Emergency Response Centre Agency - Finland

eCall emergency call system prevents road deaths, false calls burden emergency services

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 11:03:00 GMT

Since 2018, the automatic emergency call system, known as eCall, has gradually become more common in the Finnish vehicle fleet. The system detects when a vehicle is involved in an accident and automatically contacts an emergency response centre (also known as public safety answering point, PSAP). The same eCall system is used across Europe.

eCall to become mandatory in new passenger cars and vans from 2027

At present, the eCall system is installed in roughly one in eight passenger cars and vans in Finland. From 2027 onwards, all new passenger cars and vans will be required to be equipped with eCall. By 2035, it is estimated that around 27 per cent of passenger cars and vans in Finland will have an eCall system. The system is not yet available for other types of vehicles.

The purpose of the system is to speed up the reporting of accidents and the arrival of assistance at the scene. eCall has the greatest potential to save lives in serious accidents where, without an automatic eCall notification, an emergency call would be made only after a delay. Such accidents include, for example, single-vehicle run-off-road crashes on low-traffic roads.

Internationally pioneering eCall study

A study commissioned by Traficom from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland examined the impacts of eCall in Finland during the system’s initial years of use. It also assessed the system’s effects on road safety up to 2036.

The study analysed road accidents occurring from 2019 onwards that resulted in fatalities or serious injuries, as well as emergency calls made in different ways in all road accidents and the related rescue operations. In addition, dispatchers, who handle emergency calls, and rescue service personnel were interviewed.

“The study was methodologically challenging and internationally pioneering. No comparable study based on extensive datasets on the real-world impacts of the eCall system has been conducted anywhere else,” says Chief Specialist Anna Schirokoff at Traficom.

By combining different datasets, it was possible to estimate that between 2019 and 2023 the automatic emergency call likely prevented approximately one road fatality in Finland. However, the study did not identify any specific accident in which a death was prevented. “In the coming years, as the system becomes more widespread, eCall is expected to save one life annually. By 2036, around 10 road fatalities are expected to be avoided thanks to eCall,” says Principal Scientist Satu Innamaa at VTT.

eCall system should not be tested unnecessarily

Through eCall, the location of a vehicle involved in an accident, along with other essential data, is automatically transmitted to the emergency response centre. This information helps the dispatcher assess the severity and urgency of the situation. However, the eCall system also places a burden on emergency response centres: 80 per cent of incoming eCalls have been false. For manual eCall activations, the share of false calls has been as high as 94 per cent.

“The Emergency Response Centre Agency reminds users that the system should not be tested, as this places a burden on the 112 emergency number. eCall is intended for urgent emergency situations only,” emphasises Development Manager Tommi Hopearuoho at the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Background

The study was carried out by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd between September 2024 and December 2025. The study was based on emergency call data from the Emergency Response Centre Agency, rescue service resource and accident statistics, data from the Finnish Crash Data Institute and interviews.

eCall = A vehicle-integrated system that contacts the public safety answering point (PSAP) in the event of an accident, transmits the Minimum Set of Data (MSD) and facilitates voice communication between the persons in the vehicle and the dispatcher; mandatory in new type-approved passenger cars and vans since 2018 and in all new passenger cars and vans from 2027 onwards. The driver can also manually activate the system.

MSD (Minimum Set of Data) = Minimum Set of Data transmitted in an eCall, which includes details such as event coordinates and vehicle information.

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How to report an emergency in Finland even if you do not know the language

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 06:36:00 GMT

In Finland, the Emergency Response Centre will help you in Finnish, Swedish and English. If you and the Emergency Response Centre do not have a mutual language, an interpreter may be arranged by the Centre.

If an interpreter is needed in an emergency call, the ERC operator will first determine which language you speak and then search for an appropriate interpreter. It may take a few minutes to reach the interpreter, so it is important that you stay on the line throughout this time.

Once the interpreter has been reached, they will be added as a third party to the emergency call. The Emergency Response Centre will then, with the help of the interpreter, determine what has happened and assess what kind of assistance is needed. The interpreter will help transmit the information received from you to the Emergency Response Centre.

You may receive help sooner if you have someone with the ability to speak Finnish, Swedish or English present to help you make the emergency call.

Follow these steps:

When you call 112, try to tell the operator in Finnish or English which language you speak (e.g. ‘Arabic’, ‘Somali’ or ‘Ukrainian’).
Wait for the interpreter to be connected to the call – this may take a while.
Do not hang up until you are given permission.

When should you call the emergency number 112?

Emergency calls are answered by trained Emergency Response Centre operators and calling is free of charge. In an emergency call, it is important to answer any questions by the ERC operator so that any assistance can be sent quickly and to the right place.

Dial 112, when:

someone's life or health is at risk
there has been an accident
you need urgent help from the police, emergency care, rescue or social and crisis emergency services
property or the environment is at serious risk.

The Emergency Response Centre operator will ask you questions to be able to send the right help to the right location as soon as possible.

Summary

There is only one emergency number in Finland: 112.
You will be served in Finnish, Swedish or English.
If there is no shared language, an interpreter can be connected to the call.
Do not hang up until the operator gives you permission to do so.

Materials intended for foreign-language speakers:

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Need for interpreting in emergency calls increases significantly

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 06:36:00 GMT

According to Statistics Finland, 610,148 foreign-language speakers lived in Finland at the end of 2024, accounting for 10.8 per cent of the total population. According to Quality Manager Emma Paasonen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the growth in the foreign-language population is reflected in the number of interpreted emergency calls.

“The number of interpreted emergency calls increased in 2020–2025 from 212 calls to 1,844 calls, which is a staggering growth of 770 per cent. However, the number of interpreted emergency calls remains very low in relation to the total number of emergency calls.”

Number of languages interpreted continues to grow

In 2025, emergency calls were interpreted 1,844 times, whereas in 2024 the number was approximately 25% lower (1,469). Interpretation was provided in a total of 41 languages (37 languages in 2024). Most of the interpreted foreign-language calls were made in Russian (710), Ukrainian (594) and Arabic (214).
According to Paasonen, growth has increased since 2022, when the need for Ukrainian interpretation, in particular, grew.

“The need for interpreting emergency calls made in Ukrainian emerged in 2022 and continued for the following years, which partly reflects the consequences of the war and the increase in the number of Ukrainians arriving in Finland.”

In 2025, interpretation was provided in a total of 41 languages, compared to 15 in 2020. Last year, the list included a few new languages, such as Hindi, Nepali and Greek. Other less common languages included Ikinyarwanda, Badini, Kurmanji and Urdu.

The interpreting service is an additional service purchased by the Emergency Response Centre Agency to support the processing of emergency calls and has been available to the Emergency Response Centre Agency since 2013. The interpretation service aims to enable emergency response centre services for all, regardless of their language skills.

Edit 10.3.2026 9:22 am: The link to the article has been corrected.

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A Healthy Workforce at the Core of Results

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 09:09:00 GMT

As public finances tightened, the Agency also had to take numerous steps to enhance efficiency and improve productivity. The Agency’s 2025 budget appropriation was €3.4 million lower than in 2024. Nevertheless, €20.9 million in unspent appropriations remained, largely tied to delayed investment projects.

The Agency launched a productivity programme in 2024 as part of the government’s savings measures. The development of operating practices and the upcoming restructuring of the agency will enable more efficient division of labour and resource allocation. In 2025, the Agency employed 631 people in total, 87% of whom held permanent positions and the rest fixed-term positions. The staffing situation improved compared to the previous year (619 employees in 2024). Staff turnover among permanent employees also decreased to 5.9%, with a total of 37 departures (6.4% in 2024).

“We initiated a cooperation procedure at the end of 2025 with the aim of renewing our agency structure during the current year. The structural changes and staff reductions will not affect our operational activities; instead, they will be implemented within administrative functions through natural attrition. In practice, this means that when an employee retires or leaves for another reason, we will assess the organisation of tasks on a case-by-case basis,” explains Director General Taito Vainio.

Special attention was paid in 2025 to recruiting graduating emergency response operator students. Newly qualified operators were directed to the centres with the greatest staffing needs. A total of 38 new operators were recruited, and the overall resource utilisation rate across the Agency was approximately 96.7%.

“The annual number of trained emergency response operators has not been sufficient to meet our recruitment needs in recent years. The current training situation looks promising, and we are optimistic about the future. This year, an additional training course will begin in the Helsinki metropolitan area, providing much-needed reinforcements for our Kerava Emergency Response Centre, which has faced the most significant staffing shortages.”

Sick Leave Decreased

Despite the productivity programme, sick leave among Agency staff decreased in 2025 compared to the previous year. The average number of sick leave days was 13.9 per employee, down from 14.5 in 2024. Sick leave levels differ clearly between administrative staff and emergency response staff. Administrative staff recorded 6.8 sick days (7.7 in 2024), while emergency response staff recorded 15.6 days (16.2 in 2024).

“We have invested heavily in recent years in wellbeing at work, coping at work, and recovery. Emergency response services are considered one of the most psychosocially demanding fields. Because the work is time-critical and operators must constantly handle traumatic situations and make rapid decisions, a healthy workforce is essential for delivering high-quality services. Our investments in wellbeing have been reflected in reduced sick leave for three consecutive years.”

Satisfied Personnel

An individual emergency response operator handled an average of 5,330 emergency calls in 2025, a clear decrease from the previous year (6,010 in 2024). This was partly due to a 1.8% reduction in the total number of answered emergency calls. The decline is mainly explained by fewer non-emergency calls. Improvements in operating practices have also enabled more efficient division of labour and resource allocation.

Employee satisfaction in 2025 was also rated as good. Results from the government-wide Personnel Barometer show that overall satisfaction in the Agency reached a good level at 3.01 on a scale of 1–4.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency has succeeded in improving operational efficiency and staff wellbeing despite tightening financial conditions.

“To provide high-quality emergency response services, the number of operators must be correctly dimensioned and allocated according to tasks. This, together with the decline in sick leave, good employee satisfaction, and successful recruitment measures, are positive signs that we have been able to focus on the right things even as our budget has tightened. The Agency’s financial situation has remained fairly stable, and trust in the Agency remains high,” Vainio notes with satisfaction.

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Highlights from Emergency Number Week 2026

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:59:00 GMT

Emergency Number Week was held this year from 9 to 15 February 2026. Throughout the week, numerous events and lessons were organised around the country to practise recognising emergencies and using the emergency number correctly. Campaign materials were actively used both in teaching and in communications. The campaign gained wide visibility on social media and was featured on several radio channels.

Key figures

• 9.6 million impressions on Snapchat (paid advertising)
• 2.9 million impressions and over 20,000 clicks on TikTok (paid advertising)
• 797 views of the 112 lesson on YouTube
• 36 event announcements published on the 112.fi website
• Numerous social media posts from partner organisations
• Numerous 112 lessons held in schools across Finland

The aim of the campaign was to strengthen young people’s ability to recognise emergencies and encourage them to act in such situations. The topic received extensive visibility during the campaign week, but work on this important theme continues throughout the year in cooperation with various organisations.

Next year, Emergency Number Week will take place from 8 to 14 February 2027. The highlight of the week, 112 Day, will be on Thursday, 11 February 2027. More information about the 2027 campaign and its theme will be published in the autumn.

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Number of emergency calls at a low point

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 07:41:00 GMT

In 2025, the total number of emergency calls was the lowest in the past two decades. The Emergency Response Centre Agency processed approximately 2,653,000 emergency calls last year (2,793,000 calls in 2024). The calls were picked up in an average of 6 seconds, a slight improvement compared to the year before (7 seconds).

According to Emma Paasonen, quality manager at the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the statistics imply that people recognise emergencies better than before.

“This is shown in the number of tasks passed on to the authorities in relation to the number of emergency calls. Even though the total number of emergency calls has decreased, the share of tasks passed on to the authorities increased by approximately 2 percent. In addition, the number of false calls has decreased significantly since 2020. Put together, these things indicate that people are increasingly aware of how to use the emergency number in the right situations.”

A total of 505,000 false calls were received in 2025 (568,500). Of these, 29,000 (29,680) were inappropriate or malicious calls.

Emergency SMSs mostly false

The use of the emergency SMS service intended for people with impaired hearing or speech increased significantly last year, but most of the messages were false. A total of 23,900 SMSs were sent in 2025, which is more than three times the number sent in 2024 (7,390).

According to Paasonen, the change is due to the ending of the registration requirement, which means that anyone can now send an emergency SMS.

“In June 2025, the requirement to register for the use of the emergency SMS service was removed from the Finnish Act on Emergency Response Centre Operations. Since then, the use of the emergency SMS service has been open to everyone. The change is related to the European Accessibility Act, which aims to provide persons with speech and hearing impairments with a more accessible service.”

Half of calls lead to relaying an assignment

Approximately 1,384,720 assignments were relayed to the authorities based on emergency calls. The distribution of the assignments to the various authorities was as follows: prehospital medical care 50%, police 37%, social and crisis emergency services 7%, rescue and other authorities 6%.

According to Paasonen, approximately half of all emergency calls did not lead to an assignment to the authorities.

“By conducting a professional risk assessment, the ERC operator may find that a given situation does not require authorities to be deployed. In such cases, the ERC operator can instruct the caller on the phone and provide instructions for solving the situation through their own actions.”

Growth of foreign-language population reflected in emergency calls

The number of emergency calls which require an interpreter continues to grow. In 2025, 1,844 emergency calls were interpreted (1,469).
Interpretation was provided in a total of 41 languages (37). Most of the interpreted foreign-language calls were made in Russian (710), Ukrainian (594) and Arabic (214).

The number increased significantly during the war in Ukraine.

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Fear of Being Stigmatized Prevents Young People from Calling for Help

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 07:00:00 GMT

Young men are often present where things happen. Today’s phenomena include dangerous social media challenges, climbing at high altitudes, violence, experimenting with substances, compromising traffic safety, filming emergencies, and entering abandoned buildings — not to mention mental health challenges.

─ Witnessing an assault, violence within the family, friends engaging in life threatening stunts, or a young person passed out in the snow are examples of situations where many hesitate to intervene, says Command Duty Officer Lauri Järvenpää.

Emergency situations involving young people are reflected in a significant increase in the number of tasks forwarded by the Emergency Response Centre to social services. In 2025, an average of 35 tasks per day were forwarded to social services concerning missing minors, runaways, and other complex difficulties. In 2021, the corresponding figure was 20. Similarly, minors’ use of alcohol and/or drugs results in 19 tasks per day for social services, compared to 13 in 2020. Many of these situations also required action from other authorities.

Making an Emergency Call Is an Act of Courage

Young people may be the first on the scene in an emergency, but they do not always dare or want to intervene. Peer pressure and fear of being labeled can prevent them from seeking help. Some young people say they feel nervous about calling 112 because they don’t know what to say. It is therefore important for everyone to understand that the caller does not need to prepare in advance or know which authority is needed.

