It is the employer’s duty to:

• keep a list of carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic agents used or present in the workplace
• determine the possible exposure of workers to these agents
• keep a list of workers exposed to these agents
• notify employees’ representatives that such a list is kept.

The content of this list is specified in the Act on the List and Register of Workers Exposed to Carcinogenic Substances and Methods (452/2020, section 3).

Workers who are exposed to carcinogens or mutagens must be reported annually to the register of exposed workers if:

• the exposure has been confirmed by biomonitoring, occupational hygiene evaluations, or assessments and measurements conducted in other workplaces under equivalent conditions
• the worker has been exposed during that year for a minimum of 2 hours per working day over 20 working days (or an equivalent time of exposure, e.g. at least 1 hour over 40 working days or 40 hours per year), even when no more detailed information on the level of exposure is available
• there has been a significant single exposure as a result of an accident, disruption, unusual work stage or a similar reason.

Workers who are exposed to tobacco smoke in their work environment must also be reported to the register of exposed workers if:

• the worker is exposed over at least 40 working days for a significant part of their working day (from two to four hours a day)
• the worker is exposed for at least 80 hours per year
• the worker has been found to be exposed to tobacco smoke in occupational hygiene measurements.

Further information on the reporting obligation is available on the website of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health under ASA-rekisteri.

Workers exposed to reprotoxic agents are not reported to the register of exposed workers. However, the employer must keep a list of workers who are exposed to reprotoxic agents. The information in the list has to be retained for five years from the date on which it was last recorded.

Register maintained by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health

The employer has to submit reports retrospectively for each calendar year, meaning that the previous year’s exposure information should be reported by the end of March of the current year.

The register of exposed workers is maintained by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. It is the employer’s duty to report all exposure agents and exposed workers to the register.

Reports to the register should be primarily submitted online in the service of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health:

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health: Submit a register notification online (in Finnish)

Purpose of the register of exposed workers

The Finnish register of workers exposed to carcinogens and mutagens (register of exposed workers) has been maintained as a statutory register since 1979. Its impact on occupational safety and health is indirect. The register is used for preventing the risk of work-related cancers, monitoring workplace exposure and, most importantly, improving working conditions.

The Finnish Institute of Occupational Health maintains the register, compiles annual statistics and regularly monitors cancer incidence among workers. The register’s data helps occupational safety and health authorities gain a better idea of where exposure occurs, allowing them to tighten up their enforcement and counselling measures as needed.

Being registered in the Finnish register of exposed workers does not prove that a cancer is work-related. All cases where an employee develops cancer are investigated individually.