From this year, LKAB, Boliden, Northland Resources and Dannemora Mineral are requiring their contractors to have completed the interactive safety training course SSG Entre. So far, around 100 industrial facilities from several different sectors in Sweden have signed up to the concept, while almost 75,000 contractors have undergone the training and gained an Entre passport.
SSG Entre is an interactive, web-based safety training course for industrial contractors, whose purpose is to increase the safe performance of contract work. It originates in the fact that contractors are currently over-represented in accident statistics, while traditional safety training is not only time-consuming for industry, but expensive and ineffective.
SSG Entre was initially developed jointly by 34 mills from the pulp and paper industry, but with keen interest from other industries, the concept has expanded to include the steel, mining, chemicals, energy and sawmill industries.
From this year LKAB, with its mines in Kiruna, Malmberget and Svappavaara and its industrial quay at the Port of Luleå, requires its contractors to have completed SSG Entre, as do the Northland Resources mining area in Pajala and Boliden’s plants in Boliden, Aitik and Garpenberg. From later this autumn, Dannemora Mineral in Östhammar will also set similar conditions for its contractors.
Major investment from Northland Resources
In Pajala, Northland Resources is investing SEK 5 billion in the Kaunisvaara project, which will initially involve two mines and one industrial facility with a dressing plant. The aim is to commence mining during the fourth quarter of 2012, with the site employing around 450 people. Another 200 or so people are expected to be employed in the transport of freight from Kaunisvaara via Svappavaara and on to Narvik. Once the mine is up and running, it will be operated by Northland employees and by contractors.
In May, Northland Resources started requiring both its employees and its contractors to show an Entre passport.
“So far, around 400 people have completed the basic safety training course and our local training,” states Anette Strand, Head of Safety at Northland Resources in Pajala.
The whole of LKAB signs up
LKAB is also boosting its safety focus with SSG Entre.
“We estimate that over 8,000 contractors will undergo or have undergone SSG Entre training over the year. Some of them, who may have already completed the basic training course, have just needed to top this up with the local component. Everyone who takes part gains an excellent grounding in issues of safety and the work environment,” says Roland Kullebjörk, Safety Manager at LKAB.
“We feel it’s only right that the industrial companies up here, which largely employ the same contractors, should also demand the same safety standards from them. It’s in our interest that contractors come to us with a good, solid knowledge about work environment and safety issues. If there is a shared platform that all the other industries use, then clearly we should also sign up.”