A word from the sustainability manager

Being able to offer a safe and secure workplace where staff enjoy working is vital in order for us to be able to recruit and keep employees.

The employees must also have the knowledge to use it correctly.

“You need different kinds of protective gloves for different types of chemicals. You can’t just put on any glove and assume you’re protected – you need the right glove. Another detail that many people miss is that all gloves that have been subjected to chemicals must be considered single-use gloves. You can’t put them down somewhere and let the next person use them, because they may have had a breakthrough. Many people who develop skin conditions have used old gloves where chemicals have broken through.”

Everyday safety

Marie Askestam is a process and maintenance manager at Proton Finishing in Forsheda, one of the facilities with the most hazardous working environments.

“Our chemical baths range from corrosive to hot, alkaline and acidic, so you need excellent safety procedures and emergency preparedness. In our facility, safety glasses, gloves and the new eye washes are mandatory as soon as you enter the production line. It’s very important to us to know that we have the absolute best equipment.”

The production line is now also equipped with a Diphoterine® solution in the form of a portable full-body shower, not unlike a fire extinguisher.

“If you get splashed, you can strip down and wash it off immediately, instead of having to run off to an emergency shower. This type of solution can make all the difference. Because even if we know what to do to work safely, accidents do happen.”

The eyewash is easily accessible in a holster.

Anders Åbrink is CEO of Medical Care System. Beautiful factories

“Personal safety is one of the most important elements of sustainable entrepreneurship,” says Maria Thom, quality and environment manager.

“We must be able to stand tall when we talk to our customers, end users and other stakeholders, and show that our work is sustainable and that the people working in our factories are healthy and happy.

In our strategy, we talk about wanting ‘beautiful factories’ – which doesn’t just mean attractive on the surface, it means that everyone who works here is thriving.

Now, we are equipping our factories with the absolute best emergency preparedness, while our employees are being specially trained in how to act if the unthinkable happens. Being able to offer a safe and secure workplace where staff enjoy working is vital in order for us to be able to recruit and keep employees. Having a good reputation is very important to us.”

Hazardous fluids and chemicals are handled both in Proton Finishing’s lab and out in production. Here, Marie Askestam is working in the lab in Forsheda. The picture was arranged for the photo shoot, when only harmless fluids were used.

PROTON EDGE

Safety equals social sustainability JL Safety in a long-term partnership with Fazer

Fazer is one of the biggest food producers in the Nordics and is very proactive about safety.

“It’s all about social sustainability,” says Jonas Sundell, Work Environment Manager at Fazer.

he Machinery Directive defines the basic health and safety requirements for all machinery released on the EU market. Every company that pursues any kind of machinebased production must ensure that it follows this directive, not just for the sake of the law itself, but to ensure safe, accident-free workplaces.

JL Safety in Skara, one of the companies in the business area Proton Edge, is a market leader in machine safety, risk assessments and CE marking. The company offers expertise and tools for meeting the regulations for machines and use of equipment, and helps the customers develop their machine safety procedures as a whole or as needed. One of the customers that has worked with JL Safety for a long time to ensure a safe workplace is food giant Fazer.

With sales of EUR 1.1 billion, Fazer is one of the biggest food companies in the Nordics, with products exported to more than 40 countries. Fazer employs about 6,000 people in seven countries in the bakery and confection markets as well as non-dairy and plant-based food products. About 500 people work at the three Swedish bakeries in Lidköping, Eskilstuna and Umeå.

Action plan and risk assessment

“Our partnership with JL Saftey started ten years ago when Fazer was looking for help in putting together all the pieces of the Machinery Directive,” says Dario Dzananovic, site manager at Fazer’s bakery in Lidköping.

This made it an obvious choice to turn to JL Safety when Fazer started its Safe Machines 2025 project. A preliminary study led to an action plan in which Fazer and JL Safety now jointly review procedures to ensure that they harmonise between all the bakeries. Strategic people are designated and trained to enhance skills in machine safety and CE marking – providing

Ttraining to people in Fazer’s management and purchasing as well as maintenance, project management and safety representatives. “We have carried out a review of our machinery and continued to carry out risk assessments for all machines and machinery lines,” says Jonas Sundell, work environment manager at Fazer. “We have done these risk assessments both internally and with the help of JL Safety.”

“Same condition or better”

Safe workplaces should be a matter of course at all businesses. Yet Jonas Sundell was still pleasantly surprised when he took up the role of Work Environment Manager at Fazer three years ago. “I was impressed that safety is the number one priority at the company. Fazer has taken a key decision that all machines and machinery lines that are part of the various bakeries should be at the forefront when it comes to safety,” says Jonas. It’s all about minimising accidents and incidents involving old, new and refurbished machines. All of the 500 or so employees working at Fazer’s bakeries need to know what is required in terms of machine safety, hygiene and food requirements. Dario, who is now in his fifth year at Fazer, elaborates: “You should go home in the same condition as you came to work, if not better.” The fact is that Fazer sees its proactive safety work as a part of its sustainability measures. “Absolutely, it’s all about social sustainability,” says Jonas.

A task that never ends

Complying with the Machinery Directive means so much more than what at first glance seem to be purely safety issues, Dario explains. You need to conduct skills enhancement and you need to review and assess the machine fleet and technical standards.