Fire safety and preparedness expert company Safetum will take into use a civil defence shelter in a Finnish residential building in September 2022. Technical preparations will be made for the shelter and the inside elements of the shelter will be removed. The aim is to get the shelter in usable condition in a required 72-hour time window. After that there will be a maximum number of people testing the shelter for a couple of hours. Finally, we will produce a public report with conclusions about the experiment.
Safetum has been inspecting and maintaining civil defence shelters in residential properties for over ten years. According to the company's risk inspection findings, 49 % of Finnish civil defence shelters are not deployable in 72 hours or the maintenance of the shelter has been neglected. So there are tens of thousands of civil defence shelters in Finland, which cannot necessarily even be used when the real need arises.
– The situation calls for action. We want to improve the preparedness of Finnish residential properties and the implementation of the civil defence shelter and the defence exercise are part of this work. In Finland, we have more than 50,000 civil defence shelters, and these shelters form the cornerstone of our society's preparedness. It must be said that very rarely are genuine deployment exercises carried out in these shelters. I believe that in many ways this exercise contributes to the Finnish culture of preparedness. With this experiment we also test whether our current preparedness guidelines and criteria are up-to-date and whether they meet the modern requirements of our society. I admit that I am looking forward to the experiment and its results, says Teemu Kajava, the CEO and leading safety expert at Safetum Oy.
By law, the property’s obligation is to maintain the operational condition of the civil defence shelter. The shelters must be inspected and maintained annually, and a wider leak test must be done every ten years.
Preparation can be improved through practical actions
– We are living in an era where the conditions affecting preparedness are changing perhaps more than ever before. That is why we are now starting a series of practical exercises. We will carry out several similar practical exercises of preparedness, fire safety and civil protection. This implementation of the civil defence shelter is the first step in our exercise program. Instead of accidents, residential properties should focus on taking care of their safety. By preventing dangerous situations, we can ensure that the safety of residential buildings can also be trusted in the event of an accident or crisis, Kajava says.
For more information and interview requests:
Teemu Kajava
CEO, Safetum Oy
+358 44 725 7557
teemu.kajava@safetum.fi
Watch our video about the topic:
Conducting a real deployment exercise in a civil defence shelter – Part 1
Safetum Oy
Founded in 2012, Safetum is a leading expert company in fire safety in Finland. More than 10,000 properties in Finland have already entrusted us with comprehensive management of fire safety and preparedness. Our mission is to improve fire safety and preparedness in residential buildings and properties. We inspect the fire safety risks of properties, prepare rescue plans, and maintain fire safety equipment and civil defence shelters. Taking care of fire safety is teamwork. With a reliable partner, you can avoid accidents.
