“Be observant and dare to act”

The importance of personal commitment is highlighted on the annual UN World Day for Safety and Health at Work on April 28. The Take-5 project encourages everyone to stop and think for five minutes before starting a task. As a guide, there is a card with questions about potential risks that employees may carry. 

“The aim is to make risk assessment a natural part of the working day. We all have five minutes. Taking them is an investment in our common safety,” Christoffer Holmström points out. 

A further prerequisite is that each individual feels supported by the whole organization. Safety and health are as important as productivity and quality when it comes to the ability to offer customers healthy and sustainable business relationships.

“Safety work is not just about reporting for statistics’ sake. There are constant dialogues in cross-functional groups to gather data, analyze and draw conclusions, share experiences and develop preventive measures. It is a systematic and persistent effort that takes place continuously.”

One of the major challenges is fire safety, especially in the recycling industry.  

“We focus a lot on developing our fire prevention measures. One major fire risk in the recycling industry is materials that are sorted incorrectly, such as batteries that end up in paper or plastic. This in turn can lead to larger fires if the battery is damaged or exposed incorrectly. This risk exists even if the batteries are very small. "Recycling needs to become a matter of course, both in the workplace and at home. If we do it right, both people and nature are positively affected, which also leads to increased safety for our employees,” concludes Christoffer Holmström.