─ Emergency Response Centre operators are trained specifically to ask the right questions and determine what needs to be clarified. What matters is that everyone knows when to call 112 and answers the questions asked during the call, says Stakeholder Specialist Patrick Tiainen.

An emergency call should be made in an urgent emergency. You can recognize such a situation when professional help is needed on site: rescue services, emergency medical services, police, border guard, or social and crisis services.

─ It is not the young person’s responsibility to solve or assess a friend’s distress. What matters is making the emergency call. It is not snitching — it is asking for help, and it is a courageous act, Tiainen adds.

112 Day in February 2026

Campaign period: 112 Day is celebrated annually on 11 February, and the campaign runs for the entire week. In 2026, Emergency Number Week will take place during Week 7.
Target group: Young men
Theme: Use the emergency number 112 correctly
Slogan: 112 – your life, your number, don’t miss it.

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Demanding ERC operator work requires extra investment in wellbeing at work

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 12:15:00 GMT

According to Paula, after general upper secondary school, she wanted to see the world and left for a year to do volunteer work in England. In England, she served as a journalist for a security magazine called ‘Neighbourhood Watch’.

“The magazine supported the activities and safety of the local community. Volunteers from a charitable organisation monitored the neighbourhood, cooperated with the police and aimed to improve the safety in the area. That job as a journalist was the start of my career in communications, and it also marked the start of safety and security as a thread running through my career – in addition to communications and psychology,” Paula says.

For Paula, writing, working creatively and developing new things have always come naturally. After her year in England, she decided to apply to Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences to study organisational communication and public relations. Even though Paula applied for a communications programme, she was also interested in psychology. However, the time did not seem right to apply for a psychology programme, so she put the idea on the back burner.

During her studies, Paula worked summer jobs in her own field, and after graduating in 2004, she was immediately hired for an organisational communications role at the Rauma shipyard. She advanced rapidly in her career in the shipbuilding industry. Most recently, she worked as the head of HR communications at three shipyards.

“I am grateful for those years. They taught me important lessons on occupational wellbeing and safety, management, employer image development and the importance of pursuing common goals. I have been able to put all those lessons to use at the Emergency Response Centre Agency. I also completed a Specialist Vocational Qualification in Management on the side,” Paula says.

Paula left the shipbuilding industry to work as a communications specialist at the Emergency Response Centre Agency in 2014. She quickly discovered that her work at the Agencyallowed her to engage in something that continues to motivate her to this day, namely development.

“As far as my working methods go, I am a type of developer. I have my feet firmly on the ground, but I look at things very extensively and in the long term, constantly finding new ideas and opportunities and also realising them,” Paula says.

She has now worked at the Emergency Response Centre Agency for 10 years, and during that time, she has been able to develop many aspects of the Agency’s working culture. Paula has, among other things, established a committee for initiatives, started work on organisational culture and employer image development, been involved in creating and training work community skills and started cooperation with the Emergency Services College with regard to recruitment communications, the effects of which can be seen in the increase in the number of applicants for ERC Operator training.

Employer facilitates continuous development of skills

Alongside working, Paula also fulfilled her dream of studying psychology and is about to graduate with a Master's Degree in Administrative Sciences from the University of Lapland. Her studies have focused on management psychology, and the topic of her Master’s thesis has to do with employee experience and the development of organisations’ abilities to retain employees.

According to Paula, communications and occupational psychology are very closely interlinked, and skills in both areas are mutually supportive.
“Both communications and occupational psychology are about understanding and supporting the thinking and activities of people or the working community. Both are also related in some way to influencing, organisational culture and even to developing leadership and supervisory work skills. I find this a very useful area of expertise, which I will get to utilise in my work at the Emergency Response Centre Agency,” Paula says.

In addition to study leave, the Emergency Response Centre Agency also offered opportunities for employees to develop their skills through staff rotation, which Paula decided to make use of in 2023.

“I participated in staff rotation in the training and development services of the Finnish Immigration Service. It was very interesting and useful for all parties to see the activities of an agency operating in a different administrative branch and expand expertise and network cooperation,” she says.

Promoting staff wellbeing

In her current role as a wellbeing at work specialist, Paula focuses on staff wellbeing, coordinating and developing wellbeing at work activities, developing work capacity management, fostering cooperation with occupational health care services, promoting occupational safety and health and supporting knowledge management.
“The work of ERC operators is very demanding and stressful, which calls for special support and investment in wellbeing at work. In recent years, we have put a great deal of effort into the development of work capacity management and peer support management, and the results of these efforts are already clearly visible,” Paula says.
According to Paula, the tasks of a wellbeing at work specialist are extensive, challenging and very interesting.

“When the staff feel well, it is reflected in the quality and productivity of work. In my work, I aim to facilitate, support and develop ERC operators’ wellbeing at work so that they can provide high-quality ERC services. This way, I see myself as indirectly contributing to the security of Finland as a whole as well as access to help for those in distress,” Paula says.

Paula thinks about things far into the future and is involved in the Agency's development of long-term plans and measures to promote wellbeing at work.

“We are currently working on plans for the occupational wellbeing programme for the new strategy period, the preparation of a pulse survey, the HenkilöstöBaro survey and peer support counsellor training, to name a few. As long as my expertise is needed, I can see myself working here in the future,” Paula sums up.

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Reputation of the Emergency Response Centre Agency remains strong

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 08:24:00 GMT

Once again, the Emergency Response Centre Agency achieved excellent results in the Reputation&Trust study, where it ranked fourth among Finnish public administration organisations. The score of 3.85 (on a scale of 1 to 5) demonstrates the respondents’ high confidence in Emergency Response Centre activities and was almost the same as last year (3.84 in 2024).

The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s responsibility and products and services, in particular, received praise in the study. Responsibility was rated at 4.11 and products and services at 4.06, which speaks to the organisation’s excellent ability to provide the public with high-quality services for their tax euros.

Director-General Taito Vainio commented on the results:

“The expectations towards our Agency and the operations of government agencies in general have continued to rise, but according to the results, we have been able to meet these expectations, even though the ongoing productivity programme sets some challenges for us. The public consider us an open and transparent organisation that operates as it should. This is thanks to our entire staff!"

Vainio emphasises that maintaining trust requires continuous effort:

“The fact that public safety authorities rank so high in Finland is quite significant. The importance of seamless cooperation between authorities and how this cooperation has helped public trust remain high year after year cannot be overstated. We remain focused on our core mission so that we can prove ourselves worthy of people's trust in the future, as well. "

The Reputation&Trust study is an annual look at the reputation of public sector operators among the public. This year, the study analysed a total of 80 organisations, with responses received from a total of 10,727 Finns.

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Wellbeing is built together

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 05:34:00 GMT

World Mental Health Day is celebrated every year on 10 October for the purpose of stimulating discussion on issues such as the promotion of mental wellbeing. One aspect of mental health is meaningful work with structures to support comprehensive wellbeing.

One of the strategic priorities of the Emergency Response Centre Agency is competent, committed and content staff. In recent years, the Agency has therefore been focusing increasingly on staff wellbeing. As a result, the Agency now has a wellbeing at work specialist whose work focuses on staff wellbeing, coordinating and developing wellbeing at work activities, developing work capacity management, cooperation with occupational health care services, occupational safety and health and supporting knowledge management.

“The work of ERC operators is very demanding and stressful, which calls for special support and investment in wellbeing at work. In recent years, we have put a great deal of effort into the development of work capacity management and peer support management, and the results of these efforts are already clearly visible,” says Wellbeing at Work Specialist Paula Forsten.

Paula has been working for the Emergency Response Centre Agency for ten years: first as a communications specialist for nine years and then as a wellbeing at work specialist from the start of 2024. By looking after staff wellbeing, she feels that she is doing meaningful work and is able to indirectly contribute to the safety of Finland as a whole. Paula gets excited when she gets to talk about the development opportunities that she has discovered.

“The strongest motivation for me is continuous improvement. I feel that I have my feet firmly on the ground, but at the same time I constantly see opportunities for development and solutions around me,” she says.

The wellbeing at work programme provides continuity

The Agency has just adopted a new wellbeing at work programme that extends up to 2028. The new programme places greater emphasis on developing competence in work capacity management and career management, among other things.

“It is absolutely essential that every supervisor is competent and has an understanding of work capacity management, which includes managing wellbeing at work, health, competence and work performance. In practice, this means providing early support in work capacity challenges, monitoring of working conditions and workload and cooperating with occupational health care services, for example,” Paula says.

A sufficient knowledge base is also important at agency level. In recognition of this, the Emergency Response Centre Agency has switched to using HenkilöstöBaro, the shared personnel survey of central government agencies, which serves as a strategic management tool for central government employers. The survey is used to collect anonymous feedback from staff on a range of topics to support the Agency’s management and supervisors in HR knowledge management. It helps the Agency choose and take informed action and makes change measurable.
In addition to the Agency’s knowledge base, the wellbeing at work programme aims to develop career management.

“The key is to understand the arc of a person’s career. Traditionally, the focus has been on senior employees and recent graduates, but now we are paying increasing attention to other career stages as well,” says Paula.

People who are just starting their careers need experiences that boost their self-confidence and role models to identify with.

“We try to support the start of recently graduated ERC operators’ careers with a wide range of career management and wellbeing at work measures. The first year is decisive in many ways,” Paula adds.

Career management also makes other groups in the work community visible and covers the management and development of careers as a whole.

Peer support keeps you going

The Agency introduced peer support activities at the beginning of 2024, and peer support has since become an established form of mental support. Peer support is aimed at anyone who is experiencing stress, whether due to an individual work task or in the form of growing, cumulative stress. When necessary, peer support acts as a longer-term extension of defusing discussions.

“The strength of peer support is that the peer support instructor understands the whole and the characteristics of the ERC operator profession better than any outsider,” Paula says.

The Agency has already trained more than 40 peer support instructors. They keep in close contact with each other and meet regularly.
Peer support is one of the forms of mental support available at the Agency. Others include defusing discussions and support provided by occupational health care services, such as debriefings, external supervision and post-trauma workshops. Five emergency response centres are also regularly visited by a workplace chaplain. In addition to this, staff have access to comprehensive occupational health care services.

Many emergency response centres also have a separate break room for winding down.

Potential in recovery

Another important part of wellbeing at work is everything that you do outside work. Recovery is not only about rest after a work shift, but also about balancing mind and body in everyday life. The need for recovery is crucial especially in demanding jobs and shift work, where even minor ways of relaxing, detaching from work and strengthening your resources are essential for coping. Research shows that good recovery improves concentration, reduces mistakes and increases job satisfaction.

The means of recovery are individual – some recover by engaging in exercise or outdoor activities, while others recover by spending a quiet moment with loved ones. Paula emphasises that when you invest in recovery, you increase work satisfaction and long-term work capacity.

“Everyone can find opportunities for development there. Do you go out after work or slouch on the sofa staring at your phone? There are many skills involved in recovery. It's something that you can practise,” she says.

“We also try out new sports and recovery methods as part of wellbeing at work days,” Paula adds.

Inclusion is about facilitating open dialogue

The Emergency Response Centre Agency adopted a new management system from the beginning of 2024. In terms of everyday operations, the reform has resulted in improved staff inclusion, for example. Inclusion means actively involving staff in decision-making, information sharing and development. According to Paula, it is about listening, providing opportunities to influence things and facilitating open dialogue.

“By facilitating discussion, we create space for interaction. Inclusion is all the methods used to get staff involved in discussions, idea generation and preparation. These include surveys and management Q&A sessions, workshops, group workshops and joint agency initiatives,” she says.
Inclusion is closely linked to organisational culture and the development thereof.

“Inclusion and dialogue constantly create new opportunities. One potential area of development is giving feedback and a culture of continuous learning,” Paula adds.

Wellbeing at work is a shared opportunity

In addition to the wellbeing at work specialist, there are many others working on wellbeing at the Agency: the HR manager, the assistant managers of emergency response centres, supervisors, wellbeing at work teams, occupational health and safety and occupational health care teams. Ultimately, wellbeing at work is everyone’s shared responsibility.

“Everyone has opportunities and the responsibility to make choices every day. Wellbeing may ultimately build upon small decisions,” Paula encourages.

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Distress may turn to joy in a call involving childbirth

Fri, 26 Sep 2025 07:18:00 GMT

Baby’s Day is an excellent opportunity to stop and think about the very beginning of life – and what that looks like from the point of view of ERC operators. On average, the Emergency Response Centre dispatches more than 2,240 assignments involving childbirth each year. Even though emergency calls are often all about pain and haste, assignments involving labour can be touching and full of joy.

ERC operators are faced with many types of situations in their work – pain, fear and even death. That is why moments when the first sounds of new life can be heard on the other end of the line are especially memorable. For the ERC operator, a call involving childbirth can be a unique experience where distress is replaced by joy.

The ERC operator stands by the caller throughout the call

Even though going into labour does not usually warrant a call to the emergency number, there are situations where you do need to call 112. Excessive bleeding, the need to push or the rapid progress of labour may require emergency assistance. In this event, the ERC operator will assess the condition of the person giving birth and relay the assignment to emergency medical services. If necessary, the ERC operator will also provide instructions on giving birth during the call, and may play a crucial part in new life being born.

New life is a shared joy

When a child is born during the emergency call and their first cry can be heard, everyone involved can breathe a sigh of relief. The ERC room may even applaud the newborn. All the excitement channelled into joy can also breed feedback. One emergency call resulted in the newborn’s grandfather, who had placed the emergency call, being advised on how to serve as a midwife and swaddle his newborn grandchild. He later sent a piece of feedback thanking the operator for “online midwifery training.”
Baby’s Day reminds us that sometimes emergency calls bring about hope, joy and new life. ERC operators are always there for you – including when something beautiful is about to be born into this world.

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ERC operators provide instructions on what to do at the scene of an accident

Mon, 08 Sep 2025 04:31:00 GMT

According to the Finnish Road Safety Council’s survey (page in Finnish), 75% of Finns feel that they know what to do at the scene of an accident. However, 25% of respondents either could not answer or disagreed with the statement. It is understandable that an accident situation can cause uncertainty, but it is even more important to be able to rely on professional help.

In Finland, ERC operators are trained not only to locate emergency callers, assess risks and dispatch help to the scene, but also to instruct people on what to do in emergency and accident situations. The instructions provided by ERC operators are designed so that they can be carried out by a layperson. They can include instructions on how to stop bleeding, open the airway or move a patient in an emergency.

“Arriving at the scene of an accident can be a rare occurrence on the road, one that not everyone will ever experience. Nevertheless, every road user should brush up on their first aid skills and think about what do at the scene of an accident to make things easier and safer for everyone involved,” says Training Instructor Erkka Savolainen from the Finnish Road Safety Council.

