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Steel News March 30, 2017 12:30:10 PM

Steel Safety Day gives fresh impetus to dangers of falling objects

Paul Ploumis
ScrapMonster Author
As part of the campaign, all industry members are required to carry out safety audits at their facilities in the weeks leading to Steel Safety Day.

Steel Safety Day gives fresh impetus to dangers of falling objects

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The World Steel Association (worldsteel) will observe Steel Safety Day on Friday, 28 April 2017. The initiative aims to create safer working environment across the steel industry through various employee awareness and education programmes. Established in 2014, Steel Safety Day is aligned with the International Labour Organization World Day for safety and health at work.

As part of the campaign, all industry members are required to carry out safety audits at their facilities in the weeks leading to Steel Safety Day. The members can make use of the guidance notes on common causes of safety incidents, prepared by leading industry experts, in order to conduct the audit in a more effective manner. The findings of the safety audit must be reported on or before April 28th. worldsteel will then generate an industry-wide information by compiling a summary report of the findings submitted by individual companies.

According to worldsteel, all injuries and work-related illnesses can and must be prevented. This is the 4th Steel Safety Day event to be organized by the trade association. The 2016 event had turned out to be a huge success by registering participation of around 390,000 people from over 350 sites. It urged participation of more employees during this year’s event. The event would help companies and workplaces to implement best practices to prevent injuries and illness.

worldsteel has identified five causes of serious safety incidents in the steel industry-moving machinery, falling from heights, falling objects, on-site traffic and process safety incidents. The Steel Safety Day focuses on one of these five causes every year. This year’s programme will focus on falling objects, said worldsteel press release.

The steel industry has achieved significant improvements in safety and health over the past several years. An analysis of safety data collected from members during the period from 2015 to 2015 suggests notable decline in the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR). The LITR has declined sharply by 72% over the decade from 4.15 in 2005 to as low as 1.17 in 2015.

The workers are exposed to several workplace injuries from falling objects, including bruises, fractures, strains and sprains. These are mainly caused by falling objects ranging from large items such as roof trusses and steel beams to small items such as fasteners and hand tools. The industry members are urged to implement two different types of controls to prevent worker from injuries caused by falling objects- physical controls and procedural controls. Physical controls include installation of guardrails, open grating covers, barricades, overhead protective structures etc., Procedural controls comprise of good hoisting practices, good housekeeping, proper material stacking etc.,

Steel Safety Day is one among the various other activities conducted by the steel body to achieve its goal of accident-free workplace, the others being Safety and health metrics survey, Safety and health guidance notes, Safety and health excellence recognition programme, Safety workshops and Shop floor safety audits.

worldsteel is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, representing over 160 steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations and steel research institutes. worldsteel members represent around 85% of world steel production.

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