Occupational accidents of Finnish- and Swedish-speaking workers in Finland: a mental model view.
This article is based on 2 studies. The aim of the first study was to examine the differences in occupational accident frequency between the 2 main language groups in Finland. Based on 3 independent statistical data sets, it was shown that Swedish-speaking workers had about 40% fewer occupational accidents than Finnish-speaking workers. The aim of the second study was to confirm the difference at company level. A field study in the province of Vaasa with 14 small and medium-sized manufacturing companies revealed that the accident frequency of Swedish-speaking workers was 21% lower than that of Finnish-speaking workers.
Department of Occupational Safety, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Vantaa, Finland. Simo.Salminen@occuphealth.fi.
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Johansson
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008606:Mental Processes; D008960:Models, Psychological; D016272:Occupational Health; D009790:Occupations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013028:Space Perception; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013548:Sweden / Q000208:ethnology; D013561:Symbolism