worldsteel to launch Steel Safety Day on 28 April

The World Steel Association (worldsteel) will this year hold its first Steel Safety Day. The safety awareness day is aligned with World Safety Day, held by the International Labour Organization on 28 April.

Steel Safety Day has been set up to reinforce awareness of the five most common causes of safety incidents - moving machinery, falling from heights, falling objects, gas and asphyxiation, and overhead cranes - and to create a safer working environment across the world’s steel industry. worldsteel is encouraging its members to carry out a safety audit of these five causes on the day.

“We hope to see that every steel plant in the world has carried out the recommended audit, has identified and developed a plan or already eliminated the risks associated with the main five causes of incidents and put all mitigating measures permanently into place,” said Edwin Basson, Director General of worldsteel. “At the end of this industry-wide collective effort, we can say that we have made our workplace even safer than it is today.”

“The steel industry has seen a steady and notable reduction in the rate of injuries since 2006 and the average lost-time injury frequency rate has gone down by 50% in the last five years,” noted Andrew Page, Chairman of worldsteel Safety and Health Committee. “But our goal remains to create an injury-free, illness-free and healthy workplace with zero incidents.”

For information on how to participate, contact Henk Reimink, Director - Safety, Technology and Environment, at reimink@worldsteel.org.