VTT and the cities of Southern Finland improve the safety of natural ice trails

Due to growing demand and numbers of users, municipalities are creating increasing numbers of nature trails on ice, which require maintenance. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the southern Finnish cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Järvenpää, and the municipality of Tuusula have developed unified practices for ensuring the safety of ice-trail maintenance workers and users. Regarding the safety of nature trails, the key feature to monitor is the strength of the ice, which cannot be estimated solely on the basis of its thickness. Climate change and its consequences are having a