Sweden: PAPR and Welding-Fume Rules under the AFS 2023 Recodification

Sweden rebuilt its entire occupational safety rulebook on 1 January 2025: 15 consolidated AFS regulation books replaced roughly 68 older provisions. For PAPR users the key texts are AFS 2023:11 chapter 15 (PPE use, including a new mandatory fit-testing duty for tight-fitting respirators and explicit advice to use powered RPE for work over two hours), AFS 2023:10 (chemical and CMR risk management, which absorbed the welding rules of the repealed AFS 1992:9), and AFS 2023:14 (exposure limit values — Sweden has no dedicated welding-fume limit, so inorganic-dust and component limits for Mn, Cr(VI) and Ni apply). PAPR devices themselves are CE-marked Category III equipment under EU Regulation 2016/425, certified to SS-EN 12941/12942, with Arbetsmiljöverket as market-surveillance authority for workplace PPE.

Which rules apply: the AFS 2023 regulation books

Swedish workplace rules are issued by Arbetsmiljöverket (the Swedish Work Environment Authority) under the Work Environment Act (arbetsmiljölagen). On 1 January 2025 the authority replaced its old catalogue of separate provisions with a consolidated structure of 15 regulation books (AFS 2023:1–15), superseding around 68 older AFS documents. For powered air-purifying respirators in welding, four books matter most: AFS 2023:11 (safe use of work equipment and personal protective equipment — chapter 15 covers PPE selection, fitting and maintenance), AFS 2023:10 (risks in the work environment — chemical risk sources, carcinogens, hot-work permits and welding-gas equipment), AFS 2023:14 (limit values for airborne exposure, replacing AFS 2018:1), and AFS 2023:15 (medical checks in working life, replacing AFS 2019:3). The former stand-alone welding regulation, AFS 1992:9 on fusion welding and thermal cutting (smältsvetsning och termisk skärning), was repealed in the recodification; its subject matter is now handled through the general chemical-risk framework rather than a dedicated welding chapter.

How PAPR equipment is approved for the Swedish market

Sweden applies EU Regulation 2016/425 on personal protective equipment directly, supplemented by Swedish Act 2018:125 and Ordinance 2018:127. Respiratory protective equipment falls in Category III (equipment protecting against risks that can cause very serious consequences), so a PAPR system must have an EU type-examination certificate issued by a notified body, plus ongoing Category III conformity surveillance, before it can carry the CE mark. The four-digit number of the notified body supervising production appears next to the CE mark. Arbetsmiljöverket states that instructions for use must accompany the product in Swedish, the EU declaration of conformity must be available in Swedish or English, and manufacturers must retain technical documentation for ten years. Market surveillance is split: Arbetsmiljöverket polices PPE intended for professional use, while Konsumentverket (the Consumer Agency) handles consumer PPE. There is no separate Swedish national approval mark — CE marking under 2016/425 is the single gateway, as in the rest of the EU/EEA.

Employer duties: the respiratory-protection programme in AFS 2023:11

Chapter 15 of AFS 2023:11 sets out the employer’s PPE duties. The employer must assess risks before choosing equipment and compare the protective characteristics needed against the equipment available, repeating the assessment when work changes. Section 8 requires that PPE fits the user, suits the workplace conditions, working postures and the worker’s health, and its general advice notes that one respirator model does not fit all faces. Section 9 requires respirators to be individually fitted (individuellt utprovade); if a tight-fitting respirator is chosen, its seal must be verified per person with a quantitative or qualitative fit test — the general advice points to ISO 16975-3 for methods. Section 13 requires the employer to assess how long PPE can be worn. Sections 14–16 require prior information and training, written instructions available in the business (including, for tight-fitting respirators, which model each worker should use based on the fit-test result), and maintenance, checks and storage that preserve protective effect — damaged equipment must not be used. Arbetsmiljöverket’s guidance stresses that PPE is the last resort after technical and organisational controls.

Welding fume: how Sweden regulates it after AFS 1992:9

With AFS 1992:9 repealed, welding fume is managed through the general chemical-risk chapters of AFS 2023:10: employers must identify and list chemical risk sources, assess exposure, and follow the control hierarchy (åtgärdstrappan) when limits are approached or exceeded. Chapter 8 imposes stricter duties for CMR substances (classified H350/H340/H360) — a documented substitution investigation, documented risk-assessment results stating where PPE is required, and, under section 20, a register of exposed workers. These duties are triggered in welding when the fume contains such substances, notably hexavalent chromium from stainless steels. AFS 2023:10 also retains welding-specific provisions on gas cylinders and gas lines for fusion welding and thermal cutting (chapter 10, section 47) and requires hot-work permits for welding, grinding or cutting on containers or pipework that have held flammable substances (chapter 9, section 5). Arbetsmiljöverket has published a knowledge compilation on the health effects of welding gases and particles (report RAP 2013:05). Note that Sweden’s limit-value list contains no dedicated welding-fume (svetsrök) entry — see the next section.

