Finnish fact-finding mission

Monday, 10 March 2008

A delegation from Finland's largest communications company and the Embassy of Finland Trade Commission recently visited the UK to find out more about construction safety – thanks to IOSH.

Sanna Korppoo, head of innovation; Matti Maramo, senior strategy manager, future development; and Markku Laihonen, senior development manager at Elisa and Perry Le Dain, trade commissioner from the Embassy of Finland got to visit two of the UK's major construction sites in March after contacting IOSH's international team.

The delegation got to meet with Bovis Lend Lease's Barrie Gibbons and Chris Ellis at their BBC West 1 Project site and with Lawrence Waterman, at the London 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority Office and Olympic Village site.

Explaining the reason for the visit, Perry Le Dain commented:

"The UK is a centre of excellence and an example of good practice for safety initiatives in construction. This is part of an initiative that will ensure that Finland continues to develop as an environment noted for its innovation, competitiveness and growth.

"The purpose of our visit is to create an open dialogue in order to exchange views and knowledge on occupational safety. This is a discovery mission to explore and learn."

The representatives from Elisa also shared information with IOSH about market research they had done on occupational safety.