Do not drive by

Almost one in four respondents to the Finnish Road Safety Council survey had been in a situation where a road accident had occurred and rescue services had not yet arrived. The vast majority of respondents said that they stopped to check what kind of help was needed and stayed to ensure that help arrived, as they should. However, approximately one in ten did nothing.
In order to get help to the scene of an accident, it is extremely important to stop, call 112 and follow the instructions provided. Only by stopping at the scene can the right kind of help be dispatched to the right location and the necessary additional information be passed on to the authorities. Stopping at the scene is also a prerequisite for the potential patient to benefit from life-saving instructions.

“Helpers also need to keep their own safety in mind at the scene of an accident. This includes positioning your own vehicle safely and activating its hazard lights so that it does not cause further accidents or endanger other traffic and so that rescue personnel can access the scene,” Savolainen points out.

“The warning triangle should be placed 100–300 metres from the nearest car or around a bend if there are visual obstacles on the road.”

What to do at the scene of an accident

• Ensure your own safety first and prevent further accidents. If you are driving, turn on your hazard lights and stop the car in a safe place.
• Find out what has happened and call 112 to report the emergency. The ERC operator will assess what kind of help is needed at the scene. Help the operator by answering the questions that they ask.
• Follow the instructions provided by the ERC operator. Wait for the professionals to arrive at the scene of the accident.

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Emergencies and problem situations abroad – This is what you should do

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 09:06:00 GMT

When traveling abroad, it is a good idea to look up what to do in the event of an emergency in the destination country. In many countries, different authorities have dedicated emergency numbers, which can also vary between the different regions of the same country. However, in EU countries, you only need to remember a single number – 112 – when you need help from the police, rescue services or prehospital emergency care. Calls to the emergency number 112 are always routed to a local emergency response centre in the country in which the call is made. Depending on the country, your 112 call may be picked up by representatives of different authorities. However, your call will always be referred to the correct authority.

If you are travelling outside the EU, you should look up the local emergency number or the numbers of different emergency authorities in advance online or in travel guides.

Location information is important in emergencies

The most important thing in getting help is to know the location of the incident so that the dispatched authorities can get to you as quickly as possible. Luckily there are joint-European tools for determining your location in an emergency, such as the AML (Advanced Mobile Location) system, which is automatically enabled on all mobile phones sold in Europe. Thanks to this system, your location is automatically sent to the emergency response centre when you call the emergency number 112. The eCall system found in the newest vehicles also sends information about the location of the vehicle and its direction of travel to the local emergency response centre in the event of an accident.

The 112 Suomi mobile application is indispensable abroad as well. The application automatically sends your location to the emergency response centre in European countries that are part of the PEMEA (Pan-European Mobile Emergency Apps) network. You can also use the app to manually check your coordinates in any country.

However, the Emergency Response Centre Agency would like to remind everyone that automated location tracking tools are just that: tools. When you call 112, your location is always determined verbally as well.

Reaching a Finnish emergency response centre from abroad

If you are abroad and receive an alert from a home burglar alarm system or know that a loved one needs urgent help in Finland, for example, calling 112 is not the correct course of action, as your call will not be routed to Finland.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s international number is intended for situations in which the caller is abroad, but the emergency is in Finland. The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s international number is +358 9 2297 0908. The number can also be found under the Emergency Numbers section of the 112 Suomi application.

The consular service provides help in problem situations

Before travelling abroad, it is a good idea to submit a travel registration to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Submitting a travel registration allows the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to send you information about the security situation in your destination country and contact you in the event of an emergency or crisis.

The on-call duty service in accordance with the Consular Services Act assists and guides Finnish citizens or foreign citizens residing permanently in Finland in situations in which they have encountered problems abroad because of illness, injury, accident, crime or other comparable reason, for example. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ 24/7 service is open round the clock on every day of the year.

You can find a link to the travel registration and the contact details for the consular service in the 112 Suomi application.

The Missing Child Hotline provides help if an underage person goes missing

When an underage person goes missing, it is important to quickly report it to the relevant authorities. You can call the EU-wide Missing Child Hotline 116 000 about any underage children. The number provides help everywhere in Europe in the event of children going missing during a trip abroad, for example. The number for the hotline can also be found in the list of services in the 112 Suomi mobile app.

In Finland, the Missing Child Hotline is intended only for non-urgent calls. In Finland, you can call the Missing Child Hotline if you need to ask for advice in cases that involve a missing child, report that a missing child has been found or ask for information about your missing child.

Remember the following about pan-European numbers (112 and 116 000)

the numbers do not require an area code
calls are free of charge.

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Social emergencies require time

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 08:08:00 GMT

The number of tasks forwarded by the Emergency Response Centre Agency to social and crisis emergency services has been increasing year after year. The reasons behind this include not only increased awareness of social and crisis emergency services and demographic change, but also many other societal phenomena that can cause acute challenges and social emergencies. Recognising social emergencies is part of the job of an emergency response centre operator and one of the competences provided by the Emergency Response Centre Operator degree programme. In fact, the degree programme has also contributed to the growing number of tasks: ERC operators have become better at recognising social emergencies because of it.

− “Social emergencies can be caused by long-standing challenges in everyday life, which at some point trigger an acute emergency. Identifying a situation as an acute emergency falling under the purview of social and crisis emergency services takes more time on the part of the ERC operator than identifying a prehospital emergency care emergency, for example, and the increase in the number of these emergencies is also reflected in the increase in the average response time for all emergency calls,” says Branch Manager Ari Ekstrand from the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Situations in which the Emergency Response Centre Agency will forward a task to social services include situations where a minor is in need of treatment or care, has run away or used drugs. In the case of older people, they can include situations where an older person is in acute need of assistance and is not a client of home care, for example. Acute crisis assistance is provided in the event of an accident, for example. A large proportion of the tasks forwarded to social and crisis emergency services are multi-agency tasks requiring assistance from several authorities.

Social Worker Sonja Kouttinen encounters people of all ages in need of help during her work carrying out acute social welfare tasks for the wellbeing services county.

− “In addition to the tasks forwarded to us by emergency response centres, we also handle acute situations brought to our attention by other authorities or our customer helpline. The most common tasks include acute child welfare services tasks and assessing the care needs of older people, but we also handle our fair share of crisis tasks,” Kouttinen says.

Recognising emergencies is key

Although the number of tasks forwarded to social services has increased, there are still emergencies that go unrecognised.

− “Emergencies that may go unrecognised can include situations involving people’s loved ones, for example. People can be hesitant about reporting their loved ones to the authorities and making emergency calls about situations involving them,” Kouttinen says.

Social and crisis emergency services can also be contacted via their own helplines, the numbers of which can be found on the websites of wellbeing services counties, for example. In less urgent situations, they can also be contacted using the forms available on the websites of the wellbeing services counties. However, in the event of an emergency, it is important to call the emergency number 112 without delay.

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Fourteen-Year-Old’s Actions Prevented Greater Damage

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:08:00 GMT

An exceptional heatwave, drought, and thunderstorms have caused wildfires throughout Northern Finland and Lapland during the summer. With long distances and often difficult terrain, the importance of early emergency calls and correct initial actions is emphasized. A good example of this occurred during the last week of July, when fourteen-year-old Juho Karkiainen spotted a wildfire in Ylitornio. Juho’s exemplary actions helped prevent more extensive property damage.

− My friend and I were riding mopeds when we noticed smoke rising from the forest after a thunderstorm. We drove to the site to investigate the source of the smoke and saw that the forest was on fire. I called the emergency response center and answered their questions.

Answer calls from an unknown number after calling 112

Juho and his friend acted in an exemplary manner. Smoke rising from the forest after a thunderstorm should be suspected as a wildfire, and since the report came directly from the scene, the emergency response center was able to forward the task to rescue services with precise location data and valuable additional information about the fire’s extent.

− It was the first time I ever called the emergency center, and I was a bit nervous. But the call went well. The emergency center asked if it was safe to attempt extinguishing the fire, but that was no longer possible. We observed the fire’s development from a safe distance, and I answered the operator’s questions.

The rescue services called Juho after receiving the alert. Wildfires can spread quickly in the terrain, and it’s valuable to receive updates on the progress of the situation, especially if it takes time to reach the site. Juho acted commendably by staying at the scene and answering a call from an unknown number. He remained there until he could guide the rescuers to the location.

In gusty winds, the fire could have quickly grown large, but thanks to the swift emergency call, it was limited to an area of about one thousand square meters. The arriving rescue personnel found clear signs of a lightning strike on one tree and showed it to Juho.

− It feels like this was the right way to act, Juho humbly responds when asked about the reason behind his exemplary actions.

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Bullying Can Be a Crime – Recognizing Emergencies Is Crucial

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 06:22:00 GMT

As the school year begins, it’s important to talk with children and young people about everyday safety and how to recognize emergency situations. School commutes, encounters with other youth, and hobbies are part of young people’s lives, but they may also face new situations where it’s important to turn to an adult. It’s especially important to emphasize that emergencies are never the child’s responsibility, and that’s why an emergency call to 112 should be made without delay.

When discussing how to recognize emergencies, it’s also important to talk about school bullying. Unfortunately, the start of school is not a joyful time for everyone, and for those who have been bullied, returning to school can feel difficult. It’s essential to talk about bullying and to remind everyone that bullying can be a crime – and sometimes even an emergency.

– Bullying is actually quite often a crime. Physical violence is always a crime. Bullying can also continue on social media, and for example, spreading rumors about someone may constitute defamation. Distributing information that violates someone’s privacy may also be relevant, says Senior Constable Jonna Finell from the police’s Koulu25 team.

It’s important to talk with children and young people about the importance of making an emergency call. For example, physical violence is always a crime, even if it’s referred to as school bullying. An ongoing violent situation is always a reason to call the emergency number 112.

Bullying Is Never the Victim’s Fault

It’s important to discuss difficult topics in a way that’s appropriate for the child’s age. The key message is that, for example, a threatening situation is not the child’s responsibility, and they should immediately talk to a trusted adult, such as a teacher. It’s especially important to encourage those who are being bullied to speak up.

– Bullying is never the victim’s fault. If you have been bullied, it’s important to talk to a trusted adult. If you can’t find a safe adult, you can also contact the police directly, for example through social media, Finell encourages.

In an Urgent Emergency – Call 112

Call the emergency number:

• when you encounter an emergency or urgently need help from authorities on site
• when you know or suspect that life, health, property, or the environment is threatened or in danger

The emergency number is answered with “Hätäkeskus – Nödcentralen”. During the emergency call, it’s important to listen and answer the questions.

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Speed of action and location information are crucial in water rescues

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 06:35:00 GMT

In addition to quickly identifying the situation and making an emergency call immediately, it is important to know where help is needed. Public beaches often have a notice board displaying the official address and coordinates of the location. During summer, places like gravel pits attract swimmers, but these rarely have a clear address. By calling through the 112 Suomi app, precise location data is transmitted to the emergency center, and the coordinates can also be read directly from the app’s home screen if needed. The location is always confirmed by interviewing the caller.

The ERC operator provides instructions for proper action

If the person cannot be safely rescued by those present, it is essential to specify the rescue location as accurately as possible. The emergency dispatcher may instruct the caller to choose a clear reference point behind the person in need. This reference point should be aligned with both the caller’s position and the person in the water. This directional method speeds up the search in situations where the person has submerged before rescuers arrive.

When enjoying time at the beach, it is important to remember that adults are responsible for children. Even as an adult, it is not advisable to go to the beach alone.

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Knowing your location can save your life

Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:04:00 GMT

In the summer, people spend time at cottages, go boating, hike outdoors and travel on roads. But the more activities people engage in, the more accidents they get into as well. When help is needed, it is essential to know where the person in need of help is.

Downloading the 112 Suomi app on your smartphone is a safety action. The app helps you prepare for various surprising everyday situations, as it features a comprehensive selection of phone numbers and services related to safety. In addition to them, the app also helps locate you: in an emergency, you can call the emergency number directly via the app, in which case your exact location is also transmitted to the emergency response centre. Your location information is also transmitted when you call the maritime search and rescue emergency number or the Road Users’ Hotline via the app. In addition to retrieval of the technical location data, the caller’s location is also always determined verbally.

Coordinates help in thick fog

In the early spring, maritime search and rescue services received a request for assistance via VHF radio. Someone needed help in a sea area, and their location was ultimately determined with the help of the 112 Suomi app.

“Three seal hunters had gotten their boat stuck in the ice off the coast of Raahe. The hunters had trouble determining their exact location, and at the start of the assignment it was somewhat unclear where rescue services should go. The men were also out of mobile phone range. The men were asked to provide their coordinates several times before finally getting them right. They were ultimately able to determine their coordinates using the 112 Suomi app, as the excellent app allows you to see your current coordinates even without making an emergency call. That’s a good tip to keep in mind,” says Sea Rescue Director Tomi Maunu from the West Finland Coast Guard District.

The seal hunters were ultimately rescued from the middle of thick fog in a rather unconventional way.

“The fog was too thick for a sea rescue helicopter. The area was also so far out at sea that sending a hovercraft was out of the question. Sea rescue services ended up enlisting the help of icebreaker Otso, and the hunters were successfully helped back to open waters,” Maunu explains.

Know where you are

When it comes to emergency calls, the most important thing in terms of getting help is to know where you are so that help can reach you as quickly as possible. Because of this, a wide range of different tools has been developed to determine the location of an emergency caller in addition to the 112 Suomi app. However, nobody in an emergency situation should rely solely on location technology. If you are on an island, at a holiday house or a hiking destination, for example, it is a good idea to determine your location in advance in case of any emergencies. You can fill in your location information on a location form, which you should then put on prominent display. If you are spending time at a summer cottage, you should also check the signs on the road leading to the cottage regularly.

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Emergency response centres preparing for the school closing weekend

Mon, 26 May 2025 08:50:00 GMT

The school closing weekend is marked by celebrations over the end of the school year and the start of the summer holiday all across Finland. Although most young people celebrate moderately and without incident, the start of the summer holiday is typically also heard on the emergency line. The tasks assigned to prehospital emergency care, the police, emergency social services and rescue services during the weekend traditionally have to do with substance use, disruptive behaviour, violence and the effects of alcohol in the form of different levels of alcohol poisoning and injuries. Emergency response centres traditionally prepare for the weekend by means of shift planning.

− “We have prepared for the higher demand compared to a normal weekend by concentrating staff shifts to the weekend, where possible,” says Head of the Command Centre Lasse Matilainen.

Anticipate and discuss

The Emergency Response Centre Agency would like to remind everyone that most emergencies could be avoided with effective anticipation. Adults and young people should discuss in advance where and with whom the evening will be celebrated and how to get home. Guardians should keep their phones on and answer any calls coming from unknown numbers; the caller could be an authority who is calling about your child.

