Workplace Safety in Finland...

[Munlaw]

I read that Finland has much fewer workplace fatalities and serious injuries per worker compared to Canada and the US...Is the Finnish Government very strict on workplace safety ? Are the Fines in Finland for employers violating safety laws very high (we all know what happens to a rich person caught speeding in Finland) ? Is it common to see a Government Inspector checking up on workplace safety?

[Hank W.]

Yes.

[sinikala]

I found safety standards quite low when I moved here 5 years ago, then there were several serious accidents and a couple of deaths in our industry.

That really shook things up, and there was a real effort to improve and now standards are very good. Nowadays people must attend courses and pass a test in workplace safety test to get the "Työturvallisuuskortti" without this they are not allowed to work.

More information about the Työturvallisuuskortti can be found here

[Rosamunda]

And here: http://www.tukes.fi/

[Xochiquetzal]

I got the impression that safety inspector in Finland was as useful as Homer Simpson's Quality Insprector. "

At Sonera, they allowed all the people to put their cubicles any way they wanted - completely blocking a clear exit. I would go to work each day thinking that if there was a fire, I'd be so dead. I brought it up with the safety security guy and he looked at me like I was some idiot American. I gave up there.

Meanwhile, the cubicles all had really sharp corners and were pointed sideways. I bumped into one one day and tore a hole completely through my wool suit and silk shirt underneath. Both were ruined - not only by the tear but also by all the blood.

So yeah, I was desperately wishing for a CAL/OSHA inspector ;/ And sure, you can say it was just my work - but if so, why was I the only one worried?

[Rosamunda]

Those Health and Safety inspectors are the same all over... they prioritise and quite frankly your average white collar office worker is not high on their list. These guys (I have had students from Tukes) focus on paper mills and the shipyards and the forestry stuff, the construction industry (the Friisilä explosion for example) and now, almost certainly the nuclear power plant construction near Pori. If there were thousands of them inspecting every office in every company all over the country and logging every cut finger, we would all be accusing them of wasting taxpayers money.

[Hank W.]

I think its the local fire chief that inspects such things as the fire hazards more than the health and safety inspectors. IIRC they inspect say stores and other public buildings quite often, but then less and less offices. We have a fire alarm test once a month, and I think they check the house I live in yearly. Atleast theres regularly popping up notices about people storing their crap in the hallways.

[Munlaw]

Those Health and Safety inspectors are the same all over... they prioritise and quite frankly your average white collar office worker is not high on their list. These guys (I have had students from Tukes) focus on paper mills and the shipyards and the forestry stuff, the construction industry (the Friisilä explosion for example) and now, almost certainly the nuclear power plant construction near Pori. If there were thousands of them inspecting every office in every company all over the country and logging every cut finger, we would all be accusing them of wasting taxpayers money.

Same in Ontario; Industry, Mining and Construction are the Workplace Safety Inspector's number one priority, Offices are on a complaint basis only...

I think its the local fire chief that inspects such things as the fire hazards more than the health and safety inspectors. IIRC they inspect say stores and other public buildings quite often, but then less and less offices. We have a fire alarm test once a month, and I think they check the house I live in yearly. Atleast theres regularly popping up notices about people storing their crap in the hallways.

I've heard all the way in Ontario about the strictness of Finnish Fire Inspectors, I think it is good...

Speaking about safety inspection, a big part of my job is inspecting taxi-cabs and salvage yards to make sure they are safe and following the municipal laws...

[Hank W.]

The Fire Chief's duty is to control some more aspects, like the house I live in also has a designated "safety warden" and an assistant who have gone trough a course or two. One of their main worries is the bomb shelter (we have a law from 1959 requiring every building over a certain size to have one), but they also make sure about the fire hazard rules and such. And now that we had the yard redone theres special "hard areas" for the fire departments tower lifts to access the whole house (and of course strict parking rules not to have cars all about the yard). Safety otherwise, theres then a county building inspector who has a right to give notices and such. The housing company was procastrinating over balcony repairs so the building inspector made the decision easy by saying he doesn't give a damn what we do, but he's condemning the balconies from use so they'd had to nail the doors shut - so the shareholders meeting quickly decided to go ahead with the repairs (two years of hell, but its worth it now).

