Good practices from South America in HSE performance

Valmet’s team in South America has worked systematically to develop a strong safety culture and fact-driven improvements that support good site safety and performance.

Developing leadership commitment

Creating a safety culture requires getting everyone to always be aware of hazards and risks at the workplace. Through commitment, good HSE practices become second nature, and teams continuously improve safety as part of their normal work.

Front line supervisors have a key role in establishing a culture of safety. Contractor management and supervisors are continuously trained in incident prevention and site HSE practices where we emphasize the relationship between leadership behaviors and a team’s engagement.

In addition, Valmet integrates HSE activities into the project schedule. We establish weekly HSE walks and hold HSE conversations at the beginning of project meetings for open dialogue about safety improvements.

“Zero harm must always be our goal”, comments Francisco Gervasoni, Projects Director for Valmet in South America. “Every Valmet supervisor at the project site must be a HSE ambassador with a strong safety mindset and collaboration spirit. We are deeply committed to working as a team for safety with our customers and contractors.”

Regular reporting on HSE performance

The Valmet team has also developed fact-based recognition for good HSE performance and integrating results into contractor incentives.

For all delivery projects, daily HSE inspection results are sent to project managers and contractor leaders as part of the regular reports on project performance. This ensures possible corrective actions can be taken immediately.

The results are also used to generate a weekly grade, and at the end of the month, an average contractor HSE performance score is generated as part of a standardized safety index. The index is used in contractor evaluation and reviews.

“Zero harm must always be our goal”, comments Francisco Gervasoni, Projects Director for Valmet in South America. “Every Valmet supervisor at the project site must be a HSE ambassador with a strong safety mindset and collaboration spirit. We are deeply committed to working as a team for safety with our customers and contractors.”

In the image: Valmet team and partners at the LD Celulose mill in Indianópolis, Brazil