If a doctor suspects that a patient is suffering from an occupational or work-related disease within the meaning of the Finnish Workers’ Compensation Act, they must immediately and notwithstanding any obligation of confidence report the case to occupational safety and health authority.

The report must include

• the patient’s name, personal identification number and contact details
• the employer’s name and contact details
• any other necessary contact information
• the nature and duration of exposure, and
• details about the nature of the condition, the diagnosis and the damage caused to the employee.

Reporting

Form (pdf, in Finnish): Occupational disease / work-related illness report

The report must be addressed to the occupational safety and health authority, i.e. the Occupational Safety and Health Department at the Finnish Supervisory Agency.

The occupational safety and health authority analyses the occupational disease report

The occupational safety and health authority must determine whether conditions at the workplace need to be investigated by means of enforcement as a result of the doctor’s report. Enforcement measures, such as occupational safety and health inspections, are designed to prevent other cases of the same disease. Confidentiality provisions must be taken into account.

Occupational safety and health inspections and other enforcement measures only address conditions at the workplace, and it is not the occupational safety and health authority’s responsibility to comment on the diagnosis or any workers’ compensation that may be payable to the patient.

The path from an occupational disease report to an occupational safety and health inspection