Finland is a republic in Northern Europe between Sweden and Russia. The population was 5 429 894 at the
end of February 2013 and the geographical area is 303 892 km2. Thus population density is 17.87 persons/km2,
which is one of the lowest in Europe. The capital city is Helsinki, with 600 000 inhabitants (Yle, 2013).
The number of employed people in Finland in 2010 was 2.4 million (Statistics Finland, 2010). Of these,
68% worked in services, 7% in the construction industry, 22% in manufacturing and 3% in agriculture and
forestry (Elinkeinoelämän keskusliitto, 2011).
The main research institute for occupational safety in Finland is the Finnish Institute of Occupational
Health (FIOH). “Occupational Safety and Ergonomics” research team consists of about 30 researchers. The state
supports FIOH’s operations, although half of its funding comes from research funds and services sold to
companies. The Department of Industrial Management at the Tampere University of Technology trains engineers
to become occupational safety managers. The department has about 20 researchers, who mostly study safety
management and risk control. Finland’s Technical Research Center VTT concentrated on the risk control, safety
and reliability of technical systems; about 20 researchers work with these issues.
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