matters and product safety. These observations can also be recorded by our partners. The HSEQ system is also utilised in internal and external audits. All our mills follow the 5S method to increase productivity, safety at work and wellbeing. The method is a five-step system for keeping workstations safe, efficient and neat. The steps that the five S’s stand for are sorting, setting in order, shining, standardising and sustaining. Among other improvements, 5S has reduced the number of falls and tripping, and the resulting accidents. Each of our mills has an occupational health and safety (OHS) committee which convenes regularly to promote the development of local safety at work. At some of our mills, we have also set up safety development teams to monitor the realisation of proactive safety work, among other things. Our personnel are actively involved in making observations about safety issues, and they participate in training focusing on safety at work. The focal areas of safety development Our focus in the development of safety at work is on personal risk assessment, the improvement of hand safety and the introduction of common safety standards. • The purpose of personal risk assessments is to prevent acci- dents by identifying any hazards involved before initiating work. • The goal of our hand safety programme is to halve the number of hand and finger injuries in 2022–2023. Hand injuries are the most typical accidents at Metsä Board. • Safety at work standards harmonise the operating methods of our production units, and everyone is expected to follow them in their daily work. In our development work, we invite all our mill employees to discuss and identify ways to improve safety and share best practices among all mills. We have organised personnel training on risk
KEY SAFETY INDICATORS
2022
2021
2020
Sickness absences, % of theoretical working hours Total Recordable Injury Frequency (TRIF) per million hours worked Lost-time accident frequency (LTA1F) per million hours worked Number of lost-time accidents (LTA1), external partners 1)
4.9
4.1
3.9
6.7
9.8
8.4
5.4
7.0
5.7
6
5
7
Accident severity rate
15.0
12.3
9.2
Accident severity rate, external partners 1)
22.3
18.2
12.1
Number of fatal occupational accidents 2)
0
0
0
1) Our external partners working in a mill area, excluding major investment projects (e.g. the Husum recovery boiler and turbine, board machine investments and the Kemi board mill investment). 2) Includes also our external partners.
The former subsidiary Hangö Stevedoring is included in the figures until the end of February 2022.
identification, hand safety and safety at work standards. These measures promoted positive safety development at our mills in 2022, but our accident frequency is still high compared to our target of zero accidents. Hand injuries were still the most typical accidents. Safety requirements for partners We ensure that our partners comply with the requirements of ISO 45000. All our external partners like cleaning and maintenance companies working in our mill areas must complete a safety induction before being granted an access pass to the area. Drivers of heavy goods vehicles, who deliver goods to or pick up goods from our mill, complete their own safety induction. We also organise regular safety information sessions, including safety talks, for partners. We investigate and prepare reports on all accidents occurring to our partners in mill areas.
Risk assessment reduces accidents
Personal risk assessment is one of Metsä Board’s focal areas in safety at work. The risk assessment project initiated in 2022 aims to prevent accidents at work, and it has already produced good results. The number of accidents has decreased, while the number of risk assessments conducted by employees has increased substantially. Employees conduct an assessment of potential hazards whenever they are to carry out a task that differs from their own daily work. This is also impor- tant in service or repair work and when using special tools. The assessment list helps them systematically evaluate safety to determine whether the required permits to work and protective equipment are in order, and whether any elements in the work environment or task may pose a risk of accident.
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METSÄ BOARD SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 2022
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