Worksite safety is about teamwork – everyone working on the site must be involved.
“Safety is a multifaceted entity. It also involves process development to ensure that safety observations are documented and work instructions can be updated as necessary,” says Erik Sappinen, Site Manager at Enersense PN Oy, a contractor on Fingrid’s Framnäs substation worksite.
He emphasises that safety always starts with careful planning.
“The very first step is to plan the work we are about to do. Much of the work is already familiar, but even these familiar work instructions can be updated when new risks are identified,” says Sappinen.
Although the work may be familiar, each worksite is a different environment. There may not yet be a ready-to-use template, so the work plan must be written from scratch.
“Once the task is clarified, we can consider the potential risks and the prerequisites for working safely.”
Fingrid launched its Triple Jump Towards Zero occupational safety campaign at the start of September. The campaign aims to raise awareness of occupational safety among employees.
“The campaigns encourage employees to do more risk assessments, make safety observations, and maintain a state of readiness to improve safety in everyday work.”
Plan, assess, and think
During the Triple Jump Towards Zero campaign, sites can use safety toolbox talk materials and digital campaign posters about important safety topics.
In addition, a monthly task will be announced, and the people who complete it will be entered into a separate prize draw.
The campaign began in September by emphasising that planning everything carefully beforehand, assessing the risks, and thinking before acting can lead to a safe worksite.
Sappinen says that the work group always take time to review the plans. Then, before starting work, the situation on-site is assessed, and a safe work assessment is conducted as the work progresses.
“Risk assessment is an ongoing process. When you think before you act, you can notice potential risks before an accident happens,” Sappinen emphasises.
He has noticed that people are more routinely talking about safety on worksites, which is a good sign of higher safety awareness.
“While working, I hear people chatting about whether there are any risks involved in the workphase and that type of thing,” Sappinen says contentedly.
Think about hazards such as working at height
From the start of October, Fingrid’s safety campaign reminded people to identify hazards, assess risks and manage them.
Sappinen says that although the environment on a substation worksite may remain fairly similar on the ground, there are risks involved in working at height and doing the associated lifting work: the work environment higher up can change due to factors such as wind.
Therefore, challenging lifts are always assessed separately to verify whether any live components are nearby and determine the distance between them and the workplace. Plans also cover the necessary earthing, and the earthing of lifting machinery must also be planned.
“The soil is an important consideration when lifting: we need to ensure that it is strong enough to bear the loads and that the hoisting cage or crane will not begin moving uncontrollably. The safety assessment also covers the weights of the loads and the correct lifting equipment.”
Working near live components
Electrical safety has been top of the agenda in Fingrid’s safety campaign from November onwards. It is one of the key aspects of work on transmission line and substation sites.
Contractors on the Framnäs substation site are working next to a 110 kV line. Automatic reclosure on the line must be sufficiently deactivated during many types of lifting work. Fingrid carries out this task at its Main Grid Control Centre based on worksite notices.
“Before we start the work, we call the Main Grid Control Centre to let them know the work is beginning and that we need automatic reclosure to be eliminated,” Sappinen explains.
When the work is done, we call the Main Grid Control Centre again and tell them we have finished and that automatic reclosure can be reactivated.
Awards for the safests worksites
During the Triple Jump Towards Zero campaign, the three worksites that record the highest numbers of work risk assessments, safety toolbox talks, and safety observations in relation to the number of working hours will receive awards. These will be tracked with a specially-created metric.
At the same time, the worksite personnel are encouraged to use the Quentic app, which makes it easy for them to safety observations or work risk assessments at the work location using their own phones. They can also attach photos.
“All we need to do to win the campaign award—and improve worksite safety—is to keep thinking about safety and making an effort to report our observations,” Sappinen says.
“To begin with, documenting everything can feel like a chore. However, as you get used to it, observations can be recorded continuously.”
Safety observations help refine work instructions for accuracy and identify hazards more easily. Documenting risk management is particularly important: if a risk is identified, it must be documented to prevent future accidents.
“The worst way to identify a hazard is after an incident has occurred.”
More information about the campaign.
