How do different parties prepare?

Security of supply means that society still works during crises and life goes on with minimal disruption.

Security of supply includes:

• material preparedness and stockpiling
• cooperation related to securing the operational reliability of business life
• protecting critical services and infrastructure in society.

Finland’s security of supply is built in cooperation between business life, the third sector and the authorities. The activities are coordinated by the National Emergency Supply Agency.

Read more:

• Security of supply in Finland - National Emergency Supply AgencyOpens in a new window.
• Tasks of the National Emergency Supply Agency - National Emergency Supply AgencyOpens in a new window.

A risk assessment is a survey of the risks and threats that society can face and how to prepare for them.

The Ministry of the Interior leads the cross-administrative preparation of Finland’s national risk assessment. The national risk assessment is used to describe and identify risks of extensive national significance. It also serves as a basis for more detailed risk assessments by different parties.

The national risk assessment is complemented by regional risk assessments. These are primarily prepared separately for each wellbeing services county. They include an examination of which disruptions and threats the given county must prepare for.

The parties use the risk assessments as the basis for preparing their continuity and contingency plans. The plans cover the tasks performed in various situations, for instance.

Authorities, organisations and other parties use the risk assessments and continuity and contingency plans as the basis for preparing for situations in advance. The functionality of the plans is tested with exercises.

Not all organisations have a statutory obligation for preparedness planning, but most of them make independent plans for continuity management, i.e. how to deal with serious incidents.

Explore risk assessments:

• National risk assessment 2023 - Institutional Repository for the Government Opens in a new window.
• Regional risk assessments (in Finnish) - Internal Security Portal of the Ministry of the Interior Opens in a new window.

Read more: Continuity management - National Emergency Supply AgencyOpens in a new window.

When a crisis ends, it is time for society and people to recover and regain their resources. In large-scale and long-term crises, the task of the authorities and decision-makers is to stabilise the situation and carry out after-care after the crisis has ended.

The authorities and other societal actors interpret what has happened and describe the changes brought about by the crisis. This helps people to settle in the previous or new normal situation.

To prepare for new crisis situations, the authorities collect and assess the population’s experiences of the situation.

In Finland, the Ministry of the Interior regularly follows what people think about society using the Sentimentti data toolOpens in a new window..

The Sentimentti survey is used to collect research data on issues such as people’s preparedness, safety and sense of security. The authorities can use the obtained data to direct services and information to the population groups that need them the most.

Parties representing different fields and state administrative branches also carry out their own studies.

The special expertise of NGOs related to crises include

• emergency response, psychosocial support and provision of assisting services
• promptly mobilising their volunteers to assist with official efforts
• distribution of emergency aid
• coordination of work to protect humans in support of authorities
• training volunteers for tasks
• support for the professionals involved in managing the crisis.

In addition to organisations, local volunteering activities include discussion platforms for neighbourhood residents on social media, lending goods in local communities, or organising joint activities and helping others in a residential area.

Religious communities contribute to strengthening and maintaining the wellbeing and sense of community among the population. During crises, they help people cope with stressful and upsetting experiences.

The continuation of religious communities is safeguarded in all situations in the same way as other important basic functions that support people’s lives.

• Religious communities can be a source of emotional and material support.
• The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has a statutory obligation to prepare for crisis situations.
• The Church must safeguard spiritual activity and provide church social work services as well as emotional support.
• Parishes are responsible for maintaining cemeteries.

Companies and employers

• draw up preparedness plans for their operations during incidents and crises
• make sure that employees are familiar with the instructions on how to deal with incidents
• guide how workplace safety risks can be reduced
• can train employees in preparedness matters and offer training on topics such as first aid and first-aid firefighting
• are responsible for meeting their statutory security of supply obligations if imposed
• carry out voluntary preparedness and readiness work if they so wish.

Various incidents may prevent access to the workplace or make it difficult to work.

• Traffic may be interrupted due to weather conditions, a power cut or a network failure, for example.
• A telecommunication failure can make it impossible to perform a job that relies on internet connections.

Employers provide their employees with instructions on how to work when something extraordinary happens. Joint exercises at the workplace provide certainty and routines for dealing with incidents.

You will be better prepared when you

• find out what kind of instructions your employer has for dealing with incidents and exceptional situations
• think in advance how you are going to act in different situations.

If the incident or crisis is prolonged, efforts will be made to maintain the normal functions of business life and workplaces critical to society for as long as possible, with backup and exceptional arrangements if necessary.

• Public–private partnership - National Emergency Supply AgencyOpens in a new window.
• A guide on managing workloads during crises in sectors critical to safety (in Finnish) - Finnish Institute of Occupational HealthOpens in a new window.
• Guidelines for workplaces in pandemic and epidemic situations (in Finnish and Swedish) - Finnish Institute of Occupational HealthOpens in a new window.

Tools for the workplace:

• Workplace Resilience Toolkit - Mental Health ToolkitOpens in a new window.
• Preparing for Disruptions Tool - Mental Health Toolkit Opens in a new window.