By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): The World Steel Association (worldsteel) has recognized six companies for setting highest standards of health and safety at workplace. The member companies who won the prestigious honor are ArcelorMittal, Luxembourg; Arrium, Peru; Gerdau, Brazil; Hadded, Saudi Arabia; Tata steel for their worldwide operations and Ternium, Mexico. The annual programme identifies and recognizes outstanding practices in safety and health within member companies.

According to Henk Reimink, Director-Industry Excellence at World Steel Association, the six winners were selected from among 21 entries. The large number of submissions demonstrates the ongoing commitment of member companies to ensure high standards of safety and health at workplaces, he stated. Reimink congratulated the winners and urged other members of the body to implement similar projects so as to deliver even better performances in the future.

ArcelorMittal’s Luxembourg operation had launched the ‘Maturity Project in 2013. The project, over a long term, was aimed at making radical changes to human attitudes and behavior. The project integrated safety into the production process. As part of the programme, the company designed a large-scale safety leadership training programme targeted at different hierarchical levels: upper management, middle management and shop floor staff. Following this, the ArcelorMittal Belval plant in Luxembourg reported improved safety indicators.

Moly-Cop Peru, a member of Arrium had developed a Driver Awareness Program (DAP) in cooperation with transportation companies. The DAP was launched in 2013, aimed at reducing incident rate and improving driver capability. Incidentally, a review had indicated that 87% of the transport incidents were caused by unsafe driver behaviors. The programme included structured communicatyion meetings, safety presentations and use of interactive visual props. Surveys showed that road transport incidents have declined by 44% during the past three years, since the introduction of DAP.

Gerdau’s Ouro Branco plant in Brazil was awarded for implementing hydraulic arm in roll shop, aimed at protecting employees from the hazard of getting exposed to suspended load. As part of the programme, a hydraulic arm and pedestals were installed; this made the oil-changing process hazard-free. The installation also led to elimination of critical hazards caused by overhead cranes and also increased the productivity at the roll shop.

The world steel body recognized the upgrade of ladle furnace dedusting system at HADEED’s long product facility in Saudi Arabia. The project was aimed to bring down the dust concentration to 5 mg/m3 by fitting the ladle furnace roof with new equipment. It also contributed to reduced exposure of workers by cutting emissions of particulate matter.

Tata Steel was recognized for implementing a series of safety initiatives across its worldwide facilities. The activities that were recognized include Safety governance structure, Health and Safety Excellence Programme for the leadership team, Safety line walks, Safety campaigns such as ‘Committed to Zero’ and ‘Find it, Own it, Fix it’ and Leadership communication.

Ternium’s Juventud plant in Mexico received the honor for implementation of project aimed at reinforcing a prevention culture and promoting the continuous improvement of safety at the workplace. The project aimed at reducing the Risk Factor of the critical activities performed during the painting process in the plant’s painting line #3 by 50%.