SFS 6002, EN 20471, ISO 11612….OMG!, YADA YADA YADA…what is this gibberish all about?
Occasionally at workplace safety meetings you hear about SFS this and ISO that and might be wondering has this person lost his marbles. What is this word salad and why are they talking about this bureaucratic mambo yambo code lingo. Does the speaker think he sounds smarter and somehow well versed by doing this?
Well, I hear you and it really can sound (pun intended) like that. But not just quite. Constant acronym dropping is tiring and should be kept at a moderate level but these abbreviations do have a purpose.
Following legal requirements
Let’s look at the history. Don’t worry we are not going back all the way to ancient times of Mesopotamia… but as an example in Finland there used to be a problem with interpretation of the Occupational safety law that was from the 1950’s. Law stated that the employer needs to take care of reasonable safety precautions within their resources. The lawyer’s argument was then very often made after an incident “Your honour, taking into account our resources here at Plumbing, Dumbing and Pumping company we simply could not do more than what we did…”
So, nowadays wording has changed. Occupational safety and health act 738/2001 (Finlex) states that: Employers have a duty to take care of the safety and health of their employees while at work by taking the necessary measures.
Using Safety Standards in Risk Management
In other words, they need to take care of sufficient safety measures to prevent accidents. Here lies the challenge. Each task must be carefully planned, and the necessary risk management measures must be applied. However, this process doesn’t need to start from scratch every time, as a general procedure is already in place. Here these SFS’s & ISO’s which sound like a pop song come out handy. Safety standards provide a common set of minimum safety measures for each task. Like SFS 5900 which is the Hot work standard in Finland. It will set that hot work guarding must be done during the hot work and after hot work as well.
Each task must be carefully planned, and the necessary risk management measures must be applied. However, this process doesn’t need to start from scratch every time, as a general procedure is already in place
In case this time after completion e.g. of welding or grinding was not set it could mean anything at all from 5 minutes to 5 hours. So SFS 5900 says it must be no less than 60 minutes. Same thing with fire extinguishing equipment. Someone could argue that a bucket of water plus his personal 1,5 liter mineral water bottle will serve as extinguishing equipment so therefore safety standard will define this too by providing some feasible and real options like two 43A183B C extinguishers. Negligence on legal requirements could lead into sanctions like reduction of insurance compensation, fines or even imprisonment. So following some safety standards is also a good way to ensure that we fulfil legal requirements.
International Requirements and PPE
It is also helpful to cross check that your gear meets the local site requirements when going through the planning phase especially when a project starts in another country. PPE requirements presented by the client can include that everyone must wear for example high reflective clothing and to be more specific then they refer to a standard number for that. For high vis clothing this standard number is usually EN 20471. When we know the requirement we can check that PPE clothing has this label on it and you are good to go on that regard. These are also important for quality. One using protective clothing would want to make sure that it will really protect from heat and fire.
SFS 6002 recently updated
Requirements also evolve and are linked often to larger geographical areas. From top to bottom ISO standard is international, EN european standard and SFS is Finnish standard category. These are also developed more or less simultaneously. As an example Finnish national SFS 6002 electrical safety standard is based on the fifth edition, which was published in February 2025. The update was driven by the revision of the European reference standard EN 50110-1, released in 2023.
Are you working safely?
Working around electrical facilities and installations includes many risks. Do you know what you are allowed to do, which working methods to take and which type of PPE to use to protect yourself and others? You learn this and much more in our course SFS 6002 electrical safety.
You can also complete the Occupational Safety Card online: Join TVA’s Occupational Safety Course through this link.
Does your workplace require the Occupational Safety Card in English or Polish? Most of our online courses are also available in English, and some courses are even offered in Polish.
