Preventing accidents as a life mission

Pertti Salo, Managing Director of SK Protect Oy, worked for the rescue services for a whopping 20 years. In the course of his work, he realised that many accidents could have been prevented. The Protect story began with customer feedback that confirmed Salo's mission in life.

Alert missions, sea rescue exercises, water diving and helicopter exercises. Pertti Salo has had a varied career in rescue services. He has worked at Kokkola Rescue Department as a firefighter, paramedic, supervisor and trainer.

During his years in the rescue service, Salo specialised in oil spill response and working in high places. But it wasn't until he was working as the head of the department's risk management division, responsible for fire inspections and building permit procedures, that he became convinced that his mission in life was to help companies with preventive work.

-"My boss said that I should be there to prevent accidents, not to clean up after them," Salo recalls.

At the beginning of the millennium, Salo founded Pohjanmaa Fire Safety Consultants with Jorma Korpela and moved from the Rescue Department to help companies manage safety issues.

While making emergency plans and conducting trainings around Finland, he noticed that often there were so many plans in the company that no one in the company was sure which was the latest version. Not to mention how often plans, documents or folders were completely lost.

-There was really no such thing as safety management. The different people responsible in the company did not necessarily know anything about what each other was doing," says Salo.

Whether it's a fire or health and safety, when an accident happens, the ultimate responsibility for the damage always lies with the company and its management.

Indeed, insurance companies have many conditions and guidelines on procedures for dealing with claims, which can be very strict. For example, if a fire occurs as a result of fire work, compensation is automatically reduced by 30%.

-I remember an incident when there was a fire in a large organisation. In the aftermath of that fire, such significant procedural deficiencies and omissions were discovered that the insurance company was going to refuse compensation altogether. The amount was not small: the damage amounted to €8 million.

Salo realised that there had to be a smarter way to manage safety. One that would prevent damage.

This insight led to the development of the PRO24 system and the company's name was changed to SK Protect Oy in 2008. Protect was involved in a safety project at the University of Jyväskylä, where they started to study and define a future safety ERP system. Today, Protect's PRO24 system is already in use in around 250 organisations.

In 2011, Protect was awarded the INNOSUOMI 2011 prize by the President of the Republic. The award encouraged companies and communities to use smart and user-centric solutions, driven by new technologies and ways of working. In 2016, it was the turn of the Chamber of Commerce to award the Digiloikkaprize.

Salo knows that all accidents can be prevented and that it is possible to achieve zero accidents.

-If processes and skills are in place, risks are identified and maintenance and proactive work is carried out, accidents can be prevented. And if something does happen, trained and risk-prepared staff can prevent it from spreading. We help organisations to manage the whole picture.