Hey Magnus! Congratulations on 1000 days without accidents. How does it feel?
Thank you. It feels great. Everyone at Parafon is of course extremely proud and happy to celebrate the 1000 accident-free days at the factory. Issues about health and safety has been at the top of our agenda for many years, so we appreciate it extra when our hard work actually pays off in this way as well.
Can you tell us a little about how you work to improve safety at the factory?
The most important resource is our employees who we must support and protect and therefore health and safety are important factors at Parafon. It is not behind a desk that the best ideas are born to improve the factory's work environment, but it is ideas from everybody on the floor that make a difference, so it is really fundamental that management is responsive when we have the opportunity to improve our work environment. Having order, clear rules that you respect and listen to each other without judging is a success factor and therefore something we work with a lot.
We have a working culture with an open and transparent communication, where everyone can tell if they feel uncomfortable with a certain way of working or share if they have happened to do something wrong. The most important thing is to find the cause that put us in a risky situation and thereby being able to identify how we can solve it without in any way being judgmental.
“I see it as important to constantly try to improve the ability to see a solution instead of a problem and to have an attitude that behind every perceived problem there is a potential opportunity for improvement.
I have experienced this approach not only to be successful but it also creates an even more positive commitment. ”
Is health and safety something you talk a lot about?
We have health and safety as the first point in most of our meetings from daily meetings to meetings of the management team. We have a determined way of working where we persistently do not overlook any risks and keep it in focus until we as employers have done what we can to ensure that we have a better working environment and that all can return home to their families unharmed after a working day.
“That we now have 1000 days without accidents is partly a result of us as employers working and talking a lot about Health and Safety, showing that it is important, etc.….
.. but the greatest merit of this result is every single employee who chooses not only to speak but to act in a wise and safe way and I am very grateful to have such employees around me.”
Parafon is now part of the ROCKWOOL group. How does it work - do your security strategies go together?
We have been a part of the ROCKWOOL group for 1.5 years and we have been introduced to the way ROCKWOOL works regarding health and safety. Like many other very well-functioning processes within ROCKWOOL, they have very good routines and tools for safety.
There are approximately 11,700 employees in the ROCKWOOL Group so there is a lot of experience and competence, we look forward to being able to further improve our work environment for our employees. The ROCKWOOL Group also has other factories where they have no accidents for more than 1000 days, and that is of course something we want to learn from.
What is the goal for the future?
The goal is that we will manage 1000 more days, then 1000 more and then 1000 more ... Of course we are very proud of our achievement, but I think at the same time you should be humble and not relax and lose focus, because then it is very easy for an accident to happen.
But of course we are happy, and will rightly celebrate our 1000 days!