About us
Functions of the occupational safety and health authorities
The Occupational Safety and Health Department at the Finnish Supervisory Agency acts as the national occupational safety and health authority, which supervises compliance with the occupational safety and health regulations throughout Finland. The occupational safety and health authority has 18 offices in different parts of Finland.
Occupational safety and health inspections are the most important method of enforcement at our disposal. We also issue advice and guidelines concerning occupational safety and health and the terms and conditions of employment relationships. We process applications for permits and notifications of work for which legislation imposes restrictions.
Our duties include investigating the reasons for serious occupational accidents, occupational diseases and work-related illnesses and to take measures to prevent them We also supervise that the machines, tools, personal protective equipment and other technical equipment used in work meet the requirements set for them.
When we suspect that an employment offence punishable by law has been committed in a workplace under our supervision, we inform the police. As the case progresses, we will be consulted as an expert.
We carry out enforcement at Finnish workplaces
As an occupational safety and health authority, we carry out inspections at workplaces where work is done based on an employment contract or employment relationship or in a comparable service relationship. Our scope of enforcement can also include student’s work in connection with education, the work of persons participating in employment measures or work related to rehabilitation and rehabilitative work activities. Temporary agency work, remote work and work carried out at another person’s home are also within the scope of our enforcement.
Our enforcement does not cover working entrepreneurs who do not have employees, except for work carried out in shared workplaces.
Volunteer work with no employment relationship is usually not part of occupational safety and health enforcement, read more on the Volunteering page. We also do not enforce communal work, recreational activities or professional sports.
As an occupational safety and health authority we can carry out enforcement not only on employers but also designers, people carrying out equipment inspections or the main contractors and builders of joint construction sites, to name a few.
Our tasks as an occupational safety and health authority do not include inspecting workspaces or working environments that are being planned and under construction or inspecting plans for machinery structures. The occupational safety and health authority is also not responsible for issuing preliminary opinions on other matters. On request, we can advise on the applicable legislation in individual issues under the enforcement of the occupational safety and health authority.
We do not supervise matters concerning the advocacy of individual employers or employees. They are civil disputes, which are outside the competence of the occupational safety and health authority. Advocacy for example includes local and union-level negotiations to resolve disputes concerning employment relationships, court proceedings or interpretations of the content of a collective agreement.
The Enforcement Act determines duties and methods
The Act on Occupational Safety and Health Enforcement and Cooperation on Occupational Safety and Health at Workplaces, also known as the Enforcement Act, provides on the ways in which the occupational safety and health authorities supervises occupational safety, employment relationships and compliance with other occupational safety and health related provisions. The Act also provides on how we monitor cooperation on occupational safety and health between employers and employees at workplaces. According to International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, the occupational safety and health authority is independent in carrying out its supervisory function.
We work in close cooperation in occupational safety and health-related matters with employers’ organisations and trade unions. Representatives of the social partners are involved in planning, for example, the regional focus of enforcement.
The work of the Occupational Safety and Health Department is steered by the Ministry
The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s Department for Work and Gender Equality steers occupational safety and health enforcement and the other activities of the Occupational Safety and Health Department in close cooperation and interaction with the Occupational Safety and Health Department. Key stakeholders are also consulted in the planning of the activities.
The four-year framework programme describes the vision of occupational safety and health enforcement and defines the strategic objectives for the activities. The strategic goals determine objectives for the four-year period as well as annual operative performance targets.
The performance targets are entered in the performance agreement of the Occupational Safety and Health Department, which is included in the performance agreement of the Finnish Supervisory Agency. Among other things, the performance agreement specifies on what basis the occupational safety and health inspections are primarily carried out. Inspections may be carried out at sites in a specific sector or to enforce compliance with a newly adopted act, taking into account the scope of enforcement.
The objectives of the framework programme are based, above all, on the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health’s strategy and the 2030 work environment and occupational safety and health policy.
Framework plans:
- Healthy work: Framework plan for Occupational Safety and Health Divisions 2024–2027
- Framework programme for the years 2020–2023
Performance targets (pdf files, in Finnish):