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Safety increases job satisfaction
in 2011
, Edita Prima paid par-
ticular attention to improving
occupational safety: 12 Prima
employees were trained to
assess occupational safety risks,
and they formed assessment
groups that began charting the
risks related to production work.
The company aims to assess
risks for all individual worksta-
tions by May 2012. The occupa-
tional health and safety action
plan contains a plan for safety
management, including an annual
risk assessment. “A safe working
environment increases job satis-
faction and working ability,” says
Jukka Kortelainen
, Health
and Safety Manager at Edita
Prima. “By enhancing safety, we
also achieve cost savings.”
Risk assessment is a system-
atic process whereby poten-
tial hazards are identified, and
their likelihood and significance
are determined. On the basis of
this assessment, measures are
selected in order to mitigate,
prevent or even eliminate these
hazards. The effectiveness of the
measures is monitored regularly.
“At Edita Prima, we identify
hazards and assess risks with
a detailed questionnaire that
looks into accident risks and
chemical, biological and physi-
cal risk factors, such as hazards
related to noise, temperature
and lighting conditions. In addi-
tion, risks related to ergonom-
ics and psychological stress are
investigated."
Production staff are more
vulnerable to accidents or physi-
cal risks than office workers,
who are more exposed to psy-
chological stress and physical
strain caused by poor ergonom-
ics. "When assessing the signifi-
cance of an occupational safety
risk, the likelihood of the adverse
event and severity of its conse-
quences are taken into account.
The less likely an event is and
the more insignificant its conse-
quences, the smaller the risk.
“As the significance of a risk
increases, it becomes more
important to take immediate
action,” Kortelainen says.
Petri Rantala
, who acts as
a health and safety representa-
tive, says: “Risk assessment is
recorded in an electronic sys-
tem, along with agreed risk miti-
gation measures. Reports can be
run in the system on the basis
of what you want to monitor,
by departments, measures or
severity, for instance. In this way,
we always have up-to-date infor-
mation for improving safety.”
•
A helping hand to managers
a new manager’s guide
will support managers at jg
Communication in hr-related
issues, and make their daily work
easier.
Lisa Butti,
Head of hr
at jg Communication, says the
Manager’s Guide will be both a
manual and a reference book.
“Our goal is that the man-
agers will be able to handle hr-
related questions more com-
fortably, and we also want all
managers to act in a uniform
way,” Butti says.
The Manager’s Guide is a
60-page book that includes
information on everything
related to employment, from
the first day at work until the
last – and everything in between,
from an hr perspective. “The
guide will play an important part
in the introduction I conduct for
all new managers in our com-
pany, but it can also work as a
useful reference book for cur-
rent managers who might need
a reminder of, for instance, our
policies regarding mobile phones
or alcohol and drugs,” Butti says.
The book’s main section
consists of facts on labor law,
contracts, policies and routines,
since this is the area that gener-
ates the most common ques-
tions the hr team gets from
managers. It also contains a
more practical segment that
describes how managers are
supposed to handle different
situations and questions, such
as competence development,
work environment, feedback,
conflict management and crisis
management.
“Managers must know how
to conduct difficult talks, for
example in the case of conflicts
or redundancies,” Butti says.
There is also a section that
describes the manager’s com-
mitments at the end of employ-
ment, whether the employee is
being laid off or leaving on his or
her own accord.
Butti hopes that the guide
will increase managers’ knowl-
edge within hr and that it will
enable them to answer many
questions from employees
directly.
The Manager’s Guide for jg
Communication will be available
in early 2012, and will then be
adapted for the other compa-
nies in the Edita Group.
•
Lisa Butti
Petri Rantala and Jukka Kortelainen
edita’s year 2011
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