− “Once an emergency response centre has assigned a task to an authority, they may try to call the person to whom the task relates or their guardian, for example. In this case, the call may come from an unknown or unlisted number.”

Young people should make sure that their phones are charged and that they have warm clothes with them. Friends should not be left alone, especially if they are intoxicated. Burning school books can result in a major wildfire or building fire, and driving an electric scooter under the influence often ends quite painfully. While celebrating, it is also worth remembering that violence does not make for a bright future.

Making an emergency call is the courageous thing to do

The Emergency Response Centre Agency would also like to remind everyone that making an emergency call never makes matters worse, whereas choosing not to make one may very well do so. Witnessing an assault, your friends doing dangerous stunts or a young person suffering from alcohol poisoning are examples of situations where young people may hesitate to intervene. The courageous thing to do is to help and make an emergency call.

Young people may also be nervous about talking to an unknown person on the phone and have doubts about whether they know how to make an emergency call. However, the fact is that you do not need to know exactly how to make an emergency call, and you can call the emergency number even if you have no balance left on your phone.

− “The most important thing is to be able to identify or suspect an emergency, call 112 and answer the ERC operator’s questions honestly,” Matilainen says.

For many schoolchildren and students, the upcoming weekend is the turning point of the year, being the start of the summer holiday and, perhaps, even a whole new chapter in life. As such, it is worth celebrating, while keeping safety in mind, of course. The Emergency Response Centre Agency congratulates all graduates and those whose school year is coming to an end!

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Finnish Emergency Response Centre operations attracting international interest

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 07:25:00 GMT

The Emergency Response Centre Agency hosts hundreds of visitors from all over the world each year. The guests are introduced to national emergency response centre operations, the organisation of the ERC operations room, cooperation between authorities and the role of the Command Centre in updating the situational picture. We have visitors from every corner of the world – including Europe, the United States, Asia, Australia and African countries.

In early April, the Kerava emergency response centre had visitors from nearly 20 different countries at the same time, including Switzerland, Malaysia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Albania, Germany and Singapore.

“Our guests are generally surprised by how seamless ERC operations in Finland are and how one ERC operator can handle emergency reports to different authorities independently,” says Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency Taito Vainio.

One number

In Finland, all emergencies are reported by calling a single telephone number, 112. The emergency call is picked up by an ERC operator who makes a risk assessment of the situation based on instructions from the authorities. Depending on the situation, the ERC operator can quickly dispatch the police, prehospital emergency care or rescue or social services to the scene.

The operating model where one ERC operator handles the emergency call independently regardless of the type of help needed is unique from an international standpoint. In many countries, the police, prehospital emergency care and rescue services all have their own emergency numbers. The various services may also have dedicated emergency response centres for processing their respective emergency calls. In some countries, private companies are in charge of emergency response centre operations and relaying emergency calls.

“Our national, networked model is globally unique. The six emergency response centres in Finland can pick up emergency calls regardless of where the call is coming from,” Vainio says.

The networked operating model makes it possible for emergency calls to be picked up quickly. Last year, emergency calls were picked up in seven seconds, on average. The networked operating model is unparalleled in peak times and during disruptions and exceptional situations as well. The Emergency Response Centre Agency regularly practises preparedness and readiness in various situations.

Seamless cooperation

Organising emergency response centre activities under one operator requires seamless cooperation, shared operating models and active interaction between authorities. The processing of emergency calls, risk assessment and resource allocation directly impact the operation of the authorities and the safety of the public. Shared systems, such as the joint authorities’ telecommunications network and the ERC information system, are used to facilitate daily cooperation.

“Cooperation between authorities helps us meet the expectations of the public and improve the chain of help as a whole,” Vainio states.

The centralised processing of emergency calls is cost-efficient to society. In 2024, emergency response centre operations cost 12.6 euros per resident.

Major international conference

The international EENA 2025 Conference & Exhibition was held at Messukeskus in Helsinki on 9–11 April. Hosted by the European Emergency Number Association EENA, the conference brought together public safety authorities, providers of 112 services as well as representatives of the public safety and technology sectors from all over the world. The themes of the conference included next generation technology, various ERC solutions from all over the world and crisis management strategies.

Before the three-day conference, providers of 112 services in different countries were introduced to ERC operations in Finland at the Kerava emergency response centre. The emergency response centre was visited by ERC operation professionals from a total of 17 countries. After the visit, the same thought seemed to be written on each of the participants’ faces: we want to employ this model, too.

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Director General Taito Vainio: our reliability will be maintained in all circumstances

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 06:45:00 GMT

The population is ageing, exceptional weather conditions are intensifying, cyber and hybrid influence operations are increasing and the global political climate causes uncertainty for citizens, even leading to a reduced sense of safety.

The safety environment in Finland is in a constant state of flux, which reflects on the provision and quality control of emergency response centre services. According to Director General Taito Vainio from the Emergency Response Centre Agency, safety has taken central stage due to the war in Ukraine.

“Emergency response centres and ERC services are the backbone of internal security, because we receive emergency reports, make risk assessments and dispatch the necessary help. If we are unable to function, people will not be able to receive urgent help from authorities,” Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency Taito Vainio says.

Vainio stresses that emergency response centre operations must be secured to ensure that emergency response centres are able to operate in exceptional circumstances as well. This requires preparing for physical safety and data system security. As an example of this, emergency response centres will be moved inside rock shelters in the coming years.

“As part of our premises programme, we are improving physical security by moving emergency response centres inside rock shelters. Very few people probably realise that the primary reason for renewing emergency communications is to separate emergency calls from the safety network and distribute them to improve our reliability in various circumstances in the future,” Vainio says.

Preparedness has also been improved through the hiring of a full-time director of preparedness affairs, whose tasks include drafting preparedness schemes.

Five-year post

Vainio started his second five-year term as the Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency on 1 March 2025. Before working for the Emergency Response Centre Agency, he had served in several posts in the Department for Rescue Services at the Ministry of the Interior since 1998. His most recent post with the Ministry of the Interior was Director of Strategic Steering in 2018–2020.

His development and change management skills are also needed at the Emergency Response Centre Agency, which will see changes in its core operations in addition to its operational environment, including the introduction of the new RTT emergency report model, in the near future. At the same time, new operating models between emergency response centres and the situations centres of various operators are being built.

“We need to develop, but I will continue to work towards eliminating urgency from the preparations, because we want to do things well. This requires improved prioritisation and focusing on what matters. In accordance with our new strategy, we will strive to streamline our operations even further in the Agency’s administrative and operative tasks. I think that it is crucial to develop guidelines and operating models that shorten the time it takes to process calls in the ERC room, for example,” Vainio says.

Skilled employees who feel well

One of the focus areas of the Emergency Response Centre Agency’s new strategy is skilled and committed employees who feel well. The aim is to highlight the importance of competence, functional organisation and work community as well as excellent workplace atmosphere in the performance of the Agency’s core tasks.

“Our focus on personnel competence and well-being leads to strong commitment to the Emergency Response Centre Agency. I wanted to keep focus on this area of our strategy. We have seen great results and we have moved in the right direction. We must, however, continue our efforts in order to maintain and further improve occupational well-being.”

The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s organisation was reformed at the beginning of 2024. The Agency moved from managing things to managing people and employing an inclusive operating culture. The Agency has created new channels to facilitate personnel participation, for example. Operating cultures are not, however, changed over night.

“Staff inclusion has been and continues to be close to my heart. It is essential that we have channels through which our staff can voice their opinions. These channels are probably not being used as effectively as they could be, but I am sure that we are making progress all the time,” Vainio says.
Vainio emphasises that employees must have an opportunity to voice their opinion on matters that concern them before any decisions are made. They must be included in the preparation process at a sufficiently early stage. The Emergency Response Centre Agency has created the ‘Johdamme Paremmin’ (we lead better) operating model which is used to develop leadership continually.

“Supervisors must first and foremost manage people to make progress. We have to realise that even though our performance targets are about things, we can only reach them by managing people, not just things,” Vainio says.

“As I often say, what matters is the direction we take, that is to say, we need to keep moving forward in a better direction. Changes seem to happen slowly when you are in the thick of them, but we can often see in hindsight that things actually changed quite quickly,” Vainio says.

Streamlining needed

Government organisations are currently preparing productivity programmes. The administrative branch of the Ministry of the Interior together with the administrative branches of the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice got away with lower savings targets than the administrative branches of other ministries. This is a sign of the current international political situation that requires ensuring overall security.

Nevertheless, the productivity programme will require increasing operational efficiency in the coming years at the Emergency Response Centre Agency, too.

“I strongly believe that with a good and analytical approach, we will be able to achieve the goals of the productivity programme while maintaining a high level of service. Again, all employees must be strongly committed to working together for us to succeed. Attitude may seem like an minor detail, but it carries plenty of weight,” Taito states.

According to Vainio, high-quality emergency response centre services will continue to be available in all circumstances going forward.

“I believe in our personnel’s genuine desire to help, and what could be more rewarding and respectable than participating in the saving of people’s lives? That is something we do every day. I trust and believe in our personnel’s robust expertise and willingness to help. The people do not need to be concerned: you will receive help at the time of need.”

The Government appointed Taito Vainio, MSS, MSE, to the post of Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency for his second five-year term on 27 February 2025. The term started on 1 March and will last for five years.

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Task prioritisation makes it possible to provide help in acute emergencies

Fri, 28 Mar 2025 09:08:00 GMT

In November 2023, the emergency medical services centres of the collaborative areas for social welfare and healthcare services issued revised guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks to the Emergency Response Centre Agency. The objective of the guidelines is to ensure that the tasks relayed to prehospital emergency care services correspond to genuine needs.
Whereas the previous guidelines prioritised speed, the focus is now on relevance. The reform is reflected as an increased emphasis on providing callers with instructions on how to seek treatment independently, rather than always sending an ambulance.

The correct type of help already in the first stage

The implementation of the new task handling guidelines was immediately visible, and the change has also been permanent. The number of tasks relayed to prehospital emergency care services has decreased, and the share of urgent tasks is now lower. This is consistent with the objective of the guidelines, i.e. directing the person requiring medical attention to receive the correct type of help already in the first stage.

“In 2024, the number of tasks relayed to prehospital emergency care services decreased by 93,000 compared to the previous year. The choice of not relaying a task is always made by a professional. Not being sent the ambulance that you wanted does not mean that you are left without help. Help is found in another form within the health services” says Branch Manager Ari Ekstrand.

Upon conducting a risk assessment, the ERC operator may conclude that the person calling the emergency number should seek medical assistance, but does not need prehospital emergency care. The staggered use of healthcare services (local health centre, Medical Helpline 116117, emergency department and prehospital emergency care) makes it possible to provide help to emergency patients quickly.

“Help is still available. However, prehospital emergency care resources must be allocated in such a way as to allow emergency patients to be reached quickly. This requires the assessment and prioritisation of situations and efficient use of resources. An ambulance must not be delayed because it is on the other side of the city cleaning a wound that could have been treated at an emergency room that one of the patient’s loved ones could have driven them to, for example,” Ekstrand adds.

Personnel satisfied

The changed guidelines have been welcomed by paramedics. Based on a wealth of collected feedback, patients are now directed to the right type of help from the get-go, overloading has decreased and job satisfaction has increased. Increased job satisfaction is also being reported by ERC operators, whose discretion is now emphasised.

“Carrying out assessments over the phone always has its own challenges, and there have always been cases of responses being excessive or insufficient. In the past, however, excessive responses were a clear challenge,” Ekstrand adds.

Changes in society are quickly heard on the emergency line. For example, the ageing of the population and the overloading of mental health services have contributed to increasing demand for social welfare and healthcare services. The changing operating environment also requires continuous monitoring and updating of operating models and guidelines.

“We are constantly working with our branches to ensure the best possible help in times of distress. We also closely monitor the number of complaints, and have noticed an increase in the number of complaints about emergency calls concerning prehospital emergency care. We take these complaints very seriously. That being said, it is important to keep in mind that in 2024 we responded to more than 910,000 emergency calls concerning prehospital emergency care, which resulted in 733,000 tasks being relayed to prehospital emergency care services. Of these emergency calls, only 64 led to complaints. This speaks of strong expertise,” says Ekstrand.

Customer satisfaction at an excellent level

A customer satisfaction survey conducted in autumn 2024 asked those who had called the emergency number to evaluate the service in four areas: speed of the emergency call being picked up, clarity of the instructions provided by the ERC operator, the service-mindedness of the ERC operator and the expertise of the ERC operator. The survey also included a new question concerning the customer's perception of whether they received the help that they needed.

“Most of the respondents (93%) felt that they received the help that they needed. This sentiment was slightly higher than average among those calling in situations requiring prehospital emergency care (96%). Those calling in situations requiring prehospital emergency care were also more satisfied than average with how quickly their call was picked up,” says Head of Quality of the Emergency Response Centre Agency Emma Paasonen.

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2024 in review

Thu, 13 Mar 2025 08:03:00 GMT

The year 2024 was a year of change for the Emergency Response Centre Agency. A new leadership system was introduced at the beginning of the year, which renewed the organisational structure and operating methods within the agency. At the same time, the Act on Emergency Response Centre Operations was amended, which made the authorities participating in emergency response centre operations controllers of their own data. The past year also marked the first entire year of operation under the new guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks. These changes had an impact on ERC operations.

Average time to pick up calls increased

Last year, emergency calls were picked up in seven seconds, on average. In this regard, we failed to meet our performance target, which was set at five seconds. Factors that extended the time it took to pick up emergency calls included the introduction of the opportunity to pick up calls semi-automatically, adjustments to networking times and an increase in assignment handling times.

The increase in handling times is explained in particular by the reform of the guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks. The reform extended the handling time of an individual urgent task by approximately 20 seconds. This was an expected result, as the reform focused on the quality of handling tasks at the expense of speed.

Another factor explaining the results is the increase of the number of social services tasks. The number of social services tasks increased by four percentage units compared to the previous year.

“The handling times are long for social services tasks because the tasks are complex and often linked to other authorities. The assignments also require the ERC operator to make several entries to the Emergency Response Centre Information System,” says Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency Taito Vainio.

Preparedness improved

Ninety-eight per cent of emergency calls were picked up within 30 seconds. In this respect, the performance target was reached. The networked operating model securing ERC operations during disruptions and exceptional circumstances helped us reach this target.

Preparedness was also improved in other ways in the past year. ERC operations and the related technology were secured, and operations in exceptional situations were practiced regularly in all our centres. A premises programme was also started in accordance with the performance targets. One of the objectives of the premises programme is to promote preparedness and prevent risks related to the lifecycle of technical building services. The goal for the near future is to move emergency response centres to rock shelters.

“Changes in the security environment are reflected in our operations. Emergency response centre services have to be provided in all conceivable situations, and the operations must be safeguarded both in terms of premises and technology,” Vainio says.

