Metsä Group announced that the annual maintenance shutdown of its Rauma pulp mill (Finland) will take place during week 45. The production shutdown will begin department by department on Saturday 31 October 2020. During the shutdown, the mills will be carrying out the required servicing, cleaning and maintenance works.
The Rauma mills' re-start will get under way on Friday 6 November 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. During the first half of the year, we have carried out careful measures to avoid the coronavirus and prevent a chain of exposure, and this work will continue systematically throughout the shutdowns as well," says Ari-Pekka Vanamo, Mill Manager.
Some 950 representatives of Metsä Group's partners — more than 90 per cent of whom are Finnish — will be working at the mill area during the annual maintenance shutdown, in addition to the company's own employees.
"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.
"Shutdown workers are also tested for COVID-19, and entry to the mill area requires a negative test result. We have instructed the workers to take the test already before travelling to Rauma, and those who have not taken the test, will be tested when they arrive here.
"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 also on leisure time. And we also work in close collaboration with the local health authorities," Vanamo added.
The Rauma mill, which operates under Metsä Group's Metsä Fibre business segment, has the capacity to produce 650,000 metric tons per year of pulp.
TAPPI
http://www.tappi.org/