As part of its commitment to the highest safety and health standards, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) recognises excellence in seven of its member companies for delivering demonstrable improvements in safety and health.

Carlos Martínez, Head, Safety and Health, said, ‘The World Steel Association’s (worldsteel) members continue to go beyond when it comes to safety and health practices and initiatives. Our Excellence Recognition Programme aims to identify and highlight the most innovative and impactful practices. This year, worldsteel and the judging panel recognised a greater maturity in the submissions received, making the judging process especially challenging.’

The recognised companies this year are:

For safety culture and leadership

ArcelorMittal – A sustainable journey to zero accidents

Initiated in 2017 after a fatality, ArcelorMittal Long Brazil needed to redirect the health and safety strategy by creating a robust Master Plan, aiming at cultural change, valorisation of life, and safety first in decision making.

JFE Steel Corporation – Horizontal development to prevent similar accidents

The company-wide horizontal activities programme was initiated in 2020 to establish a systematic approach for preventing similar-type accidents across the company by leveraging learning from experience and effective implementation of safeguards.

For occupational safety management

Emirates Steel – Enhancing crane operations and rigging safety

In 2018, Emirates Steel started implementing a comprehensive safety improvement programme focused on crane operations and rigging activities with the following key components:

• Lifting operations governance

• Competency enhancement

• Managing tools and equipment

• Auditing

U. S. Steel – Haul truck and loader tyre safety improvement

U. S. Steel identified the Michelin Earthmover Management System (MEMS 4) as a solution to putting employees in potentially hazardous situations. One of the most critical aspects of this system is that it allows employees to check tyre pressure and temperature from a remote location, ensuring a safer working environment.

For occupational health management

Tata Steel – Wellness@Workplace Programme

Tata Steel’s innovative Wellness@Workplace Programme aims to improve and maintain employees’ overall health and well-being through a unique organisation-wide platform, ensuring uniform rollout, monitoring and improvement.

For process safety management

Hyundai Steel – replacing high-risk tasks with quadruped robots

Hyundai Steel’s Dangjin Steelworks introduced the quadruped robot (SPOT) to prevent workers from being exposed to explosion risk and related accidents. Its target is to make use of the robots in 156 gas facilities and 2,927 locations in confined areas.

POSCO Holdings – Smart Safety Ball

The Smart Safety Ball (SSB) is a new concept gas detector that checks the concentration of harmful gases inside confined spaces. By detecting the presence of gases in real-time, the ball prevents injuries and fatalities.

More details on each of the initiatives can be found in worldsteel’s Safety and Excellence Recognition 2022 publication.

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Notes

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) is one of the largest and most dynamic industry associations in the world, with members in every major steel-producing country. worldsteel represents steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. Members represent around 85% of global steel production.