MORR™ : An International Comparisons Review
Finland
Department for occupational safety and health development unit - ministry of social affairs: www.vtt.fi/aut/indexe.htm
Finish Road Administration: www.tiehallinto.fi/eindex.htm
Finland Ministry of transport and communications: www.mintc.fi/www/sivut/english/default.html
There are no statistics on the actual proportion of at-work incidents. Police and work safety authorities carry out control inspections. Employers have to have specific measures in place to guarantee worker safety, referring to compliance with the EU regs on driver safety and resting times.
Finland is amongst the top countries in the world in terms of road safety standards. It has a long history in road safety. In 1997, the Government set the target of reducing Finland's annual traffic fatalities to below 250 by the year 2005. Due to the lack of improvement in the fatality statistics in the last few years, more effective measures are now needed, hence the wide-ranging, nationwide ‘ Road Safety Programme 2001-2005' (Ministry of Transport and Communications Finland). The Ministry of Transport and Communications has considered the future operating environment for transport in Finland by examining different scenarios. These scenarios focused on key factors affecting transport, such as the regional and urban structure, business trends, and opinions, values and lifestyles. The percentage of fatal accidents involving heavy vehicles has grown because other modes of transport have become safer; nevertheless, in most accidents involving heavy vehicles, the car driver is the main offender.
The report indicates how different groups of drivers could be influenced including:
The safety of those who drive for a living should be improved by increasing the surveillance of their compliance with drive and rest times and traffic regulations. More attention should be paid to the health of drivers. The road safety viewpoint should be incorporated into corporate quality systems. Traffic violations by these drivers should affect their continued right to drive, in the same way as such violations affect other drivers.
Regarding the role of businesses for increasing the appreciation of road safety issues Professional transport services and journeys undertaken for business purposes will be an important element in the traffic on Finnish roads. In professional and other transport of people and goods, safety will also constitute an occupational safety issue and increasingly also a competitive and quality consideration. This concerns not only companies that transport goods but also those that convey passengers. The appearance and performance of the company on the road will also be important for the image it presents to existing and potential customers, on whom the company will depend for its success, which may also, in turn, influence the operating framework.
The importance of road safety will be given further emphasis by transport operators and elsewhere in business life. Clients ordering transport services will demand safe transport. Companies and public authorities will be particularly concerned with occupational accidents, sick leave, medical expenses, etc. The incorporation of road safety as part of corporate quality systems would afford new opportunities for consolidating the role of businesses. Also from a general road safety perspective, the significant role of professional transport services and especially of heavy goods vehicles in serious accidents will create challenges for national road safety work. By committing themselves to road safety aims and their implementation, both the private and public sector should incorporate road safety in their management and quality systems at all planning and operating levels, in both transport and urban planning. In transport services contracted by the public sector, road safety should be a competitive factor. In the future, safety will be a prime consideration for both transport service operators and their clients. Deter-mined efforts in this field will not only make transport safer but will also bring considerable savings to transport operators as the number of traffic accidents is reduced.
Measures targeting drivers of heavy vehicles should be part of the corporate quality system approach discussed above. Drivers' attitudes and health also have an impact on safety. For the most problematic cases, a system of general practitioners specializing in driving-related matters should be set up.
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