Skip to content
  • Finnish Government
    • Prime Minister's Office
    • Ministry of Defence
    • Ministry of Transport and Communications
    • Ministry for Foreign Affairs
    • Ministry of Finance
    • Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment
    • Ministry of Justice
    • Ministry of Education and Culture
    • Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
    • Ministry of the Interior
    • Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
    • Ministry of the Environment

Valitse kieli:

This page is in Finnish. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Den här sidan är på finska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Dát siidu lea suomagillii. Sirdás davvisámegielat siidduide »

Dahje vállje giela:

Язык этого сайта финский. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Cette page est en finnois. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Finnisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on englanniksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

Choose language:

Den här sidan är på engelska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Язык этого сайта английский. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Dát siidu lea eŋgelasgillii. Sirdás davvisámegielat siidduide »

Dahje vállje giela:

Cette page est en anglais. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Englisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on ruotsiksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

This page is in Swedish. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Välj språk:

Язык этого сайта шведский. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Dát siidu lea eŋgelasgillii. Sirdás davvisámegielat siidduide »

Dahje vállje giela:

Cette page est en suédois. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Schwedisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on pohjois-saameksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

This page is in North Saami. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Den här sidan är på nordsamiska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Язык этого сайта северосаамский. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Vállje giela:

Cette page est en same du Nord. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Nordsamisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on venäjäksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

This page is in Russian. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Den här sidan är på ryska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Dát siidu lea ruoššagillii. Sirdás davvisámegielat siidduide »

Dahje vállje giela:

выберите язык:

Cette page est en russe. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Russisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on ranskaksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

This page is in French. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Den här sidan är på franska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Dát siidu lea fránskkagillii. Sirdás davvisámegielat siidduide »

Dahje vállje giela:

Язык этого сайта французский. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Choisir la langue:

Diese Seite ist auf Französisch. Wechseln Sie zur deutschen Version »

Oder wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

Tämä sivu on saksaksi. Siirry suomenkieliseen sivustoon »

Tai valitse kieli:

This page is in German. Go to the English site »

Or choose language:

Den här sidan är på tyska. Gå till den svenska versionen av sidan »

Eller välj språk:

Язык этого сайта немецкий. Перейти на русскоязычный сайт »

Или выберите язык:

Cette page est en allemand. Aller sur le site en français »

Ou choisir la langue:

Wählen Sie Ihre Sprache:

  • Valitse kieli Suomi
  • Välj språket Svenska
  • Select language English
  • Vállje giela Davvisámegiella
Media
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Navigation
  • Frontpage Frontpage
  • Areas of expertise
    • Promotion of welfare Health promotion, harm and crime prevention, environmentional health, inclusion
    • Social and health services Services, healthcare and social welfare system, wellbeing services counties, status of clients, personnel, pharmacotherapy
    • Income security Allowances and benefits, pensions
    • Insurance Insurance institutions, statutory insurance
    • Working life Occupational safety and health, wellbeing at work
    • Gender equality Gender equality policy, equal pay
    • EU and international cooperation EU, Nordic cooperation, WHO, UN, ILO
    • Preparedness Preparedness planning, Medical Helpline 116 117
  • Current issues
  • Columns
  • Projects and legislation
  • Publications
  • Ministry
  • Contact
  • Press releases
  • News
  • MSAH on social media
  • Statistics
  • Sign up for news
  • Service by publication
suomiLue artikkeli suomeksi English

Päivi Mattila-Wiro and Wiking Husberg: Technostress and personal data protection risks — new challenges for occupational safety and health

Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
Publication date 12.10.2020 18.14 | Published in English on 27.10.2020 at 14.39
Type:Column

Work may not compromise the health and safety of employees. There is no ambiguity in this respect. However, it is a challenging objective to reach in a rapidly changing world of work.

Health and safety risks arise from new forms of work, new technologies, new digital solutions and green jobs. New technologies are evolving at such a rapid pace that it might stretch our biological limits leading to serious health and safety consequences at work.

