Yle finds children’s health records at Lahti school set for demolition

Nearly a garbage bag of confidential documents, including children’s health and personal information, was found at the disused Kanerva school in Lahti, Yle reported. The city says it is investigating whether the records reached unauthorised people and will contact those whose information was found.

The documents were in folders on a shelf in the school’s staff room. The school closed in 2015 and is due to be demolished. A window had been broken, making the folders accessible.

The records included pupils’ health information, details of support measures and developmental delays, as well as personal identity numbers, names and workplace information. Lahti’s data protection officer, Tiina Häyrinen, said the matter was serious because the information included health records belonging to minors.

Yle went to the school after receiving a tip from a member of the public. The city had initially told the broadcaster that a few documents had been found at the closed Männistö school. After learning that folders were visible at Kanerva, Häyrinen went there to examine them.

Häyrinen said the folders appeared untouched and considered it unlikely that the information had fallen into the wrong hands, but said the city could not be certain. She said the city would contact everyone whose information was found. The city has not yet decided whether to file a police report.

The documents appear to be printouts or photocopies of originals and may have been left behind by mistake. Lahti began paperless case management in 2013, and electronic archiving started across the city in 2015. Häyrinen said the discovery showed that records at schools being closed should be checked more carefully, with material for destruction destroyed and records for retention archived.

While the Kanerva documents are being reviewed, Häyrinen also checked the disused Kukkanen school in Nastola, which is being demolished, and said no sensitive material was found there. Lahti has received further contacts and tips about possible additional cases since Yle’s report.