One of Metsä Fibre’s safety management goals for 2024 is to strengthen safety management and the culture of caring. Employees are encouraged to take care of not just their own safety but also that of their coworkers and everyone else working at the mill site.
“Occupational safety belongs to all of us. We all have the responsibility to take care of it, just like we all have the right to go home healthy at the end of the working day,” says Pekka Koskela, Safety Manager at Metsä Fibre sawmills.
By stepping in, you show that you care
It might feel uncomfortable to meddle in a coworker’s or service supplier’s working methods, particularly if you feel unsure or are afraid of receiving negative feedback about your actions.
In a culture of caring, the goal is to make it even more natural to intervene.
“We are aiming for an attitude change. When we intervene in a coworker’s working methods or inadequate protective gear, we show that we care,” says Koskela.
More dialogue in preventive safety work
Operations at Metsä Fibre’s production plants are guided by the company’s safety management requirements. At their core is active, preventive safety work.
Preventive safety work involves regular safety rounds and meetings organised with supervisors and officers. Their purpose is to identify risks in the working environment as well as to go through safe working methods.
One of the goals for this year is to include more dialogue in the preventive safety work.
“The goal is to spar with each other, to have conversations and to ask questions,” says Koskela.
A safety promise is a commitment
Metsä Group has developed safety management skills with a new training package. In addition to production management, supervisors and officers also took the training in the first phase. In 2025, the training will be available to all production employees.
“We have carried out proactive safety work for a long time, which has helped us reach a certain level of occupational safety. Now we want to have an even bigger impact on our employees’ safety thinking and attitudes and bring about a change in their actions,” says Virva Juhola, SVP, Sawn Timber Production at Metsä Fibre.
As part of the training, everyone will make a safety promise to commit themselves to a new kind of safety thinking.
“In accordance with my own safety promise, I ask questions, listen and communicate about safety every single day. As the promise is a concrete one, anyone can see whether I am actually following through on it,” says Juhola.
Nothing can compensate for a lost human life or for damaged health. The fact that we take occupational safety so seriously tells our customers that we are a reliable partner in all our operations.
Virva Juhola, Metsä Fibre, SVP, Sawn Timber Production
Occupational safety is a value
Zero injuries is a prerequisite for successful business operations. The prevention of accidents also prevents unforeseen interruptions in production, which is a concrete benefit for the customer.
At the end of the day, safety work is all about the values that the company represents.
“Nothing can compensate for a lost human life or for damaged health. The fact that we take occupational safety so seriously tells our customers that we are a reliable partner in all our operations,” says Juhola.
