Information on COVID-19 Investigation

The Government appointed on 3 September 2020 an independent investigation team in connection with the Safety Investigation Authority to look into the measures taken in Finland as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Government decided on the initiation of an investigation of an exceptional event on the presentation of the Minister of Justice. (Safety Investigation Act 525/2011)

The purpose of the investigation is to improve public safety and security. The investigation team is expected to issue recommendations on how, based on the experiences from the pandemic, the preparedness of society for this kind of very serious events could be improved and their consequences mitigated.

The investigation team will focus on examining the following issues during the period from 1 January to 31 July 2020:

• recognition among public administration and other operators of the need to address the situation, measures taken, and flow of information

• legislation applied in the situation

• preparedness for the crisis, contingency plans and other documents

• communications affecting people's safety and security

• consequences of the measures taken

The examination of medical care does not fall within the scope of the investigation.

Safety investigations are not carried out to allocate legal responsibility, so the investigation will not address questions of guilt, liability or damages.

The team will carry out its work independently and impartially.

Chief Safety Investigator Kai Valonen from SIAF has been appointed as Head of the Investigation Team.

Link to Ministry of Justice press release.

For any addition information, Mr. Valonen can be reached at [email protected] @KValonen

Updates from the COVID-19 investigation team:

• The Investigation team has started its work by determining the relevant organizations to be contacted.

• In order to build the sequence of events. First approximately organizations have been contacted and their leadership has been asked to tell from their point of view what happened from 1 Jan to 31 Jul 2020 and how their organization responded to it.

• All those contacted have been helpful and responded well to inquiries.

• At the end of November: 80 organizations have been contacted. 105 people have been interviewed - some interviews still to come. Information gathering still on-going.

• At the end of January: the investigation will partially move to the analysis phase. Almost all the necessary information has been collected so far.

• At the end of February: information collection phase is over and analysis sessions have been held. Conclusions and safety recommendations are being prepared.