And then doing certain jobs requires a "fire card". Say like at the office there were some blokes re-casting some stairs on top of the parking garage that were leaking inside - they were outside and all in open air, so the blokes were heating bitumen and it apparently got a bit hot as they had a fire alarm go off and evacuated the building. Well, we always get a feedback - the house security gave thumbs up for people being properly in their designated zones and all, but the fire chief had given him and the workers an earful. Apparently the blokes had just gone ahead and done instead of doing the stuff by the book - the subcontractors supervisor probably got fined and the Estonian blokes wonder why the Finns are so damn fussy about a bit of smokey bitumen on the yard.

Basically when I weld my car at the cottage I have to do it totally outside as if I did it inside the shed I'd be violating the 'fire card' rules.

[Karhunkoski]

Taking a slightly different angle, I found that Finns have quite a bullish attitude to personal safety equipment (ear/eye protection especially) and have seen situations where people requesting it are seen as "pussies". This "macho" attitude seems much more prevalent than the UK.

[sinikala]

Taking a slightly different angle, I found that Finns have quite a bullish attitude to personal safety equipment (ear/eye protection especially) and have seen situations where people requesting it are seen as "pussies". This "macho" attitude seems much more prevalent than the UK.

PPE is available and I've rarely seen anybody being macho about it, in one factory, there were noxious acid fumes so I asked for a mask, they gave me one, but the regular guys there laughed it off as something they are used to.

In my first year here I witnessed an accident where one worker picked up a bottle and as he did so accidentally squeezed solvent directly into the eye of another worker... million to 1 shot, but she was not wearing safety glasses (her mistake).

She was handed the eyewash bottle, which was so old (years out of date) it crumbled in her hand when she squeezed it. She shoved her head under the tap whilst we ran around finding a new one. Bad job by the safety officer.

I kicked up a fuss over that. After renovation the new safety showers included an eye wash bath. I pushed for R&S tables to be posted in the lab and for MSDS to be made available to the workers. These are standard in the UK chemical industry and even in UK universities, but were apparently quite new to these Finns.

It still amazes me that there are no eye guards over the machine equipment in our workshop and that people in our labs are allowed to wear safety ***sandals*** at work. It's this idea of having second pairs of shoes at work... everyone walks round in their slippers... so let's give them steel toe capped safety slippers, ok if you drop a weight on your toes, but useless if you splash acid on your feet.

I've also complained a number of times about people eating in a lab environment (they still keep food in a fridge in the labs).

That said, it is way, way better than it was and workplace tidiness / safety is now directly rewarded, it counts for up to 1% of the workers salary when the yearly bonus is given. So for a good company safety performance each technical worker can make €200-€250.

[Hank W.]

I've also complained a number of times about people eating in a lab environment (they still keep food in a fridge in the labs).

Like the guys that had mysterious batch of faulty chips always, and they figured out the night guards used the autoclave to warm pizza... (wasn't in Finland though)

[sinikala]

I've also complained a number of times about people eating in a lab environment (they still keep food in a fridge in the labs).

Like the guys that had mysterious batch of faulty chips always, and they figured out the night guards used the autoclave to warm pizza... (wasn't in Finland though)

well at least this one is a dedicated food fridge, not used for chemicals! Something to be thankful for.


Don't get me started on workplace imbeciles. Nothing pisses me off more than when you have to do problem solving because of other people doing things they shouldn't.

We ran several week long tests a couple of years back, the data capture system mysteriously kept crashing during the night... so eventually I had to return to the pilot plant to check up on it out of hours... still crashing, then one midnight I went into the control room and surprised a process worker from another part of the plant sitting playing minesweeper on the PC, I checked the last data point was captured about 5 minutes earlier. he'd just been closing our software.

I told him in no uncertain terms not to do it again it's not a toy, go and do some fu**ing work. No more software crashes after that.

Then summer before last, one 3 day experiment was destroyed by some guy pulling the plug out of the wall in spite of the big sign my summer worker made saying "do not pull this plug out"!

To**ers!

[Munlaw]

When it comes to workplace safety, I don't think anyone is as strict as the UK...

Here in Ontario, the the Courts typically fine an at-fault employer between 50 000 and 400 000 Euros when a worker dies on the job, and in a a very few cases a jail sentence of 30 days or less...

What is the typical penalties levied against an at-fault employer when a worker dies on the job in Finland ?

[Hank W.]

nobody dies on the job, they die in the hospital