We Choose the Safest Way, a health and safety film produced by ArcelorMittal and described by the company as 'ground breaking' has won a Gold Medal at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in Cannes, France.

The film was one of over 1,000 entries from across the world and was said to have stood out to those on the jury, which consisted of Oscar and Emmy winners.

The Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards are described as the most prestigious events honouring the world's finest corporate films, online media productions and documentaries, according to ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker.

"To engage effectively with employees on a topic that literally can be a matter of life or death, corporate health and safety communications departments collaborated to commission a video that would give everyone pause to think about why safety is a priority as well as why they want to return home safely at the end of each shift," the company explained.

The film was first aired internally at ArcelorMittal's annual Health and Safety Day in April, but was so well received that ArcelorMittal decided to publish the movie externally. Since May it received almost 25,000 views on YouTube and looks like becoming the steelmaker's most watched video production ever.

The film tells the 'true and tragic' and story of 'Max' and is read out by 'unsuspecting employee volunteers from around the world who represented all levels of seniority within the company'.

Robin Paulmier, ArcelorMittal's head of corporate health and safety commented: "The company has been organising an annual group-wide health and safety day for over a decade and although it has achieved a significant improvement in health and safety performance over that time, achieving our ultimate aim of being an injury-free workplace has proved elusive. To drive further progress toward this goal, the health and safety committee and I felt a fresh, personal and highly emotional message might encourage us all to stop and think about workplace safety in a way no other film has."

According to Paulmier, the movie achieved its goal 'beyond all expectation'. He said it touched colleagues and film industry professionals. "Congratulations and sincere thanks to everyone involved in this project, particularly our employee volunteers who connected with Max's story with genuine emotion and gave this film its impact," he said.