In 2020, due to the pandemic, I quit my job at the elevator company where I had worked for 15 years. Once at home, from the first day I started writing articles about the elevator industries of countries of the world for the domestic elevator magazine “Liftinform”. I called my articles “Elevatoring Journey to…”
The first country was Finland. I was very lucky to meet two helpful Finns: Olli Vitikka and Savola Antti. These people answered my questions very patiently and only with their help I was able to create a very interesting article in two weeks. It was the first article about Finland that determined the structure of all subsequent articles about the elevator industries of other countries.
Below I will publish several short excerpts from my 2020 article about Finland.
Elevator is written in Finnish as “hissi”. In Finland, with a population of 5.5 million, there were about 65,000 elevators in 2020, or almost 12 elevators per 1,000 people. About 2,000 new elevators are put into operation in Finland every year, a third of which replace old, decommissioned elevators. According to Finnish accessibility requirements, if a building has three or more storeys, it must have an elevator.
Suomen Hissiyhdistys (http://hissiyhdistys.fi) is an association of Finnish companies operating in the elevator industry. It was founded in 1981. Olli Vitikka was the President of the Finnish Elevator Association in 2020.
The Finnish Safety and Chemicals Authority Tukes (https://tukes.fi) acts as a supervisory authority . Tukes supervises the activities of elevator companies through authorized inspection bodies that inspect elevators. In addition, Tukes develops guidelines related to elevator safety. In 2020, the elevator safety authority Tukes had only one (!) leading expert, Savola Antti.
According to Olli Vitikka, a representative of the Finnish Elevator Industry Association, approximately 2,000 people work in the elevator industry in Finland in 2020. There is a shortage of elevator electricians in Finland. This is mainly due to the fact that workers who know and can service old elevators are retiring. Only one state vocational school trains elevator workers. But there is also a private educational institution for training elevator specialists — the KONE Institute of Industrial Education.
During its life cycle, an elevator undergoes various inspections. A new elevator is inspected before being put into operation, then periodic inspections are carried out every two years, as well as inspections after modifications to the elevator.
The Finnish elevator inspection agency Tukes does not perform elevator inspections. Elevator inspections were separated from the activities of state authorities in 1996, and are now carried out by approved inspection bodies. A list of certified organizations is available on the agency’s website.
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