The safety representatives shall be elected from among employees with experience and knowledge of the undertaking's working conditions.The safety representatives shall be elected by and from among employees in each safety area. All employees have voting rights, except the undertaking's chief executive manager. Groups of employees who work in several safety areas may elect their own safety representative for areas that are not covered by other safety representatives.In safety areas where the majority of the employees are members of a local trade union, the trade union may appoint a safety representative. In safety areas where the employees are members of a trade union, but where none of the unions represents the majority alone, the unions may appoint the safety representative jointly.The safety representatives shall otherwise be elected by majority vote. The election shall be led by an election committee for the whole undertaking. The election committee shall consist of between one and three persons. The election committee shall be appointed by the working environment committee. In undertakings that do not have a working environment committee, the election committee shall be appointed by the local trade union. If there are several local trade unions, the election committee shall be appointed by the trade unions jointly. If the trade unions fail to agree, the election committee shall be appointed by the employer. If no local trade unions exist, the election committee shall be appointed by the employer.All employees in the safety area and local trade unions of which employees in the safety area in question are members have the right to propose candidates. The election committee shall make known the names of the candidate and the proposer before the election takes place. In the event of parity of votes, the election shall be decided by drawing lots. The election committee shall otherwise adopt rules for the election unless such rules are adopted by the undertaking's working environment committee.If the employees refuse to elect a safety representative, the employer shall appoint one. This safety representative shall serve until the employees have elected a safety representative in accordance with the rules stated above, but for not more than two years at a time.In undertakings that are to establish a working environment committee but have not yet done so, the provisions of Section 3-1 first paragraph second sentence and second paragraph shall apply together with the fourth paragraph fifth sentence ff. of this section, until the committee has been established.
