Zero accidents at Nokian Heavy Tyres in 2020

Nokian Heavy Tyres is once again celebrating an important achievement – an entire year without the occurrence of occupational accidents that led to absence. praises Marko Oksanen, production engineer for Nokian Heavy Tyres, describes an accident-free 2020 as “an extremely important milestone” that the workforce has achieved together.

“Being able to accomplish a year without accidents leading to absence is possible by solving problems and learning as a team – none of us could have done this alone,” adds Okansen. “Safety is one of our core values. The goal of making Nokian Tyres as safe workplace as possible is built on two main features: personal safety and support. All of us can personally affect the level of safety by, for example, using the correct equipment and employing the right working methods. Help and directions are still always attainable. This way, safety is achieved together.”

‘Culture of challenging’ a priority

According to Okansen, the cooperation between all workers is key to create a safe working environment. “We need to keep challenging ourselves and others. When the gaps between co-workers in different positions are minimised and the atmosphere is open, real improvements can happen.

“For example, if we have a near miss, we will talk about it as a team and take a close look at the situation. Our goal is to allow everyone to speak freely and tell their opinion. Everyone has their own specific knowledge of different parts of our work, and it is important to hear thoughts from various points-of-view in order to learn and develop.”

Celebrating safely during the pandemic

The current corona crisis prevents the Nokian Heavy Tyres team from celebrating their accident-free year in the manner they may wish. “However, we are definitely going to go through the aspects that have made this achievement possible with a big hype,” Okansen comments, adding that the team’s hard work will continue: “We believe that safety is a choice – and that decision is made every day.”