In addition to all emerging risks, we have to deal with the old and still existing occupational safety and health risks.

Working life is changing — how is occupational safety and health changing?

When discussing the transformation of work and working life, it is also necessary to address the issue of occupational safety and health. Absence from work and occupational accidents are costly.  The changes that are now taking place require that occupational safety and health and labour inspection be reformed and updated.

For example, new forms of work, such as the platform economy, make it more difficult for labour inspectors to reach employees, not to mention those who are responsible for the health and safety of workers.

In the platform economy, it is not always possible to determine who the employer is and who is responsible for ensuring occupational safety and health, for example at clients’ home or when employees are working remotely.

Responsibility for risks assessment is shifting to the employee in a world of remote work

The pandemic has shown that the shift from working in an office to working from home can at its worst lead to ways of working that are not ergonomic, isolation from the work community, lack of guidance from the supervisor and long working hours. The boundaries between work and private life can become blurred. Stress at work and insufficient free time to recover increase the risk of falling ill.

Many employers and labour inspectors have been surprised by the exponential and widespread increase in remote work during the pandemic. It is fairly difficult to address issues related to working conditions and the work environment when people work from home. It is not possible to go to employees home to check the working conditions without a well-founded reason. In this new situation, employees themselves must take responsibility for a healthy and safe work environment.

Employees could, in fact, be responsible for self-management and risk assessment, although under the law, the main responsibility for this rests with the employer.

Risks related to robotics still partly unknown

Working together with robots (cobots) at close range and smart wearable (like exoskeletons) raise a number of safety issues. If, for some reason, a cobot malfunctions or misreads a human worker, there is a risk of collision or even injury.

However, working with a robot is more likely to cause stress than anything else. Working alone with robots who possess both physical strength and emotional intelligence can be challenging  for employees. Employees may also experience pressure when trying to perform their work equally efficiently with robots.  

The impact of robotics on psychosocial factors at workplaces still remains an unknown area. Smart wearables entail their own risks associated with physical strain and stress.

Data on workers may also be misused

Remote work and the platform economy have also brought about new ways and programmes to monitor the performance of work. Some of the new programmes collect a lot of versatile data. Clients often also have the opportunity to appraise both the performance of workers and their own satisfaction with the performance in multiple different ways.

It is important to ensure that all this data is only collected and used within the limits set by law and for the purpose of improving the quality and efficiency of work, for example. Employees must also be protected against the unlawful collection and use of data related to the privacy of the person.

Principles of occupational safety and health must be followed

The transformation of work and working life brings a lot of positive changes and new opportunities. There are, however, great challenges with this transformation.  

The situation requires that occupational safety and health and labour inspection be redirected and provided with sufficient resources. What is needed, for example, is more cooperation with designers of artificial intelligence, robotics and smart wearables to ensure that safety and health risks are addressed at the design stage. This, in turn, calls for more occupational safety and health experts and labour inspectors who are specialised in artificial intelligence and digitalisation.

The principles of occupational safety and health — accident prevention, work ability and wellbeing at work — must be followed at workplaces.  All employees must also start paying more attention to the safety of their own work. Nevertheless, occupational safety and health professionals must be able to assess any mental stress experienced by employees more widely than before.

High-quality occupational safety and health and wellbeing at work become a competitive asset for workplaces. Many studies show that investments in occupational safety, health and wellbeing at work pay off. The Finnish Government’s objective to increase employment requires that people stay healthy at work.

