Each year on April 28, World Day for Safety and Health at Work allows businesses time to reflect on how work is designed and managed to better support safety, health and performance. In 2026, the focus was on psychosocial wellbeing, which highlights how working conditions, including workload, clarity and support, shape employee experience. Here, Patrik Eurenius, Head of Sustainability and EHS at metal cutting and machining expert Sandvik Coromant explores how the business is shaping safer, more resilient manufacturing environments, internally and for operators globally.
At Sandvik Coromant, safety is not treated as tick-box exercise, but rather as something embedded into our culture. Our ethos is to start every day with a simple, yet consistent action: a focus on physical and mental health and safety at the start of every meeting. This emphasizes a commitment to creating a culture of prevention where responsibility is shared across employees and management.
This approach is closely linked to our Manufacturing Wellness philosophy, which considers how people, processes and technology interact to create a more balanced and supportive working environment. Lessons from Sandvik’s internal culture inform how our tools and systems are designed to support operators in customer environments. By prioritizing safety and wellbeing, teams can better anticipate challenges, reduce uncertainty and make clearer decisions, directly supporting psychosocial health.
From reactive to proactive safety
Traditionally, safety improvements are only considered after a direct issue, with the problem being investigated and processes enforced to prevent it from recurring. Today, connected tools and smart systems enable earlier anticipation of hazards, helping to reduce uncertainty, improve clarity and support more manageable workloads, all of which contribute to a healthier working environment.
In machining environments, variables such as vibration, temperature and cutting forces can rapidly change at any moment. Sensor-enabled tools that capture real-time data provide continuous insight, allowing potential issues to be identified earlier and addressed more proactively. This helps to reduce reliance on experience alone, and supports operators to make confident, informed decisions, easing cognitive load and lowering stress.
One example of this is CoroTurn® Plus, which captures cutting data and turns previously hidden conditions into information that can be clearly relayed to operators. By making the conditions at the cut visible and easier to interpret, operators are less reliant on instinct alone. This supports more confident, informed decision making, helping to reduce uncertainty and ease the pressure associated with monitoring complex machining processes.
Supporting operators amid the skills gap
These developments are particularly valuable as the industry faces a growing skills gap. According to the World Economic Forum, “in the next five years, an estimated 40% of the core skills in manufacturing will change, leaving companies to urgently rethink how they train, upskill and retain their people”. With fewer experienced operators available, teams can no longer rely solely on individual expertise, increasing both responsibility and pressure.
Connected systems provide guidance and support, enabling less experienced operators to identify issues within a machine without requiring years of hands-on experience. In doing so, they help capture and share knowledge more effectively, supporting ongoing learning and development while building confidence across the workforce.
Keeping operators in control through data
Digital tools also change how operators interact with machinery. Traditionally, checking machine performance often requires close proximity and constant monitoring, which increase mental and physical strain. Connected tooling allows processes to be monitored remotely, allowing operators to observe processes from a safer distance while maintaining full situational awareness.
Live dashboards and integrated systems turn real-time data into accessible insights. Digital machining platforms like CoroPlus® Connected, which integrates tooling data directly with machine controls, enables real-time monitoring and automated responses. By alerting operators and recommending actions before issues escalate, the system helps stabilize processes and reduce errors. This approach keeps operators in control while lowering stress and minimizing exposure to high-pressure situations.
Supporting long-term wellbeing
Reducing direct exposure to factors such as excess vibration, noise and repetitive checks will protect an individual’s long-term physical and mental health. Working in environments that require constant monitoring and repetitive checks can contribute to mental fatigue and stress over time. Tools that stabilize machining processes and reduce repetitive, high-risk tasks help create a more manageable and predictable workload, supporting operators’ overall resilience.
Sandvik Coromant’s Silent Tools™ Plus, which offers sensor-equipped turning adaptors for monitoring vibration and machining conditions in real time, is a prime example. Through controlling vibration and improving machining performance, it promotes a more stable and predictable working environment. By smoothing operations and monitoring conditions inside the tool, it helps reduce variability and the need for continuous intervention, easing mental strain for operators.
These tooling systems are designed to align with our broader Manufacturing Wellness approach, which considers both efficiency and output, and the wellbeing and resilience of the people within manufacturing operations.
Building a culture of safety
Technology alone is not enough to create a culture of safety. Its effectiveness depends on a culture that supports integrated learning, encourages curiosity and builds trust. Individuals should feel comfortable engaging with new tools and processes, fostering both physical and psychosocial safety.
Connected systems complement human expertise, rather than replace it. Operators’ knowledge and judgement remain critical, especially in complex or unusual situations. But intelligent tools provide consistent guidance, highlight potential risks and support safer decision making.
The integration of connected tooling and smart systems into everyday manufacturing operations will continue to grow. Safety, including both physical and psychosocial wellbeing, will become increasingly embedded into the fabric of manufacturing rather than treated as a separate consideration.
Technology opens new opportunities to support healthier ways of working. By starting each day with a focus on safety and wellbeing and deploying the right advanced tools thoughtfully, manufacturers can create environments that are not only more productive, but also more supportive, balanced and resilient for everyone involved.
For more information on how Sandvik Coromant is shaping the future of manufacturing, visit here.
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