Prehospital emergency care reform reflected in statistics

The prehospital emergency care reform resulted in increased numbers of customer feedback messages and administrative complaints. In 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency received a total of 1,139 customer feedback messages, whereas the figure for the previous year was 1,014.

In 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency received a total of 91 administrative complaints. The number of administrative complaints grew from the year 2023, during which the Agency received 58 administrative complaints. Most of the administrative complaints and feedback messages concerned prehospital emergency care tasks.

“Changes will always elicit feelings, both positive and negative. In other words, we were prepared for this. However, the number of complaints and feedback messages in relation to the total number of emergency calls amount to a very low percentage of a few parts per thousand,” Vainio says.

The complaints primarily concern events where the complainant was denied the desired type of assistance, felt that the time it took for help to arrive was too long or felt that the behaviour of the ERC operator during the call was inappropriate. Most typically, the decisions made on administrative complaints stated that the matter did not give cause to further action within the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Personnel situation improved

Each ERC operator received 6,010 emergency calls on average, whereas the figure for the previous year was 6,670. In addition to a reduction in emergency calls, the work load was reduced due to successful recruitment, the networked operating model and the reduction in absences due to illness.

In 2024, the number of working days missed due to illness was 14.5 per employee compared to 15.6 in the previous year. On-call personnel were absent due to illness for 16.2 working days per person (2023: 17.7) and administrative personnel were absent due to illness for 7.7 working days per person (2023: 7.0).

The number of staff remained roughly the same as the previous year. At the end of 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency had 619 employees, accruing 604 person-workyears due to part-time contracts.

“Over the course of the year, we piloted peer support instructor activities aimed at improving the defusing of psychosocial stress pre-emptively and locally. We also focused on supervisor work by offering individual coaching, and all of the staff were provided the opportunity to attend work supervision,” Vainio says.

Customer satisfaction and confidence remain high

According to a customer satisfaction survey, Finns are satisfied with the 112 service they receive. According to the survey conducted in autumn 2024, customers were especially satisfied with the speed at which emergency calls were picked up (4.52) and the clarity of the instructions provided by ERC operators (4.47). The percentage of customers who felt that they received help after calling 112 was 93%.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency placed third in the Reputation&Trust survey last year. In the survey, the agency was awarded a score of 3.84, while the target score is 3.5. When it comes to the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the component of reputation that citizens rated as the best was responsibility. The survey covered 82 public sector organisations.

“We are glad that confidence and customer satisfaction have remained strong. The professionals at the emergency response centres are doing meaningful work and their professional skills can be trusted in times of distress. We make the effort every day to provide high-quality emergency response centre services to customers in all circumstances,” Vainio says.

Summary of the financial statements. (Financial statements only available in Finnish.)

News about operative figures.

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Record number of emergency calls interpreted

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 08:30:00 GMT

According to market research company Taloustutkimus, the share of immigrants within the population of Finland is currently at 11 per cent, and immigrants are practically the only population group in the country that is growing at the moment. This has translated to emergency calls, the interpretation of which has increased rapidly over the past five years.

According to Development Manager Tommi Hopearuoho at the Emergency Response Centre Agency, most foreign-language calls can be handled thanks to the professionalism and language proficiency of the emergency response centre (ERC) operators. If no shared language with the caller can be found, the ERC operator may use an interpreter.

Interpretation is an external additional service offered by the Emergency Response Centre Agency for the purpose of improving equality. The Emergency Response Centre Agency has been using interpretation services since 2013.

Number of interpreted calls increased by 40% within 12 months

In 2024, 1,469 emergency calls were interpreted, which is nearly 40 per cent more than in 2023 (1,056 calls). The number of emergency calls interpreted during the calendar year has nearly doubled every year during the five-year period under review.

There were a total of 37 interpreted languages last year (29 in 2023). The number has increased steadily since 2020, at which time there were 15 languages interpreted. Last year, most calls were interpreted in Russian (594), Ukrainian (371) and Arabic (78). New languages appearing in the statistics included Soninke (3), Lingala (1) and Kinyarwanda (1).

“Both domestic and international phenomena are usually reflected in emergency calls, and this is also evident in interpreted emergency calls. Ukrainian, for example, did not appear among interpreted languages in the previous decade at all, but has now grown to be the second largest language,” Hopearuoho says.

Interpreter connected to emergency line

According to Tommi Hopearuoho, the interpreting service is available to the Emergency Response Centre Agency around the clock.

“During emergency calls requiring interpretation, the ERC operator tries to first determine what language the caller is speaking. It is not always an easy task, and can take time. After this, the ERC operator will contact the interpreting service and an interpreter for the language in question will be added onto the same call with the caller and the ERC operator.”

The fastest way to receive help is to have someone with the ability to communicate in Finnish, Swedish or English present. Children of immigrant families attending school often speak Finnish or at least English, and can help in providing information.

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Statistics on the emergency number 112

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 06:28:00 GMT

Last year, emergency response centres processed approximately 2,792,600 calls (3,030,600 in 2023).

“The total number of calls taken declined by eight per cent compared to the previous year. The decline was due to a fault occurring in Android phones in late 2023, which caused the phones to make automatic emergency calls. The fault was corrected in the same year,” says Quality Manager Emma Paasonen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

According to Paasonen, the development in the number of emergency calls has been variable over the past eight years. In 2020–2021, the number of calls declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by an upward trend again in 2022. Over a period of review of seven years, the number of emergency calls was highest in 2023 and lowest in 2024.

Calls picked up in 7 seconds

The operations of emergency response centres are secured through a networked operating model e.g. during peak times. Ten per cent of emergency calls were processed by using the networked operating model (the same figure for 2023 was 13%), and 90% (87%) of emergency calls were processed by the caller’s primary emergency response centre. On average, emergency calls were picked up in seven seconds (four seconds in 2023).

“Emergency calls are automatically connected to the local emergency response centre, but after a certain waiting period, calls are automatically transferred to an available emergency response centre operator in another ERC,” Paasonen specifies.

Number of tasks passed on to prehospital emergency care services took a downward turn

Emergency calls led to 1,412,700 tasks passed on to authorities (1,501,100). The number of tasks passed on to authorities declined by six per cent compared to the previous year. Of the total tasks, 52% were passed on to prehospital emergency care services, 36% to the police and 7% to emergency social services. The remaining 5% were passed on to rescue and other authorities.

According to Paasonen, the decline in the number of tasks is explained by the reform of the guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks by healthcare services, which took force in late 2023. The objective of the new guidelines was to ensure sufficient resources for prehospital emergency care. ERC operators pass on tasks in accordance with instructions provided by authorities.

Roughly half of all emergency calls did not lead to a task being passed on to an authority.

“By conducting a professional risk assessment, the ERC operator may find that a given situation does not require authorities to be deployed. In this event, the caller is instructed on whom they can contact or what they can do to resolve the situation at hand.”

Malicious emergency calls on the decline

The total number of false calls declined from the previous year. Emergency response centres received a total of approximately 568,500 (815,420 in 2023) false calls that did not fall within their duties. Of these false calls, malicious and inappropriate calls made up 29,680 (32,800).

“We are happy to report that the number of malicious and inappropriate calls has been declining throughout the entire seven-year period under review. The number remains high, however, and each unnecessary call may delay help to someone in real distress,” Paasonen says.

Record growth in number of interpreted calls

The number of interpreted emergency calls rose to a new high, as 1,469 emergency calls were interpreted in 2024. The number has grown steadily since 2020: 295 calls were interpreted in 2021, 575 calls in 2022 and 1,056 calls in 2023.

Interpretation was provided in a total of 37 languages. Most of the interpreted foreign-language calls were made in Russian (594), Ukrainian (371) and Arabic (193).

Customers very satisfied

A customer satisfaction survey conducted in autumn 2024 asked those who had called the emergency number to evaluate the service in four areas: speed of the emergency call being picked up, clarity of the instructions provided by the ERC operator, the service-mindedness of the ERC operator and the expertise of the ERC operator. The responders were asked to rate the service on a scale of 1–5 with 5 being very good and 1 being very poor.

According to Emma Paasonen, the speed of taking emergency calls was rated the highest with an average score of 4.52 (4.60 in 2021). The lowest, but still good, rating, was given to the expertise of the ERC operator: 4.34 (4.46 in 2021).

The national 112 Day campaign week is celebrated on 10–16 February 2025. The week is centred around the European 112 Day on Tuesday 11 February.

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How to instruct different target groups in calling the emergency number

Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:12:00 GMT

General instructions concerning the emergency number emphasise that you should call the emergency number when you need urgent help from the police, prehospital emergency medical services or emergency rescue, social and crisis services. An emergency is urgent when people's lives, health, property or the environment are in danger.

Emergency calls are answered by trained Emergency Response Centre operators, who will help you by asking questions and providing instructions. Answering the questions will help the ERC operator determine what kind of help to send and how urgent the situation is. In other words, you can speed up the process of getting help by answering the questions. The ERC operator can dispatch help during the call.

People often call the emergency number even when there is no urgent emergency. Not all of the surprising things that happen in everyday life, such as a power outage, a rash, a stomach flu or a fallen tree, are necessarily emergencies. Because of this, safety authorities encourage people to download the 112 Suomi app, which includes not only the emergency number but also other safety, security and health services.

Encouragement is key when it comes to children and young people

Children and young people are often exemplary at making emergency calls, as they listen carefully and follow the instructions provided by ERC operators.

However, it should be emphasised to children and young people that making an emergency call is a courageous act. Requesting help can never make the situation worse, but not making an emergency call very well may do so. The caller does not need to know in advance what to say during the emergency call.

Every now and then children and young people will call the emergency number as a prank. Inappropriate and malicious emergency calls may delay the dispatch of help to persons in genuine need of it, which may lead to serious consequences.

Older people are not a burden

It is important to emphasise to older persons that you only need to remember one number in an emergency – 112. Calling a relative or friend first will cause delays in getting help to you. In an emergency, you should not think that you are burdening others.

In an urgent emergency, you need to call 112 as quickly as possible. A trained ERC operator will help you by asking you questions and giving you instructions.

You should always make an emergency call yourself, if possible, as you are best-equipped to report on your own sensations, for example. Do not hang up the emergency call until the operator gives you permission to do so.

After an emergency call, you should keep your phone line open, as the authorities dispatched to help you may call you from an unknown number to ask for more information.

Emphasise the single-number service to foreigners

It is a good idea to emphasise to immigrants and foreigners residing in Finland that there is only one number to call in the event of an urgent emergency – 112. The Finnish model differs from many foreign operating models, which may have different emergency numbers for different authorities and regions. In Finland, there is only a single emergency number to call when you need urgent help from the police, prehospital emergency medical services or emergency rescue, social and crisis services.

If you cannot find a common language with the Emergency Response Centre, you can get an interpreter on the line. Foreign language speakers should learn to say what language they speak in Finnish or English. This way, the Emergency Response Centre can request an interpreter for the correct language.

Materials for different age groups

During the 112 Day campaign week, safety actors and other parties, such as schools, workplaces, recreational clubs, associations and the media, can share valuable safety information about the emergency number and emergencies. In addition to this, every one of us can improve our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones by paying attention to small everyday actions and choices. By participating in the 112 Day campaign week, you can contribute to raising awareness of the emergency number, how to recognise emergencies and how to call the emergency number.

The materials aimed at different target groups can be found on the 112 Day website.

Edit 5.2.2025: Removed supplementary heading.

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Guide on how to prepare for incidents and crises now available in the 112 Suomi app

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:32:00 GMT

The preparedness and actions of individual people determine how well we fare when something exceptional happens. That is why it is important that reliable instructions are also available in the mobile app.

The guide on preparing for incidents and crises, produced by the Ministry of the Interior, was published in November 2024. The comprehensive guide available in the Suomi.fi online service contains a collection of instructions on how to prepare and what to do issued by various operators. You can now access the guide directly from the 112 Suomi mobile app, which already has upwards of two million users.

“Preparedness means preparing for incidents and crises in advance. Citizens should be prepared for long power, water and telecommunications outages, extreme weather phenomena, major accidents and long-term crises, such as pandemics,” says Communications Director Eriikka Koistinen from the Ministry of the Interior.

The purpose of the 112 Suomi app is to serve as a one-stop-shop for safety services and instructions to the public.

“Preparedness is an essential skill that we all should have. That is why preparedness instructions are an important addition to the services offered in the app. I encourage people to download the 112 Suomi app on their smartphones and explore the various services offered in the app. That is also considered part of preparedness for unexpected circumstances,” says Senior Software Engineer Sami Suomalainen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

The Suomi.fi online service offers the public instructions and services for various life situations.

“Many people want to be able to access clear information on preparedness in one place. Previously, this information has been spread out on different websites, but the Suomi.fi preparedness guide compiles the instructions and services offered by various operators into one place. Making the guide also available through the 112 Suomi app is an excellent update,” says Chief Specialist Terhi Tuokkola from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, which is in charge of the Suomi.fi online service.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s 112 Suomi mobile application was developed in collaboration with various safety operators. You can access the preparedness guide in the app by navigating to ‘Services’ and then ‘Instructions.’ You can download the free-of-charge 112 Suomi app from your smartphone’s app store (App Gallery, Google Play, App Store).

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The emergency number provides safety for children

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 09:37:00 GMT

Children are excellent emergency callers; although you never want them to face an emergency. It is important, however, that they are taught the correct use of the emergency number, just as adults are. The age of the child and their own operating environment should be taken into account in the teaching. The key is to reinforce the feeling of safety - children and young people are not responsible for the emergency; instead, they should call 112 to get help.

– The most important thing is that every one of us knows when to call, which means recognising an emergency. You don’t have to worry about knowing what to say on the emergency line, because the operators at the emergency response centre can take control of the call and ask the right questions. In addition to recognising the situation, it can also be a good idea to practice calling: a lot of people are not used to the idea of talking to a stranger on the phone, because everyday interactions are handled through chats and other messages, says Communications Specialist Patrick Tiainen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

It is also important to take social media, online crime and things such as the dangers posed by social media challenges into account when teaching young people about the emergency number. They should get a relevant picture of situations, in which they need to report an emergency. Reporting an emergency can interrupt dangerous activity and prevent serious damage. Reporting is the courageous thing to do.

Common safety instructions for children in an EU project

In 2024, the Emergency Response Centre Agency participated in a campaign led by Missing Children Europe, in which EU Member States were encouraged to provide information about the systems for helping missing children. The reason for this was a growing concern about missing children and the underlying causes of the phenomenon.

For Finland, the cooperation began with an invitation from the Children´s Fundamental Rights association. Correct use of the emergency number 112 was chosen as the focus of the campaign, since in Finland the disappearance of minors and other emergencies involving minors must be reported to the emergency number.

