In Finland, Finnish Stoffenmanager ® has been offered for companies for about two years now as a practical tool for the safe and healthy handling of hazardous substances. With the help of an internet platform “Kemikaalivihi” (www.ttl.fi/kemikaalivihi, www.facebook.com/kemikaalivihi), the amount of registered users is getting remarkably high, as according to recent statistics, there are more than 600 active users per month.
To establish Stoffenmanager® even more firmly into Finnish working life, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH) has started high profile campaigns for promoting 
Stoffenmanager® for Labour Inspectors at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as for occupational health nurses and physicians at the Occupational Health Care units.
A training package is to be developed for OH units with funding by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. The training will include, for example, the basics of the exposure and risk assessment, understanding safety data sheets, etc. Making the most of the risk assessments performed by companies with Stoffenmanager® is an essential part of the training.
The main aim of these campaigns is that the occupational safety and health professionals should be able to interpret the chemical risk assessments done by companies, and take a stand on potential health risks caused by chemicals in more scientifically sound, but practically applicable way. In the future, FIOH wants to see all the relevant stakeholders (companies, labour inspection and occupational health care) to communicate chemical safety issues using same language of Stoffenmanager®.
Contacts: Milja Koponen: milja.koponen@ttl.fi and Arto Säämänen: arto.saamanen@ttl.fi
Interested in Stoffenmanager? www.stoffenmanager.nl
