Convincing background in safety and risk management
Kari has worked in safety and risk management development and management positions at Finnair, Posti, LähiTapiola and Wärtsilä, for example. His responsibilities have included safety and security management, risk management, corporate safety and security, preparedness, and crisis management and communication.
Kari has played a key role in managing several crisis situations facing Finnair’s business, for example, such as the WTC terrorist attack, the war in Iraq, SARS, bird flu influenza and the Asian tsunami. In these situations, he has developed safety requirements and participated in the work of crisis management teams.
Kari Helislahti is a qualified logistics engineer and has completed several degrees in safety. Alongside his studies and his main job, Kari has been working for thirty years as a firefighter, a fire foreman, an executive fire officer, and the supervisor of the senior executive fire officer in industrial fire brigades, and as an instructor and firefighter in contract fire brigades.
Joint development project started cooperation with Patera
A joint development project in 2020 led to cooperation with Patera. A funny coincidence is that Patera’s office is located at the former fire station of the Äänekoski mills, where Kari spent his childhood, as his father was the operational senior executive fire officer of the mills. “We noticed that we had a lot to give each other. That marked the beginning of our collaboration. I was involved in helping Patera obtain the quality certificate. After that, we started to produce safety training together and help customer companies develop their risk management and safety”, says Kari about the early days of the cooperation.
Strength in Patera’s safety services – taking safety and security management to a new level
Kari brings strong expertise to Patera in the areas of risk management, safety management and crisis management. He is used to working with managers and management teams in different industries. “I have become very familiar with project management, and especially risk management and safety and crisis management over the past thirty years. In addition to comprehensive risk management, my responsibilities have included various aspects of comprehensive corporate security. As a result, I also bring expertise to Patera in risk management, safety management, and areas of safety that have not previously been covered by Patera’s product range”, Kari says. Kari thinks that the best thing about his work is the diverse, interesting customers. He enjoys supporting customers through his extensive knowledge and experience. Patera’s entrepreneurial, customer-oriented and high-quality approach fits perfectly with his own values.
Helping companies improve their safety levels
Typical safety challenges faced by customers include uncertainty about the state of safety. Kari assists them in assessing the safety level and drawing up development plans. He also helps customers in the continuous development of safety by offering a comprehensive range of safety training courses and tailored solutions to address specific challenges. “Our customers’ challenge is that they are uncertain about their level of safety. Our customers want to ensure that their safety is at a good, even high level. We assist them in assessing their current safety level and, based on this, in preparing development plans together. Among other things, the assessment of the current situation uses legislation, safety standards and proven practices as a benchmark. Some smaller organisations may not be able to hire full-time safety or risk management personnel. On the other hand, there may have been pressure to appoint a full-time safety manager, due to growth or changing customer requirements. In these situations, we also provide mentoring and coaching to persons in charge of safety and those who are new to the position of safety manager. Of course, our customers need continuous safety development, which is why we offer a wide range of safety training courses. Every now and then, our customers have special challenges related to specific aspects of safety. In that case, we plan and implement a customised safety training course together with the customer”, Kari explains.
We warmly welcome Kari to the Patera team!
Read more about corporate safety and security and risk management training here!