The Keep Safe campaign was created, during which material was produced for schools, a set of 10 safety instructions for children in four languages (Finnish, Swedish, English, Sámi) was put together, teachers were supported in giving 112-themed lessons, and school visits were carried out. The campaign cooperated with the Safe City (“Turvallinen kaupunki”) project in Vaasa, which piloted safety lessons, as well as the Sámi Parliament, which helped bring safety instructions in the Sámi language to schools in the north.

– The campaign reached more than 20,000 children and young people. During the preparation of the final report of the campaign, it has become clear that safety work among children and young people needs to continue and be developed further. Many teachers said that they felt unsure about topics related to the emergency number, but providing ready-made teaching material and a preparatory lesson was seen as a good way to increase readiness for a 112-themed lesson, Tiainen says.

A survey was also conducted in conjunction with the safety lessons related to the campaign; it revealed that many children believe that only adults can call the emergency number 112. This, too, shows how important it is to provide information about safety even among the youngest children.

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Emergency number emphasised in different ways to different target groups

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 07:19:00 GMT

Awareness of the emergency number 112 is extremely high in Finland. That being said, various target groups may face different challenges when it comes to recognising emergencies and making emergency calls. With this in mind, the aim of the 112 Day campaign is to encourage different target groups to act in emergencies and to increase their understanding of Finnish Emergency Response Centre services.

The campaign week provides an opportunity for e.g. daycare centres and schools, workplaces, recreational clubs and associations to share valuable information about the emergency number and emergency situations to their target groups. Raising awareness requires all of us to pitch in!

Answering questions will not delay help

General instructions concerning the emergency number emphasise to the general public that you should call the emergency number when you need urgent help from the police, prehospital emergency medical services or emergency rescue, social and crisis services. An emergency is urgent when people's lives, health, property or the environment are in danger.

Encouragement is key when it comes to children and young people

Children and young people are often exemplary at making emergency calls, as they listen carefully and follow the instructions provided by ERC operators.
However, it should be emphasised to children and young people that making an emergency call is a courageous act. Requesting help can never make the situation worse, but not making an emergency call very well may do so. The caller does not need to know in advance what to say during the emergency call.

Older people are not a burden

In an urgent emergency, you need to call 112 as quickly as possible. A trained ERC operator will help you by asking you questions and giving you instructions.

After an emergency call, you should keep your phone line open, as the authorities dispatched to help you may call you from an unknown number to ask for more information.

Emphasise the single-number service to foreigners

Materials for different age groups

During the 112 Day campaign week, safety actors and other parties, such as schools, workplaces, recreational clubs and associations, can share valuable safety information about the emergency number and emergencies. In addition to this, every one of us can improve our personal safety and the safety of our loved ones by paying attention to small everyday actions and choices. By participating in the 112 Day campaign week, you can contribute to raising awareness of the emergency number, how to recognise emergencies and how to call the emergency number.
You can find materials, such as informative videos, posters and training packages, aimed at different target groups on the 112 Day website at 112.fi/112-paiva (page in Finnish).

How to participate

Theme day: Anyone can hold a 112-themed day during the campaign week, whether in the workplace, at school or during hobby activities, for example.

Public events: Public events may be arranged in cooperation in places such as shopping centres, pedestrian areas or fire stations.

Social media: Safety knowledge can be shared on social media using the hashtags #112paiva, #112dagen and #112day.

Advertise public events on the 112 Day website. (page in Finnish).

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Meeting a person is the core of the work of an ERC operator

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 09:48:00 GMT

The operating environment of emergency response centres is undergoing a change (Ministry of the Interior 2022a, 15-17). The ageing of the population, technological advances, the increasing number of social emergencies and mental health assignments, phenomena linked to young people who are troubled or do not feel well and interpersonal challenges related to multiculturalism can all be heard on the emergency line.

In her Master’s thesis, Senior Teacher Titta Lindholm, Emergency Services Academy, studied the competence requirements of ERC operators when meeting a customer during an emergency call. The purpose of the thesis was to describe the competence requirements and determine the competence and capabilities ERC operators considered necessary for handling an emergency call.

“In the interviews, many ERC operators felt they needed more tools for meeting the customer. The transition from an acute need to a prolonged and perhaps chronic social emergency requires flexibility. According to my thesis, the operators felt that the core competence of the job is self-awareness, which means recognising one’s own reactions and feelings. This was considered a concrete way to strengthen interaction competence,” Lindholm says.

Interaction competence improves the accuracy of a risk assessment

During the thesis process, Lindholm reviewed a Norwegian study, according to which investing in the interaction competence of ERC operators could reduce the time spent on risk assessment and decision-making. Overall control increased and situations were identified more accurately.
“In recent years, Emergency Response Centres have invested heavily in training related to the ERC information system, technology and risk assessment. In contrast, the study showed that some people felt they needed more training and capability in meeting the customer. In fact, it is important to keep in mind that the time invested in this is not taken away from something else: the ability to meet the customer in the right way is a requirement for situational awareness and therefore also the accuracy of risk assessment.”

The competence requirements of an ERC operator as a whole consist of sub-areas where the competence supports overall control. For example, any challenges related to IT skills during an emergency call may significantly impact interaction and even cause tunnel vision. It is a cognitive phenomenon that narrows down human perception and affects performance and decision-making.

“Tunnel vision makes it impossible to identify the customer’s situation, which can be fatal for the customer. Interesting research information concerning this has emerged, in light of which the significance of stress management and self-awareness becomes greater than ever. This makes seeking new solutions for cognitive ergonomics important in future,” Lindholm notes.

Changing customer relationships

While the change in the technical environment of ERC services is easy to see, it is also important to make the change in customer relationships visible. For example, an increase in digital services and a decrease in locally accessible services can create situations, in which calls to the emergency number are made in increasingly wider variety of situations.

“Emergency responders find it stressful when the person making the emergency call does not answer any questions and just demands an ambulance claiming that they have the right to get one. On the other hand, the caller may be a person who is hard of hearing, elderly or speaks a foreign language, or they may be a young person following an incident taking place somewhere else via a social media live stream. All of these require a lot of very different kinds of competence. It is important to recognise the change in customer relationships so that further education for operators is targeted properly.”

A matter close to the heart

For Titta Lindholm, interaction is a matter close to her heart. She has worked as a teacher at the Emergency Services Academy since 2012, but her interest in interaction during emergency calls arose already at the Emergency Response Centre of Central Finland in Jyväskylä in the 1990s.
“At that time, the Ministry of the Interior launched a project that tried combining the emergency response centre functions of different authorities under the same roof. Operators with a background in rescue and the police started working in the same room. I started to keep track of the different types of interaction styles of the operators and how they affect the way the operator assesses the situation.”

“I was also interested in how the customers behave in an emergency. They don’t always scream and cry; instead, customers may also be paralysed or reluctant to tell about the situation. I paid more and more attention to active listening, situational assessment and identifying the situation accurately with the help of social interaction skills. Later on, I also got involved in developing the training. Meeting the customer remained close to my heart,” Lindholm says.

The Emergency Services Academy currently has applications open for the Emergency Response Centre Operator degree programme. The application period for the degree programme starting in August 2025 (course 47) will be open until 10 January 2025.

What is Lindholm's message to those who are thinking about finding a new profession?

“It is essential that you learn about what kind of job you are seeking. This job isn’t just about answering the phone, which is what you sometimes hear. An ERC operator must be able to handle a variety of customers and changing situations over the phone in the course of their duties. The core of the work is being able to manage multiple events, such as using information systems and talking to the customer at the same time. An ERC operator must be able to manage overlapping events and tasks and apply the information they receive flexibly. The work is demanding, and the expertise and decision-making of an ERC operator has a significant impact on the assessment of people’s emergencies, instructing the customers and how smoothly official assistance can be provided.”

In 2010, Lindholm was awarded the PRO112 recognition of the Emergency Response Centre Agency for the development of interaction and customer service training for ERC operators. She has also been involved in several further education events for operators.

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Representing your profession at the Independence Day Reception

Tue, 03 Dec 2024 09:41:00 GMT

Anniina Takala received an unexpected call this autumn, when the HR secretary of the Turku Emergency Response Centre contacted her about a letter with her name on it.

− I remember sitting in the car to open the letter, although I had already guessed what it would contain. The situation seemed unreal. This couldn’t happen in my life, Takala reminisces happily.

Anniina has been trained as a nurse, and she graduated as an Emergency Response Centre (ERC) operator in the spring of 2020. Four years later, Anniina has received tens of thousands of emergency calls. The most memorable calls are related to fateful moments in life: a caller has found a loved one dead or intends to commit suicide. The challenging work has led Annina to invest in wellbeing, and in fact, Anniina has joined the team for wellbeing at work at the Turku Emergency Response Centre and become a defusing and peer support instructor in addition to the ERC work. In the spring of 2024, she was awarded the title of the ERC Operator of the Year.

Shared honour

Getting ready for the reception has included things such as finding the right dress.

− One rainy day, I walked into a clothes shop with my dog. There we were, completely drenched, when the salesperson came to ask if we needed help. I said that I need a dress for the Independence Day Reception – but I had no idea what kind!

This year, the theme of the Independence Day Reception is Together. Invitations have been sent especially to people who have contributed to community and gathered people from different backgrounds together.

− Even though it was my name on the invitation, I feel like I’m going there as a representative of the whole profession. It’s great that the job of an ordinary ERC operator is appreciated.

Working together to help those in need

To Annina, working as an ERC operator means first and foremost meeting and helping those who need help, but cooperation with other authorities is also close to her heart.

− In addition to meeting those who need help, I want to provide the best possible service for the different sectors. In the same way as I give life-saving instructions as clearly as possible during a telephone call, I want to give the alerted authorities as detailed information as possible about what has happened over the official radio. We all work together, Anniina says.

This is now the third consecutive year when the ERC Operator of the Year has been invited to the Independence Day Reception.

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It is safe to talk about self-destructiveness

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 09:23:00 GMT

On 10 September 2024, it is Suicide Prevention Day again. The aim of the day is to increase awareness of suicide and self-destructiveness and to reduce the stigma involved in suicide. Most importantly, the purpose is to inform people that suicides are preventable, that help is available for thoughts of self-harm, and that it is safe to talk about suicide. The Suicide Prevention Day was established in Finland in 2003.

Self-destructiveness is not a foreign topic to the ERC operators. Thousands of emergency calls are made to the Emergency Response Centres every year involving cases of self-harm or attempted suicide. The caller may be the person requiring assistance or, for example, their loved one.

“It is always the responsibility of the ERC operator to carry out a risk assessment and evaluate the current need for help on the basis of their assessment. For example, a drug overdose would be a task that is relayed to the emergency medical services, whereas the police is the responsible authority when the situation requires calling a halt to dangerous activities. Help can be delivered in many forms, but the most important thing is to know that there is always help available in an emergency,” says Tommi Hopearuoho, Development Manager at Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Emergency calls involving self-destructiveness do not always require alerting urgent assistance from the authorities. After a discussion with the ERC operator, sometimes the person in need of assistance is able to seek help on their own. If the need for assistance is more about discussion support, the person can be directed to call the Crisis Helpline maintained by Mieli ry, for example. The Crisis Helpline offers support in Finnish around the clock at 09 2525 0111. The number is also available in the 112 Suomi mobile application. The Crisis Helpline offers help in English on Fridays, 9 am - 1 pm and can be reached at 09 2525 0116.

Help is available

Studies in the ERC operator’s degree programme involve practising a wide range of cases and situations requiring interaction. Students also receive the capability to encounter customers who are facing a crisis. In their work, ERC operators get practice in dealing with many aspects of human life, and talking about self-destructiveness is not foreign to the ERC operator. If the person in need of help talks about their difficult situation and feelings of distress, the ERC operators will often ask about self-destructiveness directly. It is important that callers are honest to the ERC operators about their situation. It is also important to know that talking about self-harm does not increase the risk of suicide – on the contrary.

“It is important to seek help in a timely manner. However, in an acute emergency, you need to report the emergency and take action in accordance with the instructions of the ERC operator,” Hopearuoho sums up.

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Children are being taught how to recognise emergencies

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 05:00:00 GMT

The Missing Children Europe federation is coordinating the ongoing KEEP SAFE -project, which is conducted in Finland under the direction of an NGO called Lasten perusoikeudet - Children’s Fundamental Rights ry. The Emergency Response Centre Agency is participating in this project launched in April which in Finland primarily focuses on spreading awareness of the correct use of the emergency number 112 and hotline number 116 000 for missing children. When it comes to proper use of the emergency number, it is essential to teach children how to identify an emergency, and to equip parents and guardians to discuss the use of emergency number 112 with children.

− “Emergency response centres receive calls from children everyday, and there are special characteristics associated with these calls. A child’s experience of an emergency can be related to some unexpected everyday situation, such as a power outage at home or the family dog that ran away from the yard, in which case we naturally prompt the child to call their guardian. However, in an urgent case of emergency, a child’s ability to act should not be underestimated. Another set of cases consists of prank calls made by children,” says communication specialist Patrick Tiainen from the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Children have a desire to help

Many ERC operators feel that a child is the best type of emergency caller. Children are honest and will give direct responses to questions. The aim is to ask the children questions in terms of their age level, which is why the operators usually ask for their age during the call. The aim is to use simple language with children, and to leave out any official jargon and professional slang. For example, addresses and cities or municipalities are difficult concepts for children, which is why they can be asked to describe familiar locations nearby, such as a local store or school.

− “Language interaction is always different with children, and it is important to give it time and be present. It is important for the child to feel that the ERC operator is there to help them,” Patrick Tiainen says.

However, emergency situations are not the responsibility of the child. The task of the ERC operator is to be a safe and consistent adult who instructs the child or adolescent to act in the right way in an unexpected situation. Good interaction with a safe adult maintains the child’s ability to function, so that even difficult situations can be dealt with together.

− “When I hear that the emergency caller on the line is a child, I have many different emotions. I often ask myself where the adults are in the situation. On the other hand, children are energetic and honest callers, and by utilising the expertise of the ERC operator, it is possible to get a lot of information from the child about the situation. The child also acts according to the instructions provided,” says ERC operator Niina Sairila.

Niina Sairila graduated as an ERC operator in 2022, and as the topic of her seminar work that was part of her studies, she chose the interaction of the operators with children and adolescents. In 2023, she already responded to more than 10,000 emergency calls, many of which were made by children and adolescents.

− “The ERC operator is a safe adult on the line providing help to a child in a time of need. I am a mother myself, and this role has no doubt made it easier for me to encounter children and adolescents, and I have always had a lot of contact with children of different ages. But I know we have skilled and professional ERC operators who are not parents. A child needs you to be present, and they need praise and encouragement, so that they are brave enough to speak up. A child has a genuine desire to help, and you should not underestimate a child’s ability to act in an emergency,” Niina Sairila adds.

