Over the decades, the TR meter has become a key tool for occupational safety, especially in larger construction companies. The next step in development is to bring it to the construction sites of small and medium-sized construction companies.
Construction accident statistics were still grim in the 1990s. There was also a lot of room for improvement in the industry's occupational safety practices and related general attitudes.
To remedy the situation, the occupational safety and health authorities asked experts from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health for help. Their task was to develop a practical and simple measurement and monitoring tool that would reduce the risk of accidents on construction sites, improve the quality of work, and monitor the development of occupational safety.
The end result was the TR-meter, which is based on weekly occupational safety inspections of construction sites. Inspection items include scaffolding, walkways and ladders, machinery and equipment, fall protection, working methods, electricity and lighting, site order and dustiness.
A simple logbook kept during the rounds provides a TR index for the site, which describes the proportion of safe observations among all inspection sites. The index varies between 0 and 100 percent, with readings above 90 percent considered good.
It is also the minimum criterion for many developers today.
Big ones ahead, small ones behind
Over the decades, TR measurement has become an established way of fulfilling the weekly inspection obligation, especially on larger construction sites. Large construction companies also require it from their subcontractors, and through this the practice has slowly spread to SME builders.
There is still plenty to be done, as only a fraction of construction companies still use the TR meter. This is also known by Mikko Koivisto, Chief Inspector of the Occupational Safety and Health Department of the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority, who says that the TR meter is quite well used in the SME sector and on larger construction sites.
However, the situation changes when you go to the provinces and smaller towns. During his own inspection tours, Koivisto always tries to remind construction companies of its advantages. He believes that the TR meter is the most important tool on a construction site.
"I have even advertised it on construction sites for single-family homes. I personally see the TR meter mainly as a checklist of things that need to be taken into account for safety on the construction site. The measurement results can be recorded on a piece of board, for example. When inspection rounds are carried out in the same way week after week, you can also see the development of results," says Koivisto.
Smoother cooperation with authorities
Pressure for change comes from developers and general contractors, but Koivisto believes that the most important factor in improving occupational safety is the general attitude. Most accidents are caused by random risk-taking, inadequate protection or disorganization on the construction site. All things that management and employees can influence.
“Keeping machines, equipment, fall protection and safety equipment in good condition and keeping the places tidy also reduces the risk of accidents,” says Koivisto.
The "scams" of previous years have certainly decreased with the change of generations. According to the Chief Inspector, attitudes towards official inspections have also changed. The previous confrontation has been replaced by constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation thanks to common indicators.
"Work interruptions due to accidents are costly for companies, so occupational safety is an increasingly important competitive advantage for them. Here, the TR indicator and the occupational safety competitions based on its results have been of great importance."
An important tool also for management
Keijo Päivärinta, who retired from his duties as Chief Inspector of the then Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland in the spring of 2025, was one of the strong advocates of TR measurement and occupational safety during his long career.
According to him, the largest companies in the industry realized the benefits of the TR meter in the late 1990s, when the inspection method developed for official use was launched in connection with the first occupational safety competitions.
"The TR meter was a long-needed tool for company management. There could be huge differences in occupational safety between different units in construction companies, but the reasons for this were difficult to identify. The TR meter helped us turn anecdotal information into factual information," says Päivärinta.
Euros were also an effective consultant, as improved occupational safety led to improved quality and productivity.
“With comparable information, occupational safety could be managed like any other business activity, and the results achieved could be tied to reward systems,” Päivärinta adds.
The meter reveals shortcomings
Peab's Safety Manager Marko Kilpeläinen has been familiar with the TR meter since the late 1990s. Kilpeläinen, who is a member of the Construction Industry RT safety group, believes that the TR meter has been a key factor that has placed the Finnish construction industry among the top European employers in occupational safety.
According to him, construction sites today are in a completely different situation in terms of occupational safety and especially public order than they were at the turn of the millennium.
"With the TR meter, risk factors are detected in time, deficiencies are recorded and corrected immediately. It is a great accident prevention tool, just like safety observations," Kilpeläinen summarizes.
At Peab, the TR index for weekly site rounds is set at 95 percent. If the index falls below this at any time, the performance drop will be corrected by the next round. The same TR criteria also apply to Peab's subcontractors.
“If we detect serious occupational safety violations, it means sanctions or even removal from the construction site and, in extreme cases, the end of cooperation,” Kilpeläinen states.
The future worries me.
Despite the positive development, long-time occupational safety professionals are concerned about the administrative reforms implemented by the authorities and the resulting policy changes. The industry fears that they will reduce the use of the TR indicator in official inspections and cause discrepancies in the interpretation of the results.
"In the long run, they will reduce the importance of the TR indicator. This, in turn, would hinder safety development in the construction industry, where the TR indicator has had an even greater impact in some respects than the development of legislation. It has set strict criteria for the level of the work environment and guided the activities of construction sites with a strong hand," Kilpeläinen emphasizes.
The safety manager is also concerned about regional occupational safety competitions, which, according to the Licensing and Supervision Agency, will no longer continue in the previous model. In these competitions, too, the assessments have been based on TR measurements.
"The end of these competitions would be a huge setback for construction safety in many ways," Kilpeläinen emphasizes.
In his opinion, the TR meter has been a truly significant development tool that has also promoted and intensified cooperation between the construction industry and the authorities.
"It would feel really strange if we went back to the old operating models now. This would not be of any benefit to employers, at least not at all," Kilpeläinen says.
A similar indicator also in the information sector
An occupational safety tool similar to the TR indicator is also used in the civil engineering sector. Its roots go back to the 1990s and the evaluation criteria for the infrastructure sector's occupational safety competition. The MVR indicator's criteria were last updated in 2017.
The things to observe and record during weekly inspections include work and machine use, equipment, protection and safety areas, roads and walkways, and the organization and storage of the construction site. The meter is best suited for sites where at least 50 observations are made.
The MVR meter can also be used in occupational safety inspections. The evaluation criteria for the official measurement do not differ from the generally used acceptance criteria. The meter's criteria exceed the minimum requirements of the legislation in some places.
Deficiencies that violate the regulations are identified and action instructions or a request for correction are issued.