A worker checking into the office. LEHTIKUVA
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The number of work commute accidents in Finland is on the rise, with an 8% increase expected for 2024 compared to the previous year, according to a forecast by the Finnish Workers’ Compensation Center (TVK). In contrast, the number of workplace accidents is predicted to stay relatively stable, showing only a slight increase of 0.6%.
TVK’s forecast estimates that Finnish employees will experience around 114,000 work-related accidents in 2024.
Of these, 90,000 will occur at the workplace, while 24,000 will take place during commutes. This marks a total increase of 2% in work-related accidents from 2023.
Weather Conditions Linked to Rise in Commute Accidents
While the trend of working from home has continued to some extent after the COVID-19 pandemic, the reduction in daily commutes has not translated into fewer commute-related accidents. The rise in accidents is particularly tied to weather conditions, with slippery roads and freezing temperatures playing a significant role.
“Commute accidents are most frequent when temperatures hover around the freezing point, especially during icy conditions in southern Finland,” explained Janne Sysi-Aho, a database analyst at TVK.
The frequency of workplace accidents, measured as incidents per million hours worked, is projected to stay at last year’s level, with 25 accidents per million hours. Despite the slight rise in total incidents, this stability suggests that workplace safety measures continue to be effective in preventing a larger surge in incidents.
TVK has been releasing annual forecasts on work-related accidents since autumn 2020, using data collected from insurance companies along with advanced neural network-based time series models. The 2024 forecast is built on this approach, aiming to provide a reliable outlook for the year’s work-related accidents.
TVK will publish the final statistics for 2024, including the confirmed number of accidents and workplace accident frequency, in February 2025.
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