Exposure limits that drive PAPR selection (AFS 2023:14)

AFS 2023:14, in force 1 January 2025, sets binding level limit values (nivågränsvärden, NGV, 8-hour) and short-term limit values (KGV). Its Annex 1 has no line item for welding fume as such; instead the general inorganic-dust limits apply — 5 mg/m3 inhalable fraction and 2.5 mg/m3 respirable fraction — alongside component-specific limits that are usually the binding constraint in practice: manganese and inorganic compounds at 0.2 mg/m3 inhalable / 0.05 mg/m3 respirable (as Mn); chromium(VI) compounds at 0.005 mg/m3 NGV and 0.015 mg/m3 short-term (inhalable as Cr), marked carcinogenic; chromium(II, III) at 0.5 mg/m3 total dust. Under the transitional provisions, nickel compounds tightened to 0.05 mg/m3 inhalable / 0.01 mg/m3 respirable on 18 January 2025 — directly relevant to stainless and nickel-alloy welding. Where measurements show limits cannot be met by ventilation and work methods, the employer must act per the åtgärdstrappa in AFS 2023:10, with respiratory protection as the final layer — which is where PAPR sizing against these values comes in.

Selecting a PAPR: standards, protection classes and the two-hour advice

Devices sold in Sweden are certified to the European device standards adopted by SIS (Swedish Institute for Standards): SS-EN 12941 for powered filtering devices with a hood, helmet or other loose-fitting respiratory interface (TH classes) — the typical welding-helmet PAPR — and SS-EN 12942 for power-assisted devices with tight-fitting full, half or quarter masks (TM classes). Selection guidance is given in SS-EN 529:2005 (recommendations for selection, use, care and maintenance of respiratory protective devices). Arbetsmiljöverket does not publish a binding national assigned-protection-factor table in the AFS; its guidance describes filtering versus supplied-air devices and requires supplied air where oxygen may fall below 18 percent or in confined spaces with unknown atmospheres. Two provisions favour loose-fitting PAPR for welders: the fit-testing duty in AFS 2023:11 chapter 15 section 9 applies only to tight-fitting respirators (a hooded or helmet-integrated PAPR does not require a fit test, though it must still be individually tried out), and the general advice to section 13 states that powered or supplied-air respiratory protection should be used when work is physically demanding or lasts longer than two hours.

What changed recently and what is coming

Three moving parts define the current picture. First, the recodification itself: since 1 January 2025 all citations changed — AFS 2001:3 (PPE use), AFS 2011:19/2014:43 (chemical risks), AFS 2018:1 (limit values) and AFS 1992:9 (welding) are gone, replaced by AFS 2023:10, 2023:11 and 2023:14. Second, mandatory individual fit testing (tillpassningsprovning) of tight-fitting respirators applies from 1 January 2025 under AFS 2023:11 — Arbetsmiljöverket announced this as a new duty, referencing ISO 16975-3 methods. Third, the device standards were revised: SS-EN 12941:2024 (published 1 August 2024) replaced SS-EN 12941:1998 with its A1/A2 amendments and now speaks of a ‘loose fitting respiratory interface’, and EN 12942:2024 similarly revised the tight-fitting standard — equipment certified to the older editions remains in circulation. On limit values, AFS 2023:14’s transitional provisions schedule further tightening relevant to hot-work trades: benzene to 0.66 mg/m3 and acrylonitrile to 1 mg/m3 on 5 April 2026, beryllium to 0.0002 mg/m3 on 11 July 2026, and cadmium to 0.001 mg/m3 on 11 July 2027. Medical-check duties sit in AFS 2023:15, whose triggers include fibrosis-inducing dust (quartz, asbestos), diisocyanates and lead/cadmium/mercury with biological monitoring.

Home market of ESAB: Swedish welding heritage

Sweden is the historic home market of ESAB — Elektriska Svetsnings-Aktiebolaget — founded in Gothenburg in 1904 by Oscar Kjellberg, the engineer credited with inventing the coated welding electrode while solving weld-contamination problems in shipbuilding. That heritage still shapes the Swedish market: ESAB welding helmets and powered air systems are a common sight in Swedish workshops, and Swedish-language documentation and local distribution for ESAB PAPR consumables (filters, face seals, hoses, batteries) are correspondingly well developed. For parts buyers this matters practically: replacement parts sold for use in Sweden fall under the same EU 2016/425 CE regime described above, and Swedish-language user instructions are required to accompany the equipment. ESAB today is part of the US-listed ESAB Corporation, but Gothenburg remains the brand’s founding site and Sweden a reference market for its welding PPE lines.

Sources & disclaimer

This page is information, not legal or safety advice. It summarises the cited public sources as of the date above; regulations change — verify against the primary source before relying on it. Product-level approval status is covered by our four-tier compatibility system.