safety at the workplaces.”
He said AP3 had conducted dialogues with around 30 listed construction and property companies about safety in the workplace.
According to figures from the Swedish Work Environment Authority (Arbetsmiljöverket), 63 employees and self-employed people died as a result of accidents at work in 2023, up from 49 in 2022 and 46 in 2021.
The Stockholm-based pension fund said its overall impression from talks with companies was that all had adequate policies and codes of conduct in place, and most had a satisfactory safety record — but accidents were still happening.
“Inadequate health and safety can result from financial pressures and time constraints, which can lead to failure to comply with safety regulations and employees being exposed to unnecessary risks,” AP3 said.
Accidents often occurred with subcontractors, it said, adding that the longer the supply chain, the higher the likelihood of workplace accidents.
Companies had to be careful when evaluating and selecting partners, and procured framework agreements were preferable to establishing new suppliers for each project, AP3 said.
“The trend can be reversed, but this requires companies to take responsibility. AP3 intends to follow up on these dialogues to ensure that workplaces are as safe as possible,” it added.
AP3, one of five state-run funds investing to part-fund the income pension fund – the main component of Sweden’s state pension, also said on publication of the report that it was worried about a general weakening of climate-orientated efforts.
“While we are increasing our efforts, we are looking with concern at the development in the climate area, both to do with companies’ lowered ambitions and the actions of colleagues in the industry,” Nyström said.
“Unfortunately, we can state that right now we don’t feel happy with the way many companies are developing,” he noted.
In 2024, he said, many firms lowered their ambitions and goals, in some cases removing them completely, and there was also generally weaker support for sustainability-related shareholder proposals.
“In other words, there still seems to be a gap between words and actions, both among companies and investors,” Nyström said.
But there were exceptions, he added, not least among Swedish companies where he said ambitions were still high in many cases.
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