The increased use of scaffolding can be seen in the streetscape. Scaffolding is also needed when industrial plants are extended and when carrying out their annual maintenance.
“We have maintenance shutdowns at our existing plants every year, as well as projects involving new plants, such as the construction of the Rauma sawmill. We need a lot of scaffolding in all of them”, says Teemu Leppänen, corporation safety manager at Metsä Fibre.
Leppänen is responsible for the safety of Metsä Fibre’s six sawmills and four pulp mills. The most well-known of these is the massive bioproduct mill in Äänekoski, which was started up three years ago.
Metsä Fibre has detailed instructions for scaffolding work, according to which its partners operate. The instructions apply to both the physical properties of the scaffolding and the work carried out on it.
An experienced partner helps
The general demands of the scaffolding industry have been constantly increasing. The market has not fully kept up with this development. Among other things, not all clients are familiar with the requirement that the client ordering scaffolding work must approve the scaffolding and thus be responsible for the work performed on the scaffolding and safety in the vicinity of the scaffolding.
The high-quality expert service for scaffolding work includes a thorough analysis of tenders in the scaffolding supplier selection phase, orientation of the employees of the company building the scaffolding, work supervision, and the inspection of working methods and occupational safety issues.
When the operating environment changes, a scaffolding expert such as Patera, with 25 years of experience in the industry, is needed as a partner. Informed clients ordering scaffolding work have realised the need for a partner and know how to obtain scaffolding supervision from an expert organisation in connection with their construction and maintenance work.
The cooperation between Metsä Fibre and Patera covers the supervision of scaffolding work during the annual maintenance shutdowns of pulp mills.
Continuous development and training
Leppänen emphasises two things in his cooperation with Patera’s experts, which has lasted for several years.
“We want to ensure safe working on scaffolding and continuously improve the level of safety. Another issue is the training of our personnel in scaffolding safety. Among other things, now that shutdowns are approaching, salaried employees are trained in scaffolding safety at every pulp mill”, says Leppänen.
Shutdowns often involve changing scaffolding during the work. Even then, it must be ensured that the safety requirements are met after the modifications, both on the scaffolding and in their immediate vicinity.
New insights
An important part of the cooperation between Metsä Fibre and Patera is the presence of Patera’s expert during the scaffolding work, who is involved in ensuring scaffolding safety.
“Together, we constantly notice things whose development will improve our safety.”
According to Leppänen, cooperation with Patera has been fruitful because Patera is aware of the key role of safety in all of Metsä Fibre’s operations.
“Patera brings a new perspective to scaffolding safety. The development clearly stems from Patera’s experience and ability to see how small things can be improved to promote safety. Overall, the cooperation with Patera has been fruitful and very flexible from our point of view”, Leppänen concludes.
The article was published in Kauppalehti in September 2020.