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New guidelines to help operators in risk-assessment

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 12:13:00 GMT

Last November, the emergency medical services centres of the collaborative areas for social welfare and healthcare services gave the Emergency Response Centre Agency revised guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks. The objective of the guidelines is that the task to be relayed to the prehospital emergency care services meets a genuine need. Whereas previously we prioritised speed, the focus is now on relevance. The reform is visible as a stronger direction for the patients to seek assistance independently, rather than always assigning tasks to prehospital emergency care services.

The number of assigned tasks has decreased

The implementation of the new task handling guidelines was immediately visible and the change has also been permanent. The number of tasks relayed to the prehospital emergency care services has decreased, and the share of urgent assignments of all the relayed tasks is now lower. This corresponds to the goal, i.e. directing the person requiring medical attention to receive the correct type of help already in the first stage.

“Prehospital emergency care should primarily be reserved for sudden attacks of illness, such as myocardial infarctions or strokes and serious injuries. In other situations, the person making the emergency call may be instructed to call the Medical Helpline 116 117. The Medical Helpline 116 117 is an advisory service provided by the wellbeing services counties and the City of Helsinki to advise citizens in sudden health problems, such as various painful conditions where self-care is not sufficient,” Sector Manager Ari Ekstrand says.

A proper use of resources is for the benefit of everyone

The grounds for renewing the guidelines for handling prehospital emergency care tasks include the need to make sure that we are able to reach and treat emergency patients and to support the staggered use of emergency healthcare services (local health centre, Medical Helpline 116117, emergency department and prehospital emergency care). When resources are used correctly, help will be readily available and when needed the most.

The change was also driven by the ERC operators’ experience with work ergonomics and how the previous guidelines for handling tasks served their needs. The change has also been evident in the ERC operations rooms. The processing times for emergency calls have increased slightly, and the operators now have the opportunity to use their professional skills more extensively to conduct a risk assessment.

Collaboration quarantees the best result

The Erica administrator for Inland Finland collaborative area, Pasi Ketola, says that there is a long process behind the change, which has taken into account many factors that contribute to the increase in the number of prehospital emergency care tasks.

“Prehospital emergency care still keeps being referred to as ambulance transport which you can just order. However, ambulance transport has evolved into a prehospital emergency care that should be targeted to those who need it the most. For example, the help required by a patient suffering from a cardiac arrest cannot be delayed because the prehospital emergency care unit is handling a task of treating a small wound that could have been treated in the emergency department where the patient could have been transported by a family member,” Pasi Ketola says.

The new guidelines for handling tasks provide more support for the operators in their decision-making in situations where a citizen calls 112 mainly because they do not know where else to call. The previous guidelines did not provide support in the same way for the decisions made on not relaying assignments, but now the instruction is to be more determined in directing those seeking medical attention to do it independently or to call the Medical Helpline 116117.

"As the number of tasks increase, it is important to direct callers to contact the correct unit immediately. This will help in avoiding resource vacuums and enabling assistance to reach the emergency patient quickly."

“The field is satisfied with the change. As the number of tasks increase, it is important to direct callers to contact the correct unit immediately. This will help in avoiding resource vacuums and enabling assistance to reach the emergency patient quickly. Above all, this is for the benefit of the person in need of assistance,” Pasi Ketola clarifies.

In order to be able to call the correct type of assistance, it also requires the emergency caller to have additional information on the task.

“It is important that the person calling for assistance answers the questions asked by the ERC operator. Only then can the ERC operator form an accurate picture of the situation and assign the correct assistance to respond to the task,” says Ari Ekstrand.

“You should not underestimate or exaggerate your symptoms during the emergency call, but provide an honest account of your current condition and answer all the questions,” Pasi Ketola adds.

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Non-urgent prehospital care assignments involve multi-professional cooperation

Tue, 23 Jul 2024 06:31:00 GMT

When receiving an emergency call, the ERC operator will immediately begin to form a risk assessment and an understanding of what has happened. The risk assessment is based on instructions prepared by the authorities involved in the ERC operations. They describe what needs to be taken into account and when it is necessary to alert the authorities.

If the emergency response centre defines the task as a non-urgent class D assignment for the emergency mecial services, depending on the dispatch instructions of the region, it can be forwarded to a nurse who will call the patient and assess the need for treatment based on the criteria used by health care and social services. Patients who are not referred to an emergency care unit, in other words an ambulance, can be referred to be transported to the hospital’s emergency department by other means or given advice and follow-up care instructions by phone, or some other health care and social services operator can be dispatched to the patient. In many regions, emergency care services work in close cooperation with home hospital care services, for example.

An assessment of the need for treatment by health care services is the most effective way to refer the patient to appropriate care.

− The ability to handle non-urgent assignments by health care over the phone also helps ensure that emergency care resources are effectively allocated to respond primarily to medical emergencies and serious injuries, Sector Manager Aki Ekstrand from the ERC Agency says.

For citizens, this means that after calling the emergency number, the caller may receive a call from an unknown number. You may receive a call whenever you interact with the emergency response centre, which is why it is important to keep the phone available after calling the emergency number and to answer any calls.

− The ERC operator will let the caller know if the assignment is being forwarded to a telephone assessment of the need for treatment, for example. That’s why it is important to listen and follow the instructions given by the operator. If the situation changes before help arrives or you are contacted by the authorities, it is very important that you call the emergency number 112 again, Ekstrand adds.

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EU project teaches children about the emergency number

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 11:16:00 GMT

Did you know that the European Commission has reserved the number 116 000 as the EU-wide missing children hotline? The aim is to ensure that missing children can be reported using the same hotline anywhere in the EU. Emergency response centre operations in other European countries are organised differently than they are in Finland, and some EU countries have dozens of emergency numbers used to reach different authorities. Calls to the single European emergency number 112, on the other hand, always go to the authorities of the country the caller is in. Because of this, the Commission set out to implement a Europe-wide hotline for contacting the authorities responsible for handling situations involving missing children.

In Finland, the emergency number 112 assists in all emergencies, including missing children. Emergency response centre operators are also trained in identifying social emergencies, and the emergency number handles a number of situations related to children on a daily basis, including missing children and runaways, as well as matters that fall within the scope of social services, such as assessing the care needs of minors. In an emergency, always call the emergency number 112.

Because of these differences, the EU-wide 116 000 hotline has a different purpose in Finland: It should only be used for non-urgent calls and serves mainly as an advice service.

Call the missing children hotline if you need to:

• ask for advice related to a missing child,
• notify the authorities that a child who has been reported missing has been found, or
• seek information about your missing child.

Being able to identify emergencies is key

Missing Children Europe is a federation dedicated to helping missing children, bringing together 32 grassroots organisations from 27 countries across Europe. MCE is also coordinating the ongoing KEEP SAFE campaign, which is being led in Finland by Children’s Fundamental Rights ry. The Emergency Response Centre Administration is participating in the project launched in April which, in Finland, focuses primarily on spreading awareness of the correct use of the emergency number 112 and the 116 000 missing children hotline.

− Although the emergency number 112 is the most important number to remember in Finland, the missing children hotline is also worth noting down. The hotline can help you anywhere in Europe if, for example, your underage child goes missing during a trip abroad. The number can also be found in the 112 Suomi app, says Taito Vainio, Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

The KEEP SAFE project will run until the end of the year and, among other things, offers teachers and guardians materials and training to help them talk to children about the emergency number. The key is to give children a clear idea of when they should call the emergency number. The ability to identify an emergency and report it is essential for getting help.

− Emergency calls are answered by trained and professional operators. There’s no need to worry about whether you have everything they need to know. The emergency response centre operator knows how to find the information they need, even in situations where the caller is a child. The important thing is knowing when it’s time to make the call, Taito Vaino explains.

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Absences due to illness decreased and job satisfaction rose in 2023

Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:17:00 GMT

At the end of 2023, the Emergency Response Centre Agency had 621 employees, accruing 608 person-workyears due to part-time contracts. The staffing situation improved from the previous year, when 588 person-workyears were done. The increase in staffing was particularly visible in operations rooms, where 60 new ERC operators were recruited during the year.

“One of our goals last year was to increase human resources. We succeeded in this, and I am very happy that we were able to increase the number of personnel in operations rooms in particular,” says Antti Koskela, Human Resources Manager.

Despite a successful recruitment drive, Taito Vainio, Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency, adds that there is a constant need for emergency response professionals. Last year, the rate of outgoing permanent staff was 6.4% (2022: 11.1%).

“The number of ERC operators trained annually has not been sufficient to cover the agency’s recruitment needs in recent years. Due to our age structure, we must expand the course size for ERC operator training to safeguard a good standard of service in the future. In addition, we are actively investing in maintaining our employee appeal and retention, as stated in the Government Programme. I am really happy that our outgoing employee rate was only 6.4% last year,” says Vainio.

Absences due to illness decreased

In 2023, the number of working days missed due to illness was 15.6 per employee compared with 19.0 in the previous year. Among operators, absences due to illness came to 17.7 working days per person (2022: 22.2), and the figure for administrative personnel was 7.0 working days per person (2022: 6.2). The slight rise in absences due to illness among administrative personnel was due to some long individual absences.

According to Koskela, several factors and measures contributed to the decrease in absences due to illness. Over the past year, the Emergency Response Centre Agency has invested in occupational wellbeing, coping with work, and recovering from work.

“Last year, we made further efforts to help our personnel cope with their work. We ran various experiments to improve occupational wellbeing, such as closer development between the Emergency Response Centre Agency and the occupational health service. We also introduced a proactive working capacity management approach,” says Koskela.

Proactive working capacity management seeks to enhance employees’ occupational wellbeing. The key is to identify employees’ strengths and working capacity risks and support their working capacity at an early stage.

Satisfied personnel

Each individual operator took as many emergency calls as in the previous year, although the agency’s total number of emergency calls increased by 4 percentage points compared with 2022. The workload was balanced by recruiting new operators and developing networked emergency traffic operations.

Work management among ERC operators also improved last year when semi-automatic answering and hiding the queue view became possible. Work recovery and defusing activities were also developed. The ability of new ERC operators to cope with their work was monitored more closely in collaboration with the occupational health service.

These actions were reflected in satisfied personnel. The results of last year’s job satisfaction survey were significantly better than those of the previous survey. The agency’s overall average score was 3.43, up from 3.25 in 2021. Improvement occurred in every area of the survey, but interaction, communication, work content and opportunities to make a difference saw the biggest improvements.

Aiming for inclusive leadership

The Emergency Response Centre Agency prepared a reform of its management system last year. The agency adopted a new management system on 1 January 2024.

“Our operations are founded on our knowledgeable and healthy personnel. The main target of the new management system is to enable better people management and thus achieve a more interactive agency through employee engagement. I hope that this will reflect positively on our occupational wellbeing and thus also on our 112 service,” says Vainio.

View a summary of the 2023 financial statements (only in finnish).

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eCall offers safety in situations where the driver cannot call for help

Thu, 28 Sep 2023 14:35:00 GMT

A vehicle is involved in an accident when all of a sudden, its phone system begins to speak in English – what is it all about? Recently, there have been several examples in the media of situations where a vehicle manufacturer's own emergency call system has activated and connected to the manufacturer's service and on-call centre. In such situations, the operator often speaks English, and if there is a real need for assistance at the site, details of the accident are forwarded to Finland to the international line of the Emergency Response Centre Agency. These calls are answered at the Emergency Response Centre Agency's command centre, which transfers the call to the regional emergency response centre based on the location of the accident if necessary.

Unlike vehicle manufacturers' own emergency call systems, the standardised eCall connects directly to the nearest emergency response centre. The voice connection can be activated when the vehicle suspects an accident, such as due to a collision, but it can also be activated manually. In addition to opening a voice connection, eCall sends a data packet to the emergency response centre with information on the vehicle's direction of travel, location, type and whether the alarm was made manually or automatically. This information is especially valuable when the driver is unable to speak.

− "If a voice connection can be established, a risk assessment of the call is carried out normally. If voice communication with the vehicle cannot be established, separate instructions have been defined together with various authorities," says Marko Nieminen, Director of the Operations Department of the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

The Europe-wide eCall was introduced in Finland in autumn 2017 in accordance with EU legislation, and the service became mandatory after March 2018 for type-approved cars and vans. Between January and June 2023, the emergency response centre received more than 1,900 emergency calls via the eCall system, of which approximately 400 led to an official response. In other words, about 1,500 of the calls at the start of the year were unfounded.

The technology supports but does not replace the professional skills of the ERC operator

An accident on a busy route may result in dozens of emergency calls before the first authorities arrive at the destination. Most of them, unfortunately, come from passing cars. If a vehicle involved in the accident is equipped with the eCall system, information about at least one party to the accident can be obtained through a data link and possibly even a voice connection. The other vehicle may have the vehicle manufacturer's own emergency call system, in which case an emergency call via international channels can be expected.

When receiving an emergency call, the ERC operator is required to evaluate the information given in the call, compare it with previously received information and assess its impact on the response of authorities called to the scene. Information can come from many different sources, and the ERC operator's discretion plays an important role in the assessment. The technology is helpful especially in cases where the person in need of help is unable to speak. However, various alarms caused by sensors or buttons also pose challenges to the authorities if it is not possible to establish voice communication with the scene.

− "The Emergency Response Centre Agency has a significant role in allocating resources to emergency authorities. For this reason, it is essential to identify overlapping and accidental emergency calls in order to avoid unnecessary false alarms," Marko Nieminen adds.

Because there are numerous services offered by vehicle manufacturers in addition to the eCall system, it is a good idea for drivers to check with the vehicle's importer where the vehicle's emergency calls are connected. In the event of an accidental alarm, it is important to wait for the voice connection to open so that the response centre is aware that the call was accidental and there is no need for help.

Technology to transfer alarms from vehicle manufacturers' emergency call systems directly to the ERC's information system without intermediaries is also one area of development and already the practice in some countries. In addition to cars, various automatic emergency call systems can also be found in motorcycles. The trend seems to be that such systems are being developed also for other vehicles that connect to the driver's mobile phone.

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The missing children hotline improves safety across the EU

Mon, 25 Sep 2023 08:00:00 GMT

Did you know that the European Commission has implemented an EU-wide hotline for missing children 116 000? The aim is that regardless of country, missing children could be reported to the same hotline anywhere in the EU. It is noteworthy that elsewhere in Europe, emergency response centre operations are organised quite differently than in Finland, and other EU countries may have dozens of emergency numbers specific to each authority. Calls to the European emergency number 112 may be answered by a representative of a different authority depending on the country. For this reason, too, the Commission has set out to implement a Europe-wide hotline for contacting authorities responsible for investigating cases of missing children.

