Despite the slowdown of the corona epidemic, the everyday life is still lived under special arrangements in Koskisen’s mills. In the fourth part of article serie of Koskisen’s everyday life in corona time, Jussi Luomalahti tells the news from the sawn timber dispatch.
Jussi Luomalahti, who works as a supervisor at the sawn timber dispatch for the subcontractor Ysi-Trukit, says that the worst part of preparing for the coronavirus situation is over. “Of course, it remains to be seen where all this takes us.” The shift changes have been redesigned in the sawmill dispatch and contact with colleagues have been minimised. “This work requires physical presence. However, we have minimised the number of people working together. Of course there are encounters during the day, but we avoid all kinds of gatherings.”
Luomalahti says that due to the exceptional circumstances, the point from where waybills are collected has also been moved to a different location, which reduces contact between the drivers and the dispatch personnel. Depending on the day, some 20–30 drivers come to the mills daily. According to Luomalahti, those who are familiar with the practices of the mill know their way around better, but new drivers need more advice. “That means contact is inevitable,” Luomalahti says. For these situations, there are hand-washing instructions and disinfectants available. “We have paid more attention to hygiene than normally.”
According to Luomalahti, the changes made to control the coronavirus epidemic might also work once things normalise. “We could very well keep the waybills where they are now and let the drivers just come and collect them.”