Recognition for active safety improvements

Active safety work is constantly being done at our sawmills. Cooperation among the personnel, proactive safety work and reacting to observations are examples of ways in which safety has been improved. Recently our sawmills have also received recognition for their safety work.

Safety is the number one priority at our sawmills, and we aim to continuously improve in it. The goal is zero accidents at our sawmills. Watch the video to see what our employees at Seikku and Alholma have to say about the safety improvements of the past years.

Alholma sawmill maintenance was awarded Timber Safety Award of the second half of 2022. An accident-free period of over a year, as well as improvements in proactive safety work, justified the award.

Seikku sawmill was awarded two UPM Safety Awards in spring 2023. One of the awards was for proactive safety work and the other was an innovation award for a dust remover system that has significantly reduced dust harmful to health. Both of the Seikku awards came with a prize check of 10,000 euros for improving the wellbeing of personnel.

Two sawmill employees meeting for a conversation during work shifts at Seikku sawmill.

The importance of cooperation, attitude and induction

To improve safety, it is very important to have the entire personnel involved.

“Safety improvement requires seamless communication between all employees”, says Toni Huhtala, Team Leader from Seikku.

The personnel’s shared attitude towards safety, and taking safety seriously among the personnel, is also extremely important.

“As a summer trainee at Alholma sawmill, I have noticed that safety is taken very seriously at the sawmill maintenance”, says Robin Petterson, Trainee, Maintenance Manager from Alholma.

The foundation of safe work is a good induction. Toni Huhtala has experience in giving safety inductions to new employees.

“It is important to never take anything for granted when teaching things to new employees, and to create an atmosphere where anyone can ask anything”, Toni sums up.

Read about UPM Timber’s customer promise Setting the Standard

Read our most recent Setting the Standard employee story

Recognition for active safety improvements

The importance of cooperation, attitude and induction

Listening and creativity are important skills in sales – Finn Nielsen retires after 33 years at UPM

5 ideas to copy: Innovative ways to use wood in architecture

3 trends that will change the construction industry for good