Zero injuries achieved during Gratkorn´s paper machine rebuild

When Gratkorn Mill in Austria rebuilt one of its paper machines (PM9) in 2018, we’re proud to say we executed it with zero lost-time injuries (LTI). This marked a major achievement given the size and scope of this EUR 30 million upgrade involving a large workforce and complex engineering.  

Apart from Sappi’s own 1,200 employees at Gratkorn, almost 500 additional contractors were on site daily, resulting in a total of 100,000-man hours worked. In the end, the team completed the project on time and below budget with a running overall equipment efficiency (OEE) of 84%. 

How did they do it?  

The leadership team was absolutely critical. They were motivated, highly engaged, qualified and experienced. Together, they designed a best-in-class ‘safety first’ approach for the project that was rigorous and relentlessly practiced. This included: 

• Strict safety project rules 
• Joint site safety evaluations between Sappi and suppliers 
• Contractor instructions at the gate, followed by a safety test
• Contractors were required to show they passed our safety test and wear helmets with their name and company name 
• A daily safety meeting with content escalated to the operational project meeting  

A further crucial factor that contributed to the success of the project was the high number of daily behaviour-based safety (BBS) observations conducted. The fact that the Gratkorn management team also participated in the BBS observations showed their absolute commitment to safety.