Workplace Safety in Finland...

[Munlaw]

nobody dies on the job, they die in the hospital

Ya know what I mean you silly raindeer...

[luoto]

Certainly in smaller towns it is very lax. Many don't want to rock the boat either. And I've been in some rather horrific places with danger risk but since the inspector might be in the same rotary or similar...

[Hank W.]

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

After 3 years they say "naughty person"...

The Finnish courts are *slow*.

[Pete]

At my workplace, safety is a bit of a joke, sometimes it seems non-existent even...
Some of you might remember that i work at the airport, which kinda makes it scarier. There are too many cowboy types as well as too many workers affected by shift related tiredness. I've seen alot of avoidable accidents and have even been in them myself. Absolutely ridiculous stuff, makes me wonder how more serious incidents don't occur on a regular basis. Some day soon a Finnair worker will be sucked into a jet engine simply because so many of them are so blase about their danger. As a matter of fact, Finnair and ramp safety are a contradiction in terms. I don't know why this is so but it's how it is. I could use many examples of this but i'll go with a recent one just because it's an ongoing issue. During pushback of a Blue1 plane (where i was the despatcher), a Finnair de-icing truck narrowly missed colliding with the rear end of the plane by less than 5 metres. There are traffic lanes out on the field and they go quite close to the rear of all stands. During pushback, all traffic is meant to give way and for the most part this is adhered to, except of course by Finnair. The pushack procedure is a quite slow affair and can't really take anyone by surprise by the way, before we even set off the beacon will flash for some time giving anyone in the vicinity good warning. However this driver didn't notice the flashing red light or the BIG @#$% PLANE moving backwards and kept coming regardless. My heart was in my mouth when their paths met but luckily we had slowed the plane enough to avoid a crash. The truck didn't even slow down. Absolutely unbelievable! I could understand a one off incident maybe but it has happened so many times that it's beyond mere headscratching.
We need more strict enforcement of safety violations but for some reason it just doesn't happen. Sure the marshalls patrol but i've never seen anyone pulled up for obvious infractions.
I'm not sure how airports work elsewhere though so i've got nothing to compare it to, i just know that safety isn't as important as it's made out to be here.

[Munlaw]

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

The Finnish courts are *slow*.

So are Canadian Courts...

[sinikala]

nobody dies on the job, they die in the hospital

That is not true.

[Munlaw]

Have any Employers been sent to jail/prison in Finland in the last ten years for labour law violations ?

Here in Ontario, about 7 employers have been jailed for labour law offences in the last ten years...

[Hank W.]

prison?

Well, the high courts and appeals decisions are up there... not too many
Heres the freshest one from 2003
someone got squished by a moving stage in a multifunction hall, the city people in charge got sued. However as it was not used for working but on fee time, they were not sentenced for a breach of 'work safety' just grosnegligence of their duty in a city office & causing of death
50 day fines each.

Oh, heres one from 1986. Some guy went to clean a silo at a chemical plant, he died and the guy who went to get him out got a brain damage. The plant technical manager and shift chief were sentenced for breaking work safety act, causing a death and causing an injury.

Ekin 40:een 179 markan määräiseen päiväsakkoon eli maksamaan sakkoa 7.160 markkaa ja Hietasen 40:een 144 markan määräiseen päiväsakkoon eli maksamaan sakkoa 5.760 markkaa.

So thats 40 day fines each, in 1986 money would that been 2000 CA$ for the big chief and 1750 for the smaller chief. They had to pay a few hundred for the witnessing costs (you maybe got 50 dollars for the bother)
and then the autopsy costs as well

So yeah, prison ?

[LuisFer]

I recently moved to Finland froM Australia, where the legislation regarding OHS is quite similar to that in the UK. I was under the impression FInland was one of the world leaders in terms of safety, or at least that is what its reputation in the world of OHS is; up there with Sweden and Norway.

Now, I realize there are still isolated incidents and accidents in areas where people's idiosincracy, education etc come into the equation, but in general Finland's reputation in terms of Health and Safety is really good.

Now, as I said, I just arrived. Does anyone know what the government body in charge of regulatiomn health and safety at work in Finland is? I'm trying to get up to speed with all that stuff here, in the hope of maybe one day doing some work for someone in that area over here. I read a post about airport safety practices, and that is actually something I am very into, is there a particular authority in charge of that?? Help!!

[Munlaw]

I recently moved to Finland froM Australia, where the legislation regarding OHS is quite similar to that in the UK. I was under the impression FInland was one of the world leaders in terms of safety, or at least that is what its reputation in the world of OHS is; up there with Sweden and Norway.

Now, I realize there are still isolated incidents and accidents in areas where people's idiosincracy, education etc come into the equation, but in general Finland's reputation in terms of Health and Safety is really good.

Now, as I said, I just arrived. Does anyone know what the government body in charge of regulatiomn health and safety at work in Finland is? I'm trying to get up to speed with all that stuff here, in the hope of maybe one day doing some work for someone in that area over here. I read a post about airport safety practices, and that is actually something I am very into, is there a particular authority in charge of that?? Help!!

The Finnish Ministry of Labour/Työministeriö
http://www.mol.fi/english/

[Rosamunda]

Does anyone know what the government body in charge of regulatiomn health and safety at work in Finland is? I'm trying to get up to speed with all that stuff here, in the hope of maybe one day doing some work for someone in that area over here. I read a post about airport safety practices, and that is actually something I am very into, is there a particular authority in charge of that?? Help!!

You need TUKES:

http://www.tukes.fi/en/

Not sure if they cover airports or not (for example I know they do not cover shipping)...

[No.6]

I was under the impression FInland was one of the world leaders in terms of safety, or at least that is what its reputation in the world of OHS is; up there with Sweden and Norway.

Now, I realize there are still isolated incidents and accidents in areas where people's idiosincracy, education etc come into the equation, but in general Finland's reputation in terms of Health and Safety is really good...

I would have to dig-up some articles but IIRC Finland lags or lagged a long way behind other Nordic countries (at least in some industries). It has had to improve a lot thanks to EU directives.

On a more grass-roots level I would agree there is a lot of macho attitudes involved in these issues, and that goes away very slowly. Office and factory H&S is really off the list of facility & HR issues - for some reason - even the simple idea of H&S presentations/videos for new intakes seems non-existent. An accident waiting to happen in too many cases... and it does!

[Nallis]

Työsuojelupiiri covers everything from contract disputes to health and safety in the workplace. See their website http://www.tyosuojelu.fi/

[Jukka Aho]

for some reason - even the simple idea of H&S presentations/videos for new intakes seems non-existent.

You mean something like this?

Edit: Hmm, this seems to be a more complete version... but without the subtitles.