Vesa Saarela as a safety expert at Protect

Vesa Saarela, who has been working on rail safety for 15 years, has joined our Kokkola office as a safety expert. Vesa has experience especially in occupational safety. Working with people has developed his interpersonal skills. He describes himself as a self-starter who likes a challenge and does not get provoked easily, but takes things as they come.

- I applied to work at Protect because I felt that the company's values matched my own. Preventing accidents, improving operations and improving well-being at work are important to me. Taking Human Factors (HF) into account deepens my understanding of the big picture and encourages transparency. In his previous job, Vesa was introduced to this approach and, after training, was able to use it in accident investigation. He also trained to use the model within the company. - Human factors in accident investigation did not initially interest me. I went to the training at the initiative of my then first employee. At first, the whole thing seemed like a bit of a joke, but when I was able to put what I had learned into practice, I realised that this was my thing and that these things made sense," Vesa recalls with enthusiasm. Vesa is interested in the reasons behind the accidents. He likes to think about why some industries have more accidents and deviations than others. He has a clear opinion on the objectives of anomaly investigation. "I have been in situations where I have had to investigate serious accidents involving colleagues. Accidents can even be caused by very personal issues. It is not at all uncommon for chains of cause and effect to go back years before the actual event. The purpose of an investigation is to establish the background variables and events as accurately as possible in order to prevent similar events in the future. Never to find the culprit. He sees it as a good thing that there is nowadays an emphasis on developing a safety culture and that the human factor is part of modern safety management. "In addition to the example set by management, I would also stress the duty of observation and reporting by the worker. Actively addressing hazards contributes to proactive safety work," says Vesa. Get to know Protect as a company Careers at Protect - See our vacancies