Päivi Mattila-Wiro        
Ministerial Adviser
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health

Wiking Husberg
Consultant on Occupational Safety and Health

The column is based on the recently published Nordic report entitled 

  • Work today and in the future; Perspectives on Occupational Safety and Health challenges and opportunities for the Nordic labour inspectoratesLink to an external websiteOpens in a new tab
digitalisation industrial safety labour protection prosperity robotics safety and security stress supervision of occupational safety and health well-being well-being at work working life workplaces
Back to top
Ministry of Social Affairs and health
Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö
Social- och hälsovårdsministeriet

Meritullinkatu 8, 00170 Helsinki

PL 33, 00023 Government, Finland

Switchboard +358 295 16001

registry.stm(at)gov.fi 

About the site

Data Protection

Sitemap

Accessibility statement for the stm.fi website

Feedback

Search page
  • Frontpage
  • Areas of expertise
    • Promotion of welfare
      • Legislation
      • Health promotion
        • Fighting infectious disease
          • Fighting infectious disease: Responsibilities of the authorities
          • COVID-19 disease in Finland
            • Press releases about Coronavirus
          • Avian influenza
      • Promoting participation
        • Key areas of participation and inclusion
        • Roma policy
        • Immigrants' social security, welfare and health
      • Substance harm prevention
        • Alcohol policy
          • Alcohol Act
        • Drug policy
          • Narcotics control
        • Tobacco and nicotine policy
          • EU regulation and cooperation
          • Other authorities’ responsibilities
          • Actions to reduce the use
          • Interaction with the tobacco industry
        • Harm caused by gambling
          • Gambling Policy Programme
          • Assessment of risks associated with gambling
          • Parties responsible for gambling policy
          • Gambling system
      • Preventing violence and crime
        • Combating domestic and intimate partner violence
          • NAPE – Committee for Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence
        • Combating trafficking in human beings
        • Mediation in criminal and civil cases
        • Violence against children and its prevention
        • Responsibilities in preventing domestic and family violence
      • Environmental health
        • Radiation protection
        • Chemical oversight
          • Cosmetic products
          • Tattoos
      • Advisory Board for Public Health
    • Social and health services
      • Legislation
        • Children, young people and families
        • Old people
        • Secondary use of health and social data
          • Frequently asked questions about the Act on Secondary Use of Health and Social Data
          • Amending the Act on the Secondary Use of Health and Social Data
      • Responsible agencies
        • Wellbeing services counties
          • Wellbeing services counties on the map
          • Guidance of the wellbeing services counties
          • Collaborative areas
        • Municipalities
        • Supervisory authorities
        • Private providers of health and social services
        • Centres of excellence on social welfare
        • Organisations and associations
      • Social services
        • Disability services
        • Child welfare
          • Frequently asked questions concerning child welfare in Finland
      • Health services
        • Primary health care
          • Screening
            • Prenatal screening
          • Vaccinations
            • HPV vaccinations
          • Maternity and child health clinics
          • School health care
          • Student health care
        • Occupational health care
        • Private health care
        • Mental health services
        • Services for substance abusers
        • Hospitals and specialised medical care
        • Urgent and emergency health services
        • Client and patient safety
        • Healthcare and social welfare for undocumented persons
        • Termination of pregnancy
      • Rehabilitation
      • Pharmacotherapy
        • Value chain for pharmacotherapy
        • Legislation, steering and supervision, cooperation
        • Safety of pharmacotherapy
        • Rational pharmacotherapy
          • Implementation of sensible pharmacotherapy
          • Information management
            • Digital services
      • Client and patient rights
      • Client fees
      • Social and health care personnel
      • Children, youth and families
        • Services to families
      • Older people services
        • Services and benefits
      • Social security and services of asylum seekers in Finland
        • Healthcare and social welfare for illegal residents
        • Health and social services for people arriving from Ukraine
      • Information management
    • Income security
      • Legislation
      • Financial assistance for families with children
      • Conscripts allowance
      • Housing allowance
      • Unemployment
      • Sickness and rehabilitation
      • Pensions
        • Earnings-related pension
        • National pension
        • Guarantee pension
        • Disability pension
