Five months in Romania, building safety and trust

OX2’s first Romanian wind project became an unexpected five-month assignment for HSE Manager Sara Lindström, who arrived from Sweden for a routine audit and stayed to strengthen safety performance and trust on site.

When Sara Lindström packed up her campervan in the spring of 2025 and headed to Romania to audit the Green Breeze wind farm, she expected a short visit. Instead, she stayed for nearly five months, long enough to strengthen the safety culture in OX2’s first Romanian project and build trust among people who were initially reluctant even to speak with her.

HSE Manager Sara Lindström and her campervan in Romania

Green Breeze, a 16-turbine project in the Galați region near the Moldovan border, is owned by Nala Renewables, with OX2 as EPC (responsible for Engineering, Procurement and Construction) and two main contractors. With high expectations from both the investor and the financing bank, it quickly became clear that health, safety and environmental performance needed improvement.

“Romania has EU legislation, but the follow-up isn’t always there,” Sara says. “When we started checking things like oil leaks from vehicles, some contractors were genuinely surprised.”

Routine audit became long-term support

What began as a routine audit turned into long-term support. Working closely with OX2’s local team, Sara introduced daily coordination meetings, clearer planning and direct communication with subcontractors. Iancu Perifan oversaw HSE compliance on site, helping turn expectations into practice while keeping construction on schedule and all turbines erected ahead of plan.

A simple whiteboard listing responsibilities made daily activities transparent and allowed issues to be addressed immediately.

“People were stressed, constantly putting out fires. I tried to help them pause and think. Safety isn’t about rules, it’s about consequences.”

On site, she focused on participation rather than instructions — inviting supervisors to walk with her, explain what they saw and reflect on risks themselves. This was reinforced by Geo Pintilie, who worked closely with contractors to strengthen daily safety routines and embed HSE into everyday operations.

“That way, people start thinking proactively instead of just reacting,” she says. Training sessions and clear, practical guidelines helped shift attitudes, while small initiatives such as a safety recognition box encouraged pride and accountability.

A home on wheels

Living in her campervan, her “shoebox”, kept her close to the team and the work. “They saw I was there every day, no matter the weather. Not someone who just flew in to look for faults.” 

The experience has already had an effect on OX2’s next Romanian project, where safety work is beginning earlier and expectations are set from day one. Green Breeze also laid a strong foundation for responsible development, with Adreea Raducu implementing the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), now used as a best-practice benchmark for future OX2 projects.

And for Sara, the most meaningful sign of progress came on her last day: a quiet fist bump from a worker who, months earlier, wouldn’t speak to her. “That’s when I knew I’d done something right.”

Published 2026-01-15