In Finland, the emergency number 112 assists in all emergencies, including missing children. Emergency response centre operators are also trained in identifying social emergencies, and the emergency number handles plenty of matters related to children on a daily basis, including children who are missing or have ran away from home, as well as tasks that fall within the scope of social services, such as assessing a minor's need for care. In an emergency, always call the emergency number 112.

The role of the EU-wide hotline 116 000 is therefore different in Finland. The number should be used for non-urgent matters and serves mainly as a hotline for tips.

Call the missing children hotline when you need to:

• ask for advice in cases that involve a missing child
• report that a missing child has been found
• ask for information about your missing child.

Close cooperation between authorities

The missing children hotline was introduced in Finland in 2016. The service is provided by the Emergency Response Centre Administration. Matters that require emergency response are redirected to the emergency number. If the matter does not require an emergency response, the caller will be given the necessary advice. The hotline receives about 60 calls a year, with one third of them resulting in the case being forwarded to another authority.

A special group in Finland are minors who are in foster care or otherwise placed in another family and who leave without permission or do not return to their foster family or place of care. In these situations, the authorities work in close cooperation in accordance with pre-agreed models, and such cases therefore do not fall within the scope of the missing children hotline.

Although the most important thing in Finland is to remember the emergency number 112, it's also good to keep in mind the missing children hotline 116 000. For example, in the event that an underage child goes missing during a trip abroad, the hotline can provide assistance everywhere in Europe. The number for the hotline can also be found in the list of services in the 112 Suomi mobile app.

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Real-time text for emergency services will be introduced in 2025

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 06:10:00 GMT

Real-time text (RTT) in emergency calls will offer continuous, real-time, text-based, character-by-character communication between emergency response centres and callers.
The option of using RTT to place an emergency call is intended especially for people with hearing or speech impairments who have previously relied on emergency text messages. The service is available to everyone and does not require callers to register in advance. However, we recommend that people who are able to place emergency calls verbally continue to report using normal phone calls.

− Reporting an emergency by calling and speaking verbally is always faster than using text, explains Senior Software Engineer Sami Suomalainen.

The service is free of charge. To report an emergency using RTT, callers will need to use a smartphone. When calling the emergency number 112, the phone’s operating system will automatically give the caller the option of using RTT instead of voice.

When using RTT, each character is sent to the operator as you type. The operator can see everything you type or delete in real time and vice versa, as well as any typing errors and corrections.

− The purpose of this is to give the caller a sense that things are happening in real time when they interact with the emergency response centre – just like talking verbally over the phone, Suomalainen says.

Changes based on the Accessibility Act

The introduction of the new option for emergency calls is based on the European Accessibility Act and the associated Finnish legal requirements. The purpose of the Accessibility Act is to promote the ability of everyone, especially people with disabilities, to live independently as outlined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

− RTT offers users who have difficulties hearing or speaking a new important and equal emergency call channel, Suomalainen says.

It will become mandatory in all EU countries to provide an RTT option by the end of 2025. Currently, RTT is only available in two EU countries. Experiences using RTT have been positive, and the new emergency call option has not significantly increased the number of emergency calls placed.

Planning and design are underway

Planning and design work for the new emergency call channel are well underway at the Emergency Response Centre Agency. Technical design work and ensuring sufficient funding are scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The aim is to be ready to commence technical implementation before the end of 2024. The service will be available by the end of 2025.

Development of RTT will take the needs of emergency response centre operators and emergency callers into account as thoroughly as possible. The goal is to ensure that the technology serves users, not the other way around.

− We are still early in the development process. There are still a number of unanswered questions, and we don’t have all the answers yet. However, I believe there is plenty of potential, says Suomalainen.

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Emergency response centre operator awarded for outstanding performance

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 06:14:00 GMT

Poor conditions reduced the chances of survival

In January 2022, a man fell through the ice into a creek while skiing alone in the woods. The nearest settlement was about 15 kilometres away. The temperature outside was -5° C, and the temperature of the water was 4° C. Despite attempts, the caller was unable to pull himself out of the water. However, he managed to use his soaked phone to call the emergency number 112, and the authorities scrambled to try and reach him in time.

Throughout the rescue operation, which took just under one hour, the ERC operator stayed on the phone with the man and encouraged him to fight against the cold. Unclear location information made the rescue mission extremely challenging. It is nothing short of a miracle that the man was rescued in time.

Sirpa Moilanen from Oulu Emergency Response Centre received the emergency call in question. She still remembers the situation well after just over a year.

– The caller was alone in the woods in an inaccessible location far from the nearest public road. He was scared, cold, and he knew there was a risk of freezing to death in the icy water. I was his only connection to outside help, so it was important to keep him on the line. These circumstances made the emergency call extraordinary, and every one of us was committed to rescuing the person. I immediately received the necessary support from my coworkers.

The role of the ERC operator often remains unseen

The ERC played an invaluable part in rescuing the caller. The role of the ERC in emergency situations is often out of public view but in this case, the director of the operation wanted to highlight the role of the ERC operator who handled the call.

The incident was also widely covered in the media, which praised the ERC for its part in the rescue. Without words of encouragement from the ERC operator, it is unlikely the caller would have been able to keep clinging to life in the ice. While the operator was on the line, the ERC was also working to pinpoint the man’s location and direct rescue services to him. Without the determined actions of the operator who handled the emergency call, rescue services would have started their search in the wrong place.

– It was not clear at first which municipality the call was coming from, and identifying the terrain features described by the caller was challenging. However, we were able to pinpoint the location as soon as the municipality and area could be narrowed down. The shift supervisor in charge of the ERC's operations was extremely supportive and constantly relayed information to rescuers in the field while listening to my conversation with the caller. Rescuers in the area found a parked car similar to the caller's in the opposite direction, and this caused some confusion for a moment. I stood up and shouted that the caller isn't that way, Sirpa recalls.

Technology cannot replace professional ERC operators

In addition to being familiar with authorities' instructions for different types of emergencies and risk assessment criteria, ERC operators also need to have good people skills. The work of operators is supported by a wide range of technical apps and systems, but they do not remove the fact that in times of need, people need another human being by their side. Operators must also be able to accurately and critically apply and review the data produced by the systems.

– I've been doing this job for 20 years, and for the first time a caller made me drop my official demeanour. I felt responsible for his survival and felt I was fighting with him in the race against time. I tried to think about what I could say to help keep him warm and came up with simple exercises – move one arm first, then one leg, and so on. Once the search party was on the move, I told the caller to shout out for help a few times and then take a break. It was all about taking baby steps.

Sirpa stresses the importance of seamless cooperation between authorities in operations like these. Everyone plays an irreplaceable role in the chain of getting help to people.

– In this case, I felt that the emergency call was a success story shared by all of us. For myself and the entire rescue team, the caller is a hero. My role was to keep hopes of survival alive, to help by all means possible in the race against time and hypothermia, and to direct the authorities to the scene as quickly as possible. Other authorities involved in the rescue also exceeded themselves by running half a kilometre in snowy terrain while carrying medical supplies. Together, we fought to save a life and succeeded, says Sirpa, who was elated to receive the award from EENA.

The award was presented at the EENA Conference & Exhibition 2023 in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 19.4.2023.

European Emergency Number Association EENA

The European Emergency Number Association (EENA) was established in Brussels in 1999. EENA aims to promote safety and the development of emergency response centre services in Europe. The Association rewards individuals and organisations for significant contributions and achievements in promoting the emergency number, 112. EENA’s members include more than 1500 representatives of organisations related to emergency response operations in 80 countries, researchers, technical suppliers and more than 200 members of the European parliament.

Previous awards conferred by EENA to the Finnish Emergency Response Centre:

PSAP Award (Public Safety Answering Points) 2021

The Emergency Response Centre Agency was awarded for its rapid response in connection with the Kuopio school stabbing. The call was responded to in two seconds and referred to the police in under a minute. The police apprehended the perpetrator in just eight minutes after the Emergency Response Centre received the first call for help.

Outstanding Rescue 2014

In 2014, the Emergency Response Centre Authority and the Finnish Police were rewarded for their effective cooperation and successful rescue of an 8-year-old girl.

Outstanding National 112 System 2013

In 2013, the Emergency Response Centre Authority won the EENA award, presented by the European Emergency Number Association, in the Outstanding National 112 System category.

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Smart devices and automatic emergency calls

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 05:35:00 GMT

Automatic emergency calls made by smart devices have been the topic of public debate in recent times. For example, the calls could be originated by a function connected to a phone or cycling helmet, which reacts to a sudden jolt or rapid change in the measured speed. A sensor in a smart device can detect a sudden stop and interpret it as a fall or collision, for example. In such a case, the user may be notified that the device will initiate an emergency call unless the user cancels it within a set time.

New technology has been created to assist in situations where a person needs help but cannot summon it themselves. Naturally, one of the challenges is that the core task of an emergency response centre operator is to assess the risk and dispatch the responders specified by the authority in charge. If information cannot be obtained from the scene, it is impossible to determine what kind of help is needed. Responding to ambiguous situations requires dialogue between the authorities involved in emergency response centre operations.

− Some devices start by reading out an automatic voice message, which may provide information on why the emergency call was made. However, some automatic calls are connected to the emergency response centre like ordinary calls. If it is impossible to talk to the person concerned, the operators cannot assess the situation, says Marko Nieminen, Head of Operations at the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

Further development required to take advantage of the technology

The new technology has been deployed rapidly, and hardware manufacturers may not have considered how automatic notifications function within the Finnish safety authorities’ operating models and Finnish legislation. Furthermore, the new functionalities offered by smart devices also require users to learn new things.

− According to the feedback from emergency response centre operators, most automatic emergency calls from smart devices are false alarms. For example, users were unable to stop an unnecessary emergency call from being initiated. However, Nieminen says, there are cases where a person has needed help and received it thanks to an automatic emergency call.

When assessing the methods for making emergency calls, it is important to consider the implementation of the directive on accessibility requirements as an amendment to the Act on Emergency Response Centre Operations. Consequently, section 10 a of the act entering into force on 28 June 2025 states, “The Emergency Response Centre Agency shall respond to emergency notifications made to the emergency number (112) using real-time voice calls or text messages. The Emergency Response Centre Agency may also respond to an emergency notification made by other means that enable interaction between the Emergency Response Centre Agency and the person making the emergency notification.”

In other words, the method for making an emergency notification must enable interaction so that the operator can assess the risk and assign the task to the appropriate authority. In the case of smart devices, it is problematic if there is no voice connection and the risks cannot be assessed. The relevant government ministry is considering the matter further.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency’s official services and emergency notification channels are conventional emergency calls, emergency text messages, eCalls and the Emergency Call in Sign Language service, which is available in the 112Suomi app. eCall is an emergency message service used in the event of a traffic accident to transmit information about the type and location of the vehicle to the emergency response centre when a voice connection is established between the vehicle and the emergency response centre. In the event of an accident, eCall sends a data package to the ERC containing information about, for example, the direction of travel of the vehicle in the accident, the type of vehicle and also whether the call was placed manually or automatically.

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Medical helpline 116117 or emergency number 112 – which should I call?

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 10:00:00 GMT

The medical helpline 116117 is an advisory service organised by wellbeing services counties that provides instruction on sudden health problems. You should call the medical helpline before going to the emergency room. In the medical helpline, healthcare professionals will tell you if the situation requires a visit to the emergency room. If self-care at home is sufficient, you will also receive reliable home care instructions.

“In a life-threatening situation, you should always call the emergency number. These include, for example, severe chest pain, difficulties breathing, unconsciousness, symptoms of paralysis or sudden convulsions. You should call 112 in all these situations,” says Ari Ekstrand, Head of Division at the Emergency Response Centre Agency.

The general medical helpline assists in all situations that are urgent but not actual emergencies. These include aches and pains that cannot be treated at home. If the medical helpline devices that the situation requires emergency medical services, the caller can be instructed to call the emergency number. In some regions, the call can also be transferred, in which case it is important for the caller to stay on the line until the call has been picked up by the emergency response centre. In any situation, it is important to listen and follow the instructions given.

Learn to identify what is an emergency

As services become more diverse, it is important to keep the most important thing in mind: in case of an emergency, you should immediately call the emergency number. If the situation is not an emergency but it is a sudden health problem, you should call the medical helpline. If, after a risk assessment, the emergency response centre operator instructs you to call the medical helpline, this means that the operator has evaluated that non-emergency care is the best help in the situation, such as an assessment of the need for urgent care or the emergency room. This does not mean that you are denied access to treatment, but simply that the situation does not require alerting emergency medical care. Emergency care should primarily be reserved for serious injuries and accidents.

- The 112Suomi mobile app has an extensive range of services and a wide range of emergency numbers. Be sure to activate the app after downloading it and familiarise yourself with the services beforehand. Launching the app does not automatically open an emergency call to the response centre,” Ekstrand says.

The medical helpline is available 24/7 in urgent health problems. There are regional differences in how the medical helpline operates. Check the instructions for your region on the webpage for the meidical helpline.

Medical helpline 116117 provides advice on sudden health problems, information about out-of-hours services and referrals to social services.

Emergency number 112 assists in emergencies for which you need urgent assistance from the authorities (police, paramedics, fire department, social services).

Call 112 if you know or suspect that somebody’s life, health or property or the environment is threatened or in danger

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Victim Support Finland now available in the 112 Suomi app services

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 06:14:00 GMT

According to Arttu Perttula, Director of the Development Department of the Emergency Response Centre Agency, nearly 3 million emergency calls are made to the emergency number every year, about a quarter of which are not meant to be handled by the ERC. Erroneous calls are primarily calls in which the caller was not aware of other help channels or instructions. In an emergency or problem situation, it is important that the person does not feel that they are left without help. However, the best help is often something other than the emergency number 112.

– It’s great that there are different emergency numbers for non-urgent service, such as providing conversational help and support. They save the resources of the public safety authorities for urgent emergencies, which means that help is needed from the authorities. The number of the national Victim Support Finland is a significant addition to the app. With the help of 112 Suomi, we offer a variety of public safety services through a single platform, and thus aim to reduce the number of erroneous calls to the emergency number, says Perttula.

Victim Support Finland (RIKU) offers victims of crime the opportunity to talk to a person who understands what it can mean to be a crime victim.

– Victims of crime, their loved ones and witnesses in criminal cases receive information and advice on criminal proceedings from RIKU, as well as the opportunity to discuss the incident. To us, it is very important that RIKU is now also visible in the 112 Suomi app, as it provides more and more victims with information about our service. The app is also part of preparing for more extensive criminal events, in which case it is important to reach people who have been victims of these crimes, says Leena-Kaisa Åberg, Executive Director of Victim Support Finland.
112 Suomi is a mobile app produced by the Emergency Response Centre Agency and developed in cooperation with various safety actors. Thanks to the large number of users, the app has developed into an comprehensive service package for citizens’ security services.

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