Safety Investigation Authority, Finland has launched investigation into accidental explosion at construction site at Laakso hospital in Helsinki

Safety In­ves­ti­ga­tion Au­thor­ity, Fin­land has ini­ti­ated an in­ves­ti­ga­tion into an ac­ci­dent in which an un­ex­ploded ord­nance, that was ig­nited dur­ing con­struc­tion work, ex­ploded on 9 Au­gust 2024. Two peo­ple were in­jured in the ac­ci­dent that also caused ma­te­r­ial dam­age due to loose rocks fly­ing to the sur­round­ing en­vi­ron­ment.

The purpose of a safety investigation is to promote general safety, prevent accidents and incidents from recurring, and reduce losses resulting from accidents. The initiated investigation focuses among others on the safety of excavation work in and around agglomerations and the clean-up process after blasting.

An unexploded ordnance was left at the Laakso construction site from previous blasting works.
The Safety Investigation Authority, Finland has among others investigated excavation accidents in the past in Friisilä and Matinkylä, Espoo in 2006 and 2012 respectively.

The summaries of the above-mentioned investigation reports can be accessed in the following links: 

Espoo Friisilä

Espoo Matinkylä

“The Friisilä investigation focused on the storage of explosives and the Matinkylä investigation on the general protection and security of blasting operations. It seems that the main focus in the Laakso investigation is the cleaning of the field after blasting. We cannot say much more at this stage. The investigation group will continue its work and we will get back on this later“, says Timo Naskali, Investigator-in-Charge.

On average, investigations by the Safety Investigation Authority take between six and twelve months.