Health and safety
The health and safety of Suominen’s employees is our key priority. We focus on accident prevention and building a strong safety culture. Safety is one of our key people-related targets, and our aim is to have zero lost time accidents.
In 2024, four lost time accidents (LTA) occurred at Suominen sites (six in 2023), and four out of our seven sites were able to reach the zero LTA target in 2024. There were zero (zero in 2023) work-related fatal accidents among neither employees nor contractors at our sites. Safety monitoring is part of our daily activities, and we keep record of all work-related accidents and near misses and identify their causes.
The coverage of occupational healthcare was 100% of our employees in 2024. Main type of injuries for employees are strains, cuts and bruising and majority are related to hands. Work-related incidents are entered into an internal safety system. Incidents are reviewed in safety and production meetings, depending on site, where corrective actions are discussed, including root causes and corrective actions. Information about incidents is shared across plants to foster pre-emptive actions. Hazards posing a risk for injury are identified as a part of safety walks and safety assessments, which take into consideration severeness and likelihood. Our health & safety management systems are audited at every site on a regular basis.
All of our employees are covered by our health and safety management system. The safety management systems are certified according to the ISO 45001 standard in all of our seven sites (the production area of Windsor Locks site is certified according to ISO 45001 by Ahlstrom).
Our safety work
Suominen’s safety work is based on preventive actions. We develop safety at the workplace according to the principle of continuous improvement and implementation of best practices. In improving safety, Suominen places particular emphasis on influencing attitudes, behavior, and operating models.
Suominen has implemented a Behavior Based Safety program that kept rolling for the eleventh year in a row in 2024. The program emphasizes the individual’s own responsibility for safety and focuses on influencing the attitude and motivation of individuals. The program includes mandatory safety walks on a weekly basis. During the safety walks, employees walk through the premises, identifying both safe and unsafe behaviors and conditions, and then engage in an open discussion with other employees. The findings are evaluated and subsequently, corrective actions are defined and scheduled, taking into account both urgency and a risk assessment. Regular monitoring of the progress of the assigned actions is conducted to ensure effective implementation.
Suominen has also implemented Life Saving Rules that consist of six basic norms that no one can break under any circumstances. The rules are available in all Suominen languages.
Safety is a regular topic in our internal communications and on local communication channels, such as discussion boards and info screens, as well as in internal meetings. In 2024, we initiated a safety campaign to remind employees about the importance of safety every day and encourage each employee to stop and think before acting.