ACCIDENT PREVENTION IN REINDEER HERDING WORK

This study deals with the safety of reindeer herding work. The possibi lity of developing preventive measures and influencing the reindeer he rders' behaviour by providing information were investigated. Since rei ndeer herders in Finland work as private entrepreneurs (like farmers), safety measures for them are voluntary; hence a great success rate wa s not expected. The study population consisted of male herders age 16- 64 years (N=3324). The reindeer herding districts (N=53) were divided randomly on a geographical basis into three groups: one group received information about accident prevention in eight ''theme'' letters, ano ther received it from occupational health personnel during medical exa minations, while the third received general information from the press . Data on accidents that had occurred were collected in two questionna ires before and after distributing the information. As a result, a tot al of 34 preventive measures were successfully developed for reindeer herding work. The follow-up questionnaire showed that the herders had implemented an average of 5.8 measures/respondent. The accident rate d ecreased in two years from 20 to 15 accidents/1000 working days. Howev er, there was no statistical difference between the groups that receiv ed information from different sources. In conclusion it can be stated that it is possible to develop preventive measures and to influence th e safety behaviour in the reindeer herders' work by disseminating info rmation. The press and journals would be most effective in the dissemi nation in an occupation like this.