World Steel Association Safety Guide

 

From safety as a priority to safety as a core value"

The World Steel Association has developed a safety guide for the steel industry. The main goal of this guide is to promote the excellence in safety within the sector. It also shows that to implement these ideas will increase the business profits.

Despite having being created for its application in a very special sector, most of its recommendations can be applied to any other sector, becoming an interesting safety guide that we strongly recommend to read.

Following, you will find the 6 main principles with a small description of each one and their application scopes. We recommend a complete study of this guide as these principles are commonly used in safety policies of excellent companies:

Principle 1. All work related illness and workplace injuries can and must be prevented.

Injuries and illnesses should not be considered normal, everyone in the organisation has the responsability to prevent them. Group work is the only way to get the appropriate work environment. Besides, the guide mentions two of the key points in accident prevention, the accident and incident investigation and the risk assessment, to prevent the possibility of negative consequences.

Principle 2. Managers are responsible for health and safety at work.

World Steel Association underlines the responsability or very member of the organisation, especially managers and directors. If leaders do not change, nothing will change. The management support to safety initiatives should be constant, as this gives credibility to the specific actions that will be implemented. Goals and objectives have to established, providing with the necessary resources.

Principle 3. Employee engagement and training is essential.

Another key point mentioned in this guide is the participation in  their own safety and their colleague's. This will increase their safety commitment. Besides, it also shows that training is essential.

Principle 4. Safety in the workplace is essential for employement.

The guide also mentions the role and responsability of the employees in their own safety and their colleagues. Each member of the organisation must understand and comply with the regulations and safety practices in their jobs. Management must also ensure that employees are authorised to stop any work or process if they consider it unsafe, and to encourage employees to know the risks of their own posts.

Principle 5. Excellence in health and safety helps to get excellent business results.

The prevention of injuries and illnesses makes that the most important resource of the organisation (employees) are in their jobs creating a competitive advantage. Injuries cause lost in production, time, equipment etc. This might increase the costs and a weakening of the organisation competitiveness.

Principle 6. Safety must be integrated in all the areas and business management process.

Before making any decision, the World Steel Association recommends an assessment of the potential safety implications, involving different levels of the organisation to ensure a proper assessment. When safety is integrated systematically in decisions, employees are more involved and committed to safety.

Companies around the world with excellence in safety are incorporating these principles and other best practices, such as group work, shared safety practices, behavioral safety, ZERO ACCIDENTS objective projects or OHSAS 18000 certifications. If you want further information, please read the complete guide at the World Steel Association website, where you can find the guide book in different languages: World Steel Association guide

The World Steel Association (Worldsteel) is a nonprofit organisation which represents about 180 steel manufacturers, associations and research institutes of steel industry worldwide. Worldsteel is responsible for promoting the steel industry with customers, media and general public. Besides, another of its key tasks, is to promote and encourage among its members, an environment of ZERO ACCIDENTS within their own employees and contractors.