Meira
Investment in safety thinking turned accident frequency down
Meira is a Finnish company that is more than 100 years old, the market leader in spices and the runner-up in coffee. The company operates from its historic premises in Vallila, Helsinki. Meira chose Protect as its safety partner.
-Vallila plant serves both coffee and spices, with coffee production reaching around 12 million kilos per year. In addition to a large number of transfers in production, we have a large number of packaging lines for packaging. Our aim is to ensure that our staff can work as safely as possible," says Meira's Production and Logistics Manager.
The first steps in the cooperation between Meira and Protect were taken a couple of years ago. At the time, Meira identified the need to increase safety thinking and to get more momentum behind the development of a safety culture. Protect's role has been to bring in both expertise and resources.
-For example, better organisation of production facilities improves safety, but a standardised and safe environment also increases production efficiency. One important part of the whole is communication, so that people understand why things are done in certain ways," he says.
The PRO24 system is a key tool for developing safety. Meira's system contains safety documents, accident reports and near-miss reports.
-PRO24 helps us communicate and make sure things get done. We have also extended the use of the system to quality management by recording product, material and operational non-conformities, among other things. By using the system as widely as possible, it also improves the reliability of the system.
From the Health and Safety Executive to more safety in the workplace
Meira has been contracting Protect to provide the services of an occupational health and safety manager since 2017.
-We needed a body that focuses specifically on health and safety issues. Having a health and safety manager has given us added safety, because now we have a person to spar with and ensure that Meira has up-to-date health and safety information," says the Production and Logistics Manager.
Protect has also benefited from the breadth of its customer base.
-You don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Protect has experience from many other companies, which means they have an arsenal of solutions ready to go. Of course, they can't always be applied directly, but they can help us find the solutions that work best for us.
Although the time that Meira and Protect have been working together is still relatively short, the first results are visible.
-Accident rates have already fallen significantly at this stage. In addition, the number of near misses has doubled. This is very important because it helps us to prevent incidents.
Read more about the Health and Safety Manager service
Expert services help to develop quality and safety work at A.Häggblom