Helsinki residents' self-preparedness needs improvement – confidence in rescue services high

According to the latest Helsinki Safety Survey, only about a fifth of Helsinki residents are prepared in accordance with the national 72-hour recommendation.

The Finnish National Rescue Association (SPEK) recommends that in an emergency situation, you should be able to survive for at least 72 hours with the supplies you have at home. A safety survey conducted every three years shows that less than a fifth of Helsinki residents have the recommended amount of food and water in storage. On the other hand, urban dwellers are more likely to know the location of their civil defence shelter. The survey shows that the number of people checking their smoke alarms regularly has decreased slightly.

Helsinki residents themselves have assessed that their competence in dealing with different types of accidents has increased since 2018. Urban residents were more likely to rate their own first aid skills as poor or fairly poor. However, in the event of a fire or traffic accident, Helsinki residents are fairly confident that they know what to do. Residents of Helsinki are most confident in their own skills when they encounter an emergency vehicle in traffic.

Trust in authorities

According to the data, Helsinki residents trust the Helsinki City Rescue Department in matters of safety and consider the services it provides to be important. Confidence in the rescue services has fallen slightly since the previous survey three years ago. Confidence in both the rescue sector and other authorities has taken a slight downward turn in recent years on the national level as well.

Nevertheless, the majority of safety survey respondents still trusted the rescue services, with very few respondents expressing distrust. Of the services provided by the Rescue Department, rescue and emergency medical care services were considered important by practically all respondents. Among the other services specified in the survey, the importance of civil defence and risk management communications had increased.

The most obvious changes could be observed in preparedness for exceptional circumstances. This is likely due to the change in the global security situation since February 2022. Now, 56% of respondents were either very or fairly concerned about wars and conflicts.

Based on the results of the survey, it is important to target safety communications and training at younger age groups, foreign-language speakers and, in some cases, older age groups.

Studies at regular intervals

Every three years, Helsinki conducts an extensive questionnaire survey to gauge residents' experiences and views on safety. The latest survey is based on data collected between November 2024 and January 2025.

Helsinki residents were asked about their skills in the event of various accidents, self-preparedness for accidents and emergencies, and their perceptions of the Helsinki City Rescue Department and its services.

You can find out more about the results of the survey on the City of Helsinki website in Finnish.

Further information: Senior Researcher Arto Kekkonen, Helsinki City Rescue Department, arto.kekkonen@hel.fi