Occupational safety and health in Finland

In Finland, occupational safety is the responsibility of the employer, whil e the occupational safety and health laws are enforced by the Labour Inspec tion Service, an organization of the state. The Labour Inspection is divide d in 11 administrative districts, and it employs 360 professionals. They ar e mandated to carry out site visits without prearranged appointments to ins pect safe work situations, working hours, construction safety, or any aspec t of accident risks. The inspectors are also mandated to verify the existen ce of sufficient occupational health services as prescribed by the Occupati onal Health Services Act for all employees. The occupational health service s are typically provided by enterprise-owned medical departments, by mutual ly owned health care centers, by private practitioners, or by municipal hea lth care centers. The latter are required by law to provide all services as prescribed by the legislation to anyone who comes to the facility. This si tuation is prevalent in the countryside, where there are very few private c aregiving centers. Declaring occupational accidents and disease cases is ma ndatory, and the Inspection districts examine all accidents to establish ca uses and consequences, and to initiate prosecution in case of criminal negl igence. La Labour Inspection Districts are also notified of the new occupat ional disease cases as they are declared to insurance companies. Insurance for occupational disease, accidents, and death is an obligation of the empl oyer, although they can choose the insurance company. The medical confident iality between the workers and their occupational health care providers is very strict. Official statistics are maintained by the state Statistics Fin land organization, and they may be used, for example, for research purposes by scientific institutes like the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health . Construction industry accounts for 25% of all fatal accidents (120 cases per 1 million working hours), followed by mechanical, wood, metal, machiner y, and pulp and paper industry (10% each of fatal accidents) with rates ran ging from 100-160 cases per 1 million working hours. There are some 5,000 o ccupational disease cases per year (rate 22/10,000 employed). The major dis ease categories include repetitive strain injuries (1,300 cases), respirato ry allergies (600 cases), occupational skin diseases (1,000 cases), and 900 cases of noise-caused hearing loss. In 1998, 589 cases of asbestos-related diseases were reported. (C) 2000 National Safety Council and Elsevier Scie nce Ltd.