HEALTH AND SAFETY
People First
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At BlueScope Steel, our people are focused on staying safe and on watching out for each other every day. |
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At BlueScope Steel, health and safety are valued as an integral part of the way we do business. We continue to work towards our goal of Zero Harm, where every person who enters any one of our sites around the world will leave in the same or better condition than when they arrived.
The following beliefs form the basis for achieving our goal of Zero Harm:
- Working safely is a condition of employment.
- Employee involvement is essential.
- Management is accountable for safety performance.
- All injuries can be prevented.
- Training employees to work safely is essential.
- All operating exposures can be safeguarded.
BlueScope Steel has a comprehensive Occupational Health and Safety Management System in place, which is mandatory in all our operations. Its purpose is to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers, contractors, visitors and the public and to ensure our people are fit and competent to undertake work. The Management System gives substance to our beliefs and details how we will achieve our goal of Zero Harm.
It focuses on three basic aspects: safe and healthy people, safe systems and a safe and tidy plant. Initiatives in these areas are supported by strong and caring leadership, engaged employees and a robust system. Under the Management System, 23 Safety Management Standards have been established. Each business is required to demonstrate compliance with these standards. During 2005/06 our self-assessment process showed a continuous improvement in meeting these standards.
BlueScope Steel's safety improvement initiatives have seen a substantial reduction in injuries. We have continued to make good overall progress, with many businesses reporting noteworthy results.
Despite this improvement effort, two fatalities occurred during the year. The fatality at our New Zealand Steel operations in July 2005 was reported in the 2004/05 Community, Safety and Environment Report. A second fatality occurred to a contractor working on the construction of our new coating plant in Suzhou China in December 2005.
BlueScope Steel’s fatality rate is currently 1.4 per 100 million hours worked. This is one third that of the international iron and steel industry and a marked improvement on historical performance. However, the only acceptable number of fatalities is zero, and we are doing everything possible to achieve this.
We are striving to achieve at least a 20 per cent reduction in serious injuries (MTIFR) next year. Each part of the business will select targets to work toward this goal.
The ongoing effort to further develop our safety leaders is an essential element of our overall strategy, as is the continued implementation of risk management practices, behavioural health and safety audits, the reporting of incidents and near misses and the identification and prevention of at risk behaviour and at risk conditions.
We will not be satisfied until we achieve our goal of Zero Harm.
