Welder Anssi Juselius is happy to travel abroad for welding jobs.

Welder Anssi Juselius is happy to travel abroad for welding jobs whenever his schedule at the Makron factory allows this. The maintenance team may, for example, be requested to install a replacement part in a factory.

Anssi’s latest task abroad was in Russia, where he stayed for two and a half weeks. “We worked long days, with 12-hour shifts, plus travel time on top of that,” he explains. When the team travels to a project location, everyone works efficiently around the clock to minimize downtime. Anssi doesn’t find night shifts difficult. While this intense a work pace doesn’t leave much time for sightseeing or getting to know local customs, there are always some opportunities for new experiences: in Russia, Anssi had time to check out a local sauna.

The work conditions in a factory setting are a far cry from those in Makron’s workshop. The machine being worked on may be in a hard-to-reach spot, or the component might be impossible to shift or rotate, requiring the engineers to work around these problems. For this reason, Anssi has experience of performing welding work at a height of ten meters on top of a large machine, while squatting in a tight space, when balancing on slanted scaffolding, and outdoors in sub-zero temperatures. “However, occupational safety is never compromised,” he says, adding, “We use safety harnesses when working at a height, and any fire risks are always taken into account.”