        • Survivors’ pension
      • Front veterans
      • Social security for athletes, grant recipients and students
      • Social assistance
      • Social lending
      • Support and benefits
      • International social security
      • Appealing income security decisions
      • Occupational accidents and illnesses
    • Insurance
      • Legislation and oversight
      • Insurance institutions
      • Supervision of the insurance sector
      • Investing insurance contributions
      • Statutory insurance
      • Social insurance contribution
      • Insurance related appeals
    • Working life
      • Legislation
      • Posted workers
      • Generally applicable collective agreements
      • Occupational safety and health
      • Supervising OSH
        • European cooperation on market surveillance
        • Workplace harassment
        • Vera ICT System
      • Occupational health care and maintaining work ability
        • Value of lost labour input in Finland
      • Wellbeing at work
      • Equality in working life
      • Young people and work
      • Family life and work
      • Older workers
    • Gender equality
      • Legislation
      • Mainstreaming
      • Gender equality in working life
      • Equal pay
      • International cooperation
      • Responsible agencies
      • Projects on gender equality
    • EU and international cooperation
    • Preparedness
  • Current issues
    • Press releases
    • News
    • MSAH on social media
    • Statistics
      • Statistics on the promotion of welfare and health
      • Statistics on social welfare and health care services
      • Statistics on income
      • Statistics on insurance
      • Statistics on employment
      • Statistics on equality
      • International statistics
    • Sign up for news
    • Service by publication
  • Columns
  • Projects and legislation
    • National service reform
    • Defining the principles for service choices in healthcare and social welfare
    • Social security reform
      • General social security benefit
    • Mental health policy strategy
    • Child Strategy
      • Preparations for a National Child Strategy in 2018-2019
    • RDI Growth Programme for Health and Wellbeing
    • Reducing homelessness with better-targeted health and social services
    • Sustainable Growth Programme for Finland
    • The European Accessibility Act
    • Personalized medicine
      • Improving health through the use of genomic data
      • Overall project description
      • Genome Center
      • National Cancer Center
      • Biobank Operations
      • National neurocenter
      • Drug Development Centre
      • People and contact details
      • European ‘1+ Million Genomes’ Initiative
    • Sufficiency and availability of healthcare and social welfare personnel
    • National health and wellbeing programme Terveydeksi
    • Completed projects
  • Publications
  • Ministry
    • Task and objectives
    • Management and organisation
      • Minister of Social Affairs and Health
      • Minister of Social Security
      • Senior Civil Servants
      • Department for Steering of Healthcare and Social Welfare (OHO)
      • Department for Insurance and Social Security (SVO)
      • Department for Safety, Security and Health (TUTO)
      • Department for Communities and Functional Capacity (YTO)
        • YPA - personnel
      • Department for Clients and Services in Healthcare and Social Welfare (APO)
      • Department for Work and Gender Equality (TTO)
      • Strategic and Financial Management Unit (STAR)
      • Human Resources and Administration Unit (HEHA)
      • International Affairs Unit (KVY)
      • Communications Unit (VIE)
      • Responsibilities of ministers in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
    • Strategy
      • Economy of wellbeing
    • Administrative branch
    • Preparedness
      • Preparedness centres
      • Preparedness in the EU
      • Radiation accidents
      • Preparedness in Wellbeing Services Counties
      • Preparedness in wellbeing services counties
    • International cooperation
      • European Union
        • Preparation of EU affairs
      • Council of Europe
        • European Committee of Social Rights
      • United Nations
      • World Health Organization
        • WHO pandemic treaty
      • Global health security
      • Nordic cooperation
        • Finland's Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2021
      • Northern Dimension
      • Barents cooperation
      • Arctic cooperation
      • International Labour Organization
      • OECD
    • Economy and activities
    • Forms
    • STEA grants
    • Expenditure
    • Advisory boards and commitees
    • The Ministry as a workplace
      • Working for the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
      • Ministry personnel statistics
      • Principles of a safer space
      • Read more about jobs
    • Services
    • History
    • Whistleblower protection
  • Contact
    • Personnel search
    • E-invoice address
    • For media
    • Feedback
    • Data Protection
      • User's rights and requests for personal data
      • Information system descriptions
      • Publicity of documents and requests for information
      • Information on cookies on the website
    • Accessibility statement for the stm.fi website