core sector communique

2011 worldsteel Safety and Health Excellence Recognition Paris, 13 October 2011– worldsteel has recognised four member companies, Tata Steel Europe, Gerdau, Metinvest Holding, and NatSteel, for excellence in their safety and health programmes. Hajime Bada, worldsteel’s Chairman for 2010/2011, said “The promotion of excellence in safety and health practices, endorsed at the highest level, is one of the fundamental goals of all worldsteel member companies. The set of principles outlined in the worldsteel policy statement is the basis for creating a safe and healthy workplace for everyone in the industry”. All four companies demonstrated a commitment to safety and health that fulfilled three key criteria: the programme positively embraced the worldst eel safety and health principles the programme was able to demonstrate a positive impact upon safety metrics the programme could easily be applied to other member companies Tata Steel Europe’s programme focused on creating cultural change by establishing trust through leadership and engagement. A range of tools were introduced, including establishing safety teams, training supervisors and managers in Felt Leadership, identifying potential health risks and inviting all employees to sign-up to a newly launched set of values. Gerdau developed the Molten Steel Path Project to specifically target incidents involving molten steel and focused on the six key areas. The company’s Critical Risk Prevention Model was utilised to analyse previous incidents and identify best practices. As a result, there have been zero fatalities related to the critical risk since its launch in 2008. Metinvest Holding launched its Safety Culture Change Project with the introduction of a set of corporate safety standards. To change its safety culture, the company recognised the importance of training, investing in training facilities and developing recently retired managers as internal trainers. In 2009-2010, 53 internal trainers trained over 8,000 employees, which resulted in a 19% reduction in lost-time injuries. NatSteel developed Safety Training and Observation Programme (STOP) and used a six-step process that was designed to identify and challenge unsafe behaviours, whilst reinforcing positive elements observed. The company employed improvement tools such as 5S Housekeeping (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise & Sustain) and 30-Day Improvement.