As with the aluminum industry, the world of sawmills and pulp and paper plants was among the first industries where we worked. The equipment in the workplaces of this industry is the source of critical risks such as entrapment, cuts and crushing injuries. In this context, our actions covered prevention structures and the existing culture in these very high-risk facilities. In the not-so-distant past, the culture in many wood industry circles was built on negative beliefs concerning health and safety.

A striking example from this sector is the normalization or even glorification of certain serious injuries leading to amputations. Changing these beliefs was where our challenge lay. We are proud to have participated, along with our clients, in developing the organizational culture and reducing serious accidents. Changing deeply rooted paradigms is a major challenge that requires taking many concrete actions through a series of steps such as performing a cultural diagnosis, providing training and coaching to develop health and safety leadership among key players, as well as working on prevention systems such as pre-task risk assessment.