Metsä Group's Kemi Pulp and Paper Mills Preparing for Annual Maintenance Shutdown
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Metsä Group announced that the annual maintenance shutdown of its integrated pulp and paper Kemi mill in Finland will take place during week 38 (14 - 20 September).
According to Metsä Group, the production shutdown will begin department by department at the board and pulp mills on Friday 11 September 2020. During the shutdown, the mills will be carrying out the required servicing, cleaning and maintenance works.
The mills' restart will get under way on Friday 18 September 2020.
"The annual maintenance shutdowns held at regular intervals are extremely important because they allow us to ensure the safe and efficient operation of the mills," said Tomi Seppä, Mill Manager at Kemi mill. "During the first half of the year, we carried out careful advance preparations to avoid the coronavirus and prevent a chain of exposure, and this work will continue systematically throughout the shutdowns as well."
Some 1,200 representatives of Metsä Group's partners — more than 80 percent of whom are Finnish — will be working at the Kemi mill area during the annual maintenance shutdown, in addition to the company's own employees.
Seppä explained that Metsä Group will follow strict COVID-19 safety guidelines during the shutdowns.
"We at Metsä Group follow strict hygiene and mask instructions and observe physical distancing rules, avoiding close contact. To prevent chains of transmission, we ask everyone arriving here for the purpose of carrying out shutdown work to fill in a health questionnaire, and stress that only those who are completely free of any symptoms should work on site," Seppä said.
"Shutdown workers arriving from abroad, or those who have spent time abroad over the past 14 days, will also be tested for COVID-19, and entry to the mill area requires a negative test result.
"To minimize close contacts, we've arranged departmental passageways in the mill area for the duration of the shutdown and separate departmental staff facilities and canteens for the shutdown workers. We've also instructed our partners on accommodation outside the mill area and in matters related to meals to avoid transmission chains.
"With these extensive precautionary measures, we aim to ensure the safety of our employees and the employees of our partners," Seppä concluded.
