“Thorough orientation and prevention create the basis for a safe workplace”

Every quarry worker at Palin Granit will have an Occupational Safety Card by the beginning of 2023. The Occupational Safety Card (Työturvallisuuskortti) training is a course developed to promote occupational safety. The training covers e.g. orientation practices and risk management, with the goal of zero accidents. The course gives the employee basic information about occupational health and safety and teaches how to identify stress and danger factors in the work environment. The Occupational Safety Card is personal and issued for a successfully completed course and final exam. It is valid for five years.

On December 2, 2022 the Occupational Safety Card training was completed by 21 Palin Granit employees. By the end of 2022, every quarry worker of the company will have it. The card is not required by law, but companies can make a decision to expect it from their employees.

- There are many things on the curriculum we are all familiar with. However, I consider it important that it awakens people to think about occupational safety in the midst of ordinary work, says Pauli Salmela, Technical Director of Palin Granit Oy.

The course also covers the Occupational Safety and Health Act and reminds employees of their own responsibility for their own safety. Baltic Brown 12 quarry foreman Mikko Suninen considers the Occupational Safety Card training important:

- It is essential that everyone participates in the training. The training emphasizes the employee's own responsibility, and how important it is to report possible dangerous and near-miss situations. Thorough orientation and prevention create the basis for a safe workplace. In addition, it is important to keep things in their place and places clean on all sites: even small things increase safety, he says.

At Palin Granit, near-miss situations are recorded at quarries so that lessons can be learned from them and truly dangerous situations can be avoided.