Finland first among Nordic countries to implement the new ISO 17840 standard for alternative propulsion vehicles

A bus operator in Helsinki, Pohjolan Liikenne, was the first commercial bus company to add stickers to their fleet. The City of Lappeenranta then soon followed suit shortly after. Currently there are social media posts popping up all over Finland thanks to active firefighters and fire brigades.

By Taina Hanhikoski & Mikko Saastamoinen / CTIF Finland

The Finnish National CTIF Committee, together with its partners, released the ISO 17840 standard in Finland in early June 2020. However, the work for the publication began already in February when all necessary authorities, associations and other stakeholders were contacted.

Different targeted marketing campaigns are being planned with the goal to  have as many stickers on as many vehicles as possible throughout the country.

The approach to use fire trucks as an example for the rest of the transport sector has also been a very successful strategy in Finland - there have been several voluntary fire brigades who have put the stickers on their fleet and posted about it in their social media. These posts have been shared around the world, which demonstrates that the topic is global and there is wide interest in the topic of standardizing markings for commercial vehicles. 

The National CTIF Committee of Finland published the standard in June on its website and social media. All publishing material was distributed also to end-user associations; some have chosen not to publish it in their communication channels and some chose to do so.

Sharing information this way in the early stage was crucial in order to ensure there were no visible or hidden obstacles for the publication and also to engage these stakeholders and end-users in the process as early as possible.

In a statement to CTIF News, the Finnish CTIF says: 

"While the release has gone relatively well, we recognize that this is just the beginning. We need to keep the momentum going and keep ISO 17840 relevant also in the future... The work for making interventions on alternative propulsion vehicles safes continues."

Photo Credits:

Cover Photo (Above) Mikko Saastamoinen from the CTIF Commission for Extrication & New Technology, and also a driving force within CTIF Finland, is being interviewed for a social media campaign about the ISO standard national implementation strategy. Photo by Kimmo Kaisto, Pelastustieto-magazine