At last week’s World Steel Conference in Chicago, USA, the World Steel Association (worldsteel) recognised Essar Steel India for safety leadership.
Arne Haferkorn, chair of the judging panel of the Worldsteel Safety Excellence Recognition Programme 2015, announced that Essar’s ‘Implementation of Process Safety Management’ has been recognised in the Safety Leadership category.
The award was received by Madhu Vuppuluri, CEO of Essar Steel based in Minnesota.
Essar Steel is the only Indian company in recent times to receive this recognition for two consecutive years.
The Process Safety Management (PSM) project incorporated several safety initiatives including online portal, campaigns, video and a safety rally that brought together 3,500 employees.
Dilip Oommen, Essar Steel India’s CEO and managing director, said that the company follows process safety management ‘rigorously’. “It is part of our standard operating procedure in all our activities,” he said, adding that it is propagated through extensive employee engagement, and awareness and training programmes. “Implementation of PSM in an integrated steel plant like ours not only ensures safety of operation, but also secures critical assets,” he said.
Essar Steel has won a number of safety accolades this year including the Ispat Suraksha Puraskar, awarded by the Joint Committee on Safety, Health & Environment in Steel Industries (JCSSI), the Manufacturing Today Excellence in Safety Award 2014 – Large Enterprises, the Safety Innovation Award 2014 from the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Golden Peacock Award for Occupational Health & Safety.