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(7/7/2010)
Health and safety without frontiers
A thousand days without Lost-Time Injuries (LTI) events is an excellent reason for celebrating. On June 18th, MTMajdalani unit employees, in Argentina, gathered together to celebrate this important milestone, which is a consequence of a solid awareness-raising work in favour of life. ‘The main tool we have here is human resources and commitment to safety and health to all,’ said the Commercial and Operations Director, Miguel Majdalani.
‘I believe that people are changing their way of thinking and acting as regards safety, not because it’s an obligation, but because we are convinced that it’s better for everybody,’ highlighted the employee, Victor Coria. The engineer and responsible for Safety, Ramiro Chaves, agrees that the Group’s policies and values, together with the principle that ‘each accident is avoidable and must be avoided’, changed the employees’ way of thinking and acting. ‘In the past, we used to believe that an inch of bad luck could result in an accident. Nowadays, this is unacceptable and, together with the entire board of directors, we are implementing the working culture of zero accident,’ he said.
Total Safety
Caxias do Sul Service Centre has reasons to celebrate as well. Since its opening, in February 2008, it had no record of accidents, neither LTI nor NLTI events. The zero accident historical makes the unit proud, but according to the Director, Flávio Rafael Andrade, ‘we are aware that the good result in the past does not ensure safety today, therefore, we instruct our employee to be aware and have discipline, always looking ahead. After all, safety at work starts in the present,’ he says.
Flávio Rafael explained that Caxias do Sul unit applies GST tools (Workers’ Safety Management), for instance, Flash Meetings, Zero Tolerance, Risk Assessment, Work Permit, Equipment Isolation and Shared Vigilance. However, he added that people’s behaviour is of utmost importance to avoid accidents by recognising safety as a value, as something that comes for their own benefit as well as for their workmates. When negligence, malpractice or imprudence takes place, risk increases significantly, he highlighted. ‘That cannot be a subject of concern only of the Safety Officers or managers. When everybody is focused on the same goal, we can enhance the Company’s safety strength,’ he completed.
In addition to MTMajdalani and Caxias do Sul, Stainless Brazil has Service and Distribution Centres in São Paulo, Campinas, Timóteo and Barranquila (Colombia). Together, the six units have a total of 550 employees. In all of them, discipline is a strong allied in the achievement of good results. ‘Discipline and attention shall outline all our actions so that we carry out our tasks well from the start (quality), which makes us more productive and competitive. Thus, we can keep our leadership and contribute to make our business sustainable,’ said ArcelorMittal Stainless Brazil Services’ Manager Director, Mário Porto Fonseca. Under the Group’s value umbrella, he stated, people’s health and safety are priorities.
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