We’ve been providing most of the technical, infrastructural and commercial facility management services for Georg Fischer (GF) for many years. This client isn’t just our largest by area, it’s also the only one at which Apleona Switzerland provides a company fire service and company medical services on site. Patrizia Mattenberger, KV apprentice at GF, interviewed the company fire and medical service teams as part of a project she did. In the interview, Ralph Spörri (Head of Safety and Security) and Katia Güntert (Head of Company Medical Services) spoke about their exciting daily lives at work.
What do your departments consist of?
Ralph Spörri: I’ve been a commander of Georg Fischer’s company fire service for ten years now. There are 35 people in our team, mainly Georg Fischer (GF) employees. We’re responsible for preventative fire precautions and damage-reducing interventions in the event of an incident.
Katia Güntert: I’ve been working at Health Services since 2014. My team consists of three people. Our main responsibilities include first aid in the event of accidents or illness, providing advice, checking medical facilities and flu vaccinations.
When can staff call on you?
Katia Güntert: Most accidents are caused by distraction, and that in turn can be triggered by stress or personal problems. That’s why it’s important that we’re there for staff whatever issues they have, and that they can always come to us. It doesn’t necessarily have to be about work.
Ralph Spörri: The company fire service is responsible for protecting staff, buildings, and equipment. We help quickly in a no-nonsense way. We also help GF with fire watches, marshalling parking spaces and events.
What training courses do you offer?
Ralph Spörri: We conduct fire safety training and fall protection courses for our clients and staff.
Katia Güntert: At Health Services we run first aid courses at different levels, from how to use a defibrillator all the way to training to be an IVR 2 company paramedic. We offer these courses to our clients and Apleona staff.
What values guide the way you work?
Katia Güntert and Ralph Spörri: Helping others is the first priority for all of us. But it’s always important that we look after our own safety as well. You have to know what your responsibilities are so that you don’t overstep your authority. Constant confidentiality is another essential aspect of health services.
What’s the average day like for you?
Ralph Spörri: At the start of the day we hold a brief meeting with the whole safety and security team. We prioritise our tasks and review events of recent days. The procedure will then depend on what tasks need to be done. Daily routines include fire safety inspections on GF’s buildings, as well as checking car parks, sprinkler systems and gas extinguishing systems. We can of course get interrupted if something happens that we have to attend to.
Katia Güntert: Our working day is unpredictable, because we can never know what’s going to happen next. We plan monthly first aid equipment checks. And our training dates are also coordinated within the team.
What motivates you in your daily work?
Katia Güntert and Ralph Spörri: We’re motivated by teamwork and a sense of solidarity with our colleagues. These are very important values for us, because we’re all in the same boat.
What other activities have you got up to?
Katia Güntert: The Health Services team entered a competition run by SVBS (Schweizerischer Verband für Betriebssanität, Swiss Company Medical Services Association), and we came first. The prize was 2500 Swiss Francs. It was a very hot summer, so we decided to use the money to buy cooling towels for the works staff and hand them out to GF employees.
