Seppo Olkkonen

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Preparation of the national profile on working
conditions in road transport in Finland

• Seppo Olkkonen
• 8.10.2009 Riga

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Profile of the Finnish road transport
sectorSeppo Olkkonen Aira Ylä-Outinen
Riia-Liisa Pulkkinen

• In 2000, the European Foundation carried out its
  third European Survey on Working Conditions and
  collected information on the working conditions,
  health and well-being of the employed and
  self-employed in the 15 EU member states
• These three surveys (1990, 1995 and 2000)
  provided a general picture of the main
  characteristics of the economic sectors with
  regard to working conditions (Paoli and Merllié
  2001)
• This general picture is sufficient for setting
  priorities, but not enough to understand the
  reasons underlying the above-mentioned situation,
  and the policies, at various levels, undertaken
  to deal with them

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GOALS The national report will

• provide an overview of the quality of work and
  employment in the road transport sector
• give some background information on the sector
• highlight the most prevalent characteristics of
  the sector.

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Collection of qualitative quantitative
information

• qualitative information has been collected
  through
• - literature
• - interviews with key actors and experts in the
  field
• quantitative information has been collected
  mainly from statistical data. Some unpublished
  data have been especially prepared for this study
  by Statistics Finland, and the Federation of
  Accident Insurance Institutions.

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Sector characteristics

• Sector according to NACE and Finnish Branch
  Classification (TOL95)
• Name Road transport
• 3-digit code 602
• Finnish Branch Classification (TOL95)
• Bus transport
• 60212 other scheduled passenger land
  transportation ( NACE 6021)
• 60231 other land passenger transport (charter
  services) (NACE 6023)
• Freight transport by road
• 6024, 60240 Freight transport by road (NACE 6024)
  Sector characteristics
• Sector according to NACE and Finnish Branch
  Classification (TOL95)

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Economic characteristics of the sector

• The turnover of the transport sector ( 9.5
  billion) has grown steadily in 1994-2000
  representing 3.6 of the GNP in 2000
• The growth was more prominent in the freight
  transport
• The total market share of public transport has
  declined and also relative proportion of bus
  transport of all transport has also declined
  during 1990s
• The growth of the number of private passenger
  cars has partly cut down the amount of public
  transport.
• The number of companies of the transport sector
  (12152) has grown steadily in 1994-2000
  representing 5.4 of the all national companies
  in 2000
• The company size in freight transport and bus
  transport sectors is small 94.7 of the freight
  and 68.2 of bus companies had less than 10
  employees
• only 33 freight and 37 bus companies with over 49
  employees (2000).

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Labour market characteristics 1.

• The number of employees increased in bus
  transport 15 and in freight transport by road
  sector 27 in 1995-1999
• The men represent the majority in both bus 88-87
  and freight transport (94-92) sectors
• The percentage of women in the bus transport has
  increased slightly (12-13) and was higher than
  in the freight transport by road (6-8).

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Labour market characteristics 2.

• Motor vehicle drivers represented
• 98 of the employees in bus transport
• 97 in the freight transport sector
• The high proportion of drivers is due to the fact
  that most of them are self-employed or in SMEs
• The majority (83) of the employees work full
  time.

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Specific directives/regulations as a background
to the improvement of quality of work and
employment in the sector

• 1. Collective labour contract in the road
  transport sector (The Central Organisation of the
  Finnish Trade Union (SAK)/The Confederation of
  Technical Employee Organisations in Finland
  (STTK), latest 2001-2002)
• Employment relationship, working hours,
  determination and payment of wages, sick leave
  and the payment of wages, health care, annual
  holiday
• 2. Labour legislation
• Individual labour law
• Employment contracts act
• Acts on working hours 605/1996
• leave, study leave and
• young workers
• Lists the terms that should be considered in all
  employment relationships.

