YIT awarded first place in two categories in the Turvallinen infratyömaa 2017 competition

YIT has had great success in the Turvallinen infratyömaa 2017 (Safe infra construction site 2017) competition organised by INFRA – Infra Contractors Association in Finland.

YIT was awarded first place in the Underground construction (Suomenlinna tunnel project, Helsinki / YIT Construction Ltd) category and also in the category for Overground construction in the area overseen by the Regional State Administrative Agency of Southern Finland (western part of the extension of Koksikatu and Vilhovuorenkatu, stage 1, Helsinki / YIT Construction Ltd).

Additionally, first place was awarded to Lemminkäinen Infra Oy (Landfill pools, earthworks contract 1, Oulu) in the area overseen by the Regional State Administrative Agency of Northern Finland. YIT and Lemminkäinen merged on February 1, 2018.

“A narrow tunnel running under the sea, where permanent municipal engineering is located, is a challenging working environment. Everyone at the site and in the whole alliance has been committed to the project and its objectives from the start,” says Esa Koskinen, Safety Manager for the Suomenlinna tunnel project.

“YIT has carried out systematic and long-lasting work to promote occupational safety. The personnel is committed to developing occupational safety and to making and sharing observations that contribute to safety, which has been a pleasure to observe,” says YIT’s Occupational Safety Manager Antti Jokela, commenting on the reasons for the company’s success.

Electronic site induction, access control and Tilaajavastuu’s Valttikortti cards came into use at all new YIT sites in 2017. In addition to safety practices, the induction focuses particularly on quality, YIT’s values, ergonomics and strategy. YIT revised its occupational safety strategy in late 2016. At the time, three focal areas were selected: safety management and supervisory work, preventive measures as well as smooth daily operations and effective tools, which are the subject of particular attention.

The three safest infra sites were now selected for the third time. INFRA ry, which represents the infra industry in the Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries RT, gives out the awards for the safest infra construction sites every other year.

By highlighting safe infra construction sites it wants to award exemplary sites and highlight the development of occupational safety and the use of the MVR audit that has been designed for measuring safety in the landworks and waterworks industries. It also supports the goal of zero accidents in the construction industry by 2020.

The level of safety at the construction sites was measured by inspectors from the Regional State Administrative Agencies using the MVR safety audit method. The measurements were part of the normal inspections by the Regional State Administrative Agencies. The authorities also inspected the employee lists at the sites to determine if they were up to date and ID cards.

The risk of serious accidents has been further reduced at the construction sites of the companies taking part in the competition. The risk excavations or rock cuts or ceilings collapsing has been systematically eliminated.

For further information, please contact:

Antti Jokela, Occupational Safety Manager, YIT Construction Ltd, tel. +358 (0)50 390 0740, antti.jokela@yit.fi

Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Group, tel. +358 (0)40 561 6568, hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi

YIT is the biggest construction company in Finland and a major player in Northern Europe. We construct and develop apartments, business premises and entire residential areas. Furthermore, we are specialists in infrastructure construction and paving. Together with our customers, our 10,000 professionals create increasingly functional, appealing and sustainable cities and living environments. We have operations in 11 countries: Finland, Russia, Scandinavian and Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The new YIT was created by the merger of YIT Corporation and Lemminkäinen Corporation, both over 100 years old, on February 1, 2018. In 2017, our combined annual revenue amounted to over EUR 3.8 billion. YIT Corporation’s share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.yitgroup.com