Monitoring the healthiness of premises

As a rule, all day care service providers must submit a notification.

A notification is not required for:

• family day care provided at home.

As a rule, schools and other educational institutions must submit a notification.

A notification is not required for:

• preparatory education programmes that do not lead to a qualification.

The operator must submit a notification for:

• club activities
• youth centres
• camping centres
• morning and afternoon clubs
• open early childhood education activities.

The operator must submit a notification for:

• round-the-clock sheltered housing for elderly people, people with disabilities, or other special groups
• residential care (e.g. units for people with intellectual disabilities, mental health problems or substance abuse issues)
• mother-and-child homes and shelters for battered family members
• children’s homes, youth homes, and reform schools.

A notification is not required for:

• other housing services under the Social Welfare Act (e.g. supported housing where apartments are similar to normal homes and residents can freely choose the services they want).

The operator must submit a notification for:

• hotels, hostels (hiking lodges, hiking hotels, summer hotels, etc.), apartment hotels, motels and guesthouses
• accommodation units in holiday resorts and camping sites
• accommodation barracks
• furnished apartments, holiday homes or other facilities offered for accommodation (e.g. bed and breakfast establishments, dormitories, night shelters, reception centres, etc.)

A notification is not required for:

• transport-related accommodation in a vehicle
• holiday homes or other accommodation provided by a community, foundation or institution for their own staff
• student dormitories
• a private individual’s home or holiday home that they use themselves and only offer to outsiders for accommodation on a few weekends per year
• an apartment leased under the Act on Residential Leases (e.g. the landlord and tenant sign a fixed-term lease)
• short-term accommodation of individuals or groups in premises not primarily intended for accommodation (e.g. schoolchildren staying in school sports facilities, athletes accommodated in barracks or tents during a sports event)
• a holiday home provided by an employer for employees or by an association for its members, not available for use by external parties
• residential premises provided by an employer for its employees.

The operator must submit a notification for:

• sports facilities
• gyms
• sports halls and ice arenas
• sports halls (yoga, Pilates, aerobics, dance, martial arts, trampoline)
• group exercise facilities
• indoor sports facilities for children and young people and facilities for similar activities
• public saunas
• saunas as part of other activities subject to notification (e.g. sports facilities, accommodation facilities).

The operator must submit a notification even when the service is offered free of charge.

A notification is not required for:

• gyms or sports facilities available only to specific groups, such as hotel guests, apartment building residents, or employees at a workplace
• pool, golf simulator, snooker or agility halls or bowling alleys
• a sauna when it is part of a meeting facility and rented to small groups.

The operator is responsible for establishing whether any of the services they offer are classified as health care activities. If so, the operator must submit a notification of the activity to the Finnish Supervisory Agency(external link, opens in a new window).

The operator must submit a notification for:

• activities requiring special hygiene when provided in separate premises (may also be located in connection with a home)
  • body treatments
  • sugaring
  • facial treatments
  • foot care
  • nail care, including acrylic and gel nails and fish pedicure
• skin-breaking treatments, regardless of where they are provided
  • tattoos
  • piercings
  • wet cupping
  • acupuncture
  • cosmetic tattooing
  • injection treatments (excluding Botox).
• activities subject to the Health Protection Act and the Radiation Act
  • solariums
• other activities
  • flotation therapy (flotation tanks etc.).
• mobile business activities. In these cases, the notification must be submitted to the operator’s home municipality.

A notification is not required for:

• haircuts provided as ordinary barber and hairdressing services
• make-up services
• shaving services (e.g. wet shaving)
• ear hair singeing
• eyelash and eyebrow treatments, including tinting, extensions, curling and shaping
• massage and similar treatments affecting subcutaneous tissues (e.g. massage, cupping massage, neural pathway massage, lymphatic massage)
• dry cupping
• Hypoxi therapy
• electrical impulse therapy
• activities carried out in public spaces, such as a shopping centre lobby
• procedures that are classified as health care activities. The operator is responsible for establishing whether any of the services they offer are classified as health care activities. If so, the operator must submit a notification of the activity to the Finnish Supervisory Agency(external link, opens in a new window).

Even if a service does not require a notification, the operator is still responsible for ensuring that the service is legal, safe and properly carried out.

All public beaches, winter swimming spots, swimming pools and spas must submit a notification of their operations.

Notifications from facilities that supply domestic water differ from the process described on this page. Read more about notifications and applications related to domestic water.

The operations of inpatient wards in hospitals and health centres require a notification. The notification is required for the purpose of monitoring water system risk management.

Potential risks:

• not enough water points and toilet/sanitary facilities
• the building requires repairs
• lack of a hygienic storage area for cleaning equipment; premises or surfaces are difficult to keep clean; untidy premises
• factors in outdoor areas or their immediate surroundings that may cause health hazards (e.g. noise, odours)
• possibility of pests (e.g. rats, bedbugs)
• changes in operations or the premises
• extreme weather events (e.g. high temperatures during heat waves).

Ways to prevent and manage risks:

• the adequacy and suitability of the premises for the operations are regularly assessed
• up-to-date information on the building’s condition is maintained, a maintenance plan is in place, and necessary measures have been taken
• staff are trained and familiar with current work and operating instructions (e.g. cleaning plan). Compliance with these is monitored.
• equipment used in the operations is regularly checked to ensure it functions properly
• there is a plan for pest control
• potential disturbances (e.g. power outage, epidemic) have been prepared for.