Accidents fall at paper firm

UPM recently announced that lost time accident frequency (LTAF) had decreased in 2012 and 2013 by a total of 60% per one million hours of work.

Meanwhile, the total number of lost time accidents in all UPM sites globally also decreased from over 550 in 2011 to 200 in 2013.

We have made great progress in decreasing the number of work-related accidents

UPM CEO Jussi Pesonen

These results are due mainly to a company-wide safety initiative implemented in 2012 which called upon all UPM employees to improve workplace safety.

Last year, UPM concentrated on proactively identifying and addressing safety risks within its businesses.

Key to the programme’s success were management commitment, employee participation and operating models and encouragement, the company said.

“We have improved employees’ awareness of the risks by organising safety training, sharing information on near-miss situations and encouraging everyone to report all hazardous situations and safety deficiencies,” said Kaisa Lehtipuro, director of occupational health and safety at UPM.

Likewise, UPM president and chief executive officer Jussi Pesonen said: “We have made great progress in decreasing the number of work-related accidents. The goal for the final year of the workplace safety initiative is to further reduce the number of accidents and, above all, to ensure world-class safety performance in all our activities.”

UPM currently operates over 60 production facilities globally, including three pulp, paper and label manufacturing sites in the UK.