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• Occupational Safety Health Act
• 299/ 1958 , (new act738/ 2002, 1.1.2003)
• gtPrevention of accidents and occupational
  diseases and the safety of machinery and other
  equipment
• Accident Insurance Act
• gtThe employer is required to insure his
  employers against accidents. This covers also
  the costs of investigation in suspicion of
  occupational disorders and treatment as well as
  handicap compensation of occupational disorders
• Occupational Health Care Act 1383/200
  gtThe act lays down the duty of an employer to
  arrange occupational health care and on the
  content and organisation of the occupational
  health care provided
• Council regulation (EEC)3820/85 relating road
  transport/section IV Driving periods and section
  V Breaks and rest periods
  gt
  Determination of maximum driving periods and
  minimum breaks and rest periods of the road
  transport drivers

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QUALITY OF WORK AND EMPLOYMENT POLICIES AND
INSTRUMENTS

• Health and well-being
• Combining work and non-working life
• Regulations, collective bargaining
• OSH Prevention policies
• Company strategies, examples of good and bad
  practices

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Physical work environment

• The employees are exposed frequently to
• noise (70)
• vibration (50)
• insufficient lighting (69)
• cold climate (49)
• chemicals (67)
• road transport workers complained frequently from
  monotonous sitting postures repetitive movements
• musculoskeletal disorders were mostly back and
  the shoulder problems

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QUALITY OF WORK AND EMPLOYMENT DESCRIPTIVE
FEATURES

• Work organization
• Working time
• Information and consultation
• Income levels and payment systems
• Access to social protection

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Views of the key informers

• Views of the employer organisations
• Views of the unions
• Views of the public authorities

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Funds especially supporting the work
conditions in the road transport sector

• The Volvo-Foundation of the Finnish Bus and Coach
  Association and Volvo-Foundation of the Finnish
  Trucking Association
• the Reuma-Foundation of the Truck Drivers
• Union-Oil Foundation of the Truck Drivers
• The Central Organization for Traffic Safety
• the Federation of Finnish Insurance Companies
• The Finnish Work Environment Fund
• the Centre for Occupational Safety

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Issues and challenges,actions to be taken

• 1) The self-employed are facing ever tightening
  competition for contracts. The large-scale
  industry has pulled down the transport prices,
  leading to lower wages and unpaid overtime work.
  Driving a truck effectively is difficult due to
  the increasing demands for limitating work time.
• 2) In general, drivers tend to smoke too much,
  they are overweight, and have too little physical
  training. The risk factors arising from
  life-style are in need of intervention surveys.
• 3) Employees working in SMEs often have access to
  fewer or no OSH services. The availability of
  these services should be improved.
• 4) Drivers are in greater need of rehabilitation
  than workers in the other sectors. Only one third
  of the drivers believed they would not need to
  consider early retirement on the basis of health.
• 5) The ergonomic aspects related to the use of IT
  technology by drivers seem to be in need of
  improvement.
• 6) The loading and unloading places for trucks
  are frequently unsatisfactory, entailing a high
  accident risk, and having poor lighting and poor
  ergonomics.
• 7) The rest places for heavy vehicles are in need
  of improvement. They should have 24 hour social
  services and offer healthy meals and the
  possibility for physical exercise and rest
  without the risk being robbed or mugged.
• 8) Overtime work and fatigue are still a
  prominent health risk to the drivers. There is
  need to improve information dissemination
  regarding this aspect.
• 9) The systematic further training in the sector
  has just started. At the EU level the further
  training of professional drivers should be at
  least one day annually or 5 day per 5 years since
  2008.

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Statistics of road traffic accidents by source
of information
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The number of deaths and retirements due to
injury in road freight transport accidents yr.
1996-2003
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Working conditions in professional road haulage
are challenging

• Freight transport by road is sector with low
  educated male drivers
• This is the case especially in Finland where over
  90 of truck companies have less than 10
  employees
• Only a few small enterprises have organized
  occupational health care by a written agreement
• Road transport companies operate in a highly
  competitive environment
• Greater demands from customers for precision,
  speed and flexibility in the delivery of goods
  results in "just in time" deliveries
• long and irregular working hours
• varying road and light conditions