Finland has more fatal accidents per capita than most industrialised countries
Expert says difficult history leads to culture of fatalism
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Finland has not succeeded in reducing the number of deaths by accident as well as many other industrialised countries have.
According to recent figures, France is the only country with more per capita deaths by accident than Finland.
For instance, Portugal has made great efforts to prevent deadly accidents, and succeeded in reducing them by 50% in just a few decades.
About 2,700 Finns each year are killed in accidents in traffic, at work, at home, and during recreational activities. The rate is twice as high as in Sweden.
Falls are the greatest single cause of fatal accidents in Finland.
"More than 1,000 Finns die in falls every year. Each week someone dies falling down stairs", says Professor Jorma Saari of Finland's Institute of Occupational Health.
Deaths by falling began to increase considerably 20 years ago. In this respect Finland is in line with other Western countries with high standards of living, where falls are a leading cause of accidental death.
Complacency is a big problem. "People are not afraid enough of falling, because everybody has experience of it", Saari says.
Fatal falls happen most frequently to old women. Recreational accidents tend to affect young people: the greatest number of accidents per 1,000 hours of sports take place in squash, judo, orienteering, rink bandy, and floorball. The least dangerous recreational activities are golf and dance.
Finland has proportionally the third-largest number of deaths by drowning. Greece and Japan have worse drowning statistics. Ireland and Finland are the leaders in deaths by fire.
Saari sees historical reasons for the high fatal accident rate. He says that Finland's difficult history has often placed individuals at the mercy of various uncontrollable tribulations. "This has led to fatalism - the feeling that nothing can be done about accidents. They are coincidences, or mishaps determined by fate."
However, Saari insists that it is possible to prevent all types of accidents. An indication of this is the improvement in occupational safety in recent decades.
Saari also urges occupational health professionals to work to prevent accidents that take place during their time off work: "For instance, in the United States, more than half of all workplaces support the promotion of safety among their employees during their free time."
While he does not urge employers to interfere with how employees use their free time, he does feel that it is possible to influence what happens "outside the factory gates".
This is a somewhat new idea in Finland, although some companies have started to fight accidents taking place outside working hours by distributing bicycle helmets and safety guides to their personnel.
Saari notes that workplaces can lend employees safety equipment and good tools for use in the home; about 50,000 accidents take place during home repair work in Finland each year. Many of these accidents could have been prevented with the right kind of safety equipment, which homeowners often do not bother to buy for occasional DIY work.
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 24.1.2005 - TODAY |
 Finland has more fatal accidents per capita than most industrialised countries |
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