Organisation structure

The Emergency Response Centre Agency is an agency supervised by the Ministry of the Interior. The Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency directs and develops the agency’s operations.

The Administration and Support Services Department, Legal Unit, the Executive Support Unit, six emergency response centres, the Control Centre, Director for Preparedness Affairs, Development Manager, and Legality Control operate under the Director General of the Emergency Response Centre Agency. The Administration and Support Services Department consists of the units for Human Resources, Finance, Information Management and Systems as well as the ERC Development Unit.

The Emergency Response Centre Agency employs approximately 600 emergency response centre professionals in six different locations: In Kerava, Kuopio, Oulu, Pori, Turku and Vaasa. The agency’s central administration operates in Pori.

High-quality, reliable and equal emergency response centre services for all are at the core of our strategy. 

Whistleblower Channel

The Emergency  Response Centre Agency implement the internal notification channel by April 1, 2023.  The personnel can file a report through the internal reporting channel if they detect a violation of European Union or National Law in connection with their work. Other persons, such as retired civil servants or those employed by partners, can make a report to the external reporting channel through the office of the Chancellor of Justice. You cannot make a report anonymously to either reporting channel (Article 19 subsection 4 of the Whistleblower Protection Act).

The Whistleblower Protection Act applies to the protection of persons who report violations of the European Union legislation referred to in the Annex to the Whistleblower Protection Directive, its national implementing legislation or other national legislation in the areas of legislation referred to in the directive. 

Read more about whistleblower protection and areas of legislation on the website of the Chancellor of Justice.

Responsibility and sustainability 

As one of the key safety authorities, we want to take responsibility for providing emergency response centre services in Finland in a way that is as sustainable as possible – ecologically, economically, socially and culturally. Our goal is that the culture of responsibility and everyday operating models that support sustainable development are a natural part of our management and the operations of the entire Agency. 

The framework of our first sustainability report is the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 goals. Of these goals, we have selected three where we can make a difference, at least indirectly, in emergency response centre operations and as an organisation:

1. Healthy lives and well-being for people of all ages
2. Reducing inequalities within and between countries
3. Sustainable consumption and production methods.  

We are also committed to promoting sustainability, and we have published our own commitment to sustainability.

Equality and non-discrimination 

As one of the government agencies, the Emergency Response Centre Agency is creating a Finland that is equal and safe for everyone, regardless of gender, identity or background. This is everyone’s duty, every day.

One of the values included in our strategy is fairness. We serve our customers and each other fairly by respecting differences and diversity, acting equally in similar situations and ensuring that the principle of equal treatment is realised.

Our goal is to reach zero tolerance for all inappropriate treatment and harassment. In surveys on experiences of inappropriate treatment and harassment, we distinguish between cases experienced with customers and within the work community in order to find out how much harassment and inappropriate treatment occurs within the work community, and how much of it is experienced with customers.

Gender-sensitive communication  

The Emergency Response Centre Agency has made a decision to activate gender-sensitive communication, the aim of which is to promote gender equality and prevent discrimination. We also promote gender-neutral language and communication appropriately so that we consider on a case-by-case basis whether the inclusion of gender in various contents is justified or not. The topics, images and words of the Agency’s communications are selected consciously from the perspective of equality and non-discrimination.
 
Those who appear in public as representatives of the Agency are experts in their respective fields and part of the Agency’s management. We aim to present a variety of people involved in the emergency response centre service in the images; 112 specialists of different ages, as well as of different genders. The images reflect the actual situation and are not intended to create a seeming diversity.