ArcelorMittal Annual Report 2008

Given the prime importance
of Health and Safety, what progress
was made in this area in 2008?
Aditya Mittal: Since our merger in 2006
we have worked to ensure that Health
and Safety is our priority number one
and our frequency rate has gone down
significantly. Building on ArcelorMittal
Dofasco’s initiative, in 2008 we launched
our new global Health and Safety
improvement process: ‘Journey to Zero’.
ArcelorMittal Dofasco was recognized
by the World Steel Association with
the 2008 Safety and Health Excellence
Recognition Award, for its efforts
to eliminate accidents and injuries.
They also met the requirements of the
OHSAS 18001:2007 Occupational Health
and Safety Assessment Series Standard,
being the first of our North American
sites to do so. We must always remember
that, even if this performance
is encouraging, we need to continue
building a culture where everyone
realizes that safety must come first.
Michel Wurth: Overall, we have made
progress, as our accident frequency
and severity figures attest. But we still
experienced fatalities, and it is here
that we will focus major efforts in the
year ahead – particularly in the area
of responsible behavior – as we work
to implement the ‘Journey to Zero’ program.
One other pressing issue is a relatively
poor safety performance among
contractors. Clearly, there is greater
rotation of outside personnel but that
should be no excuse. We are not where
we want to be on this issue – and
there is much more work to be done.
This is the absolute priority.
Gonzalo Urquijo: There are two
aspects to consider. On the one hand,
we suffered a number of fatalities,
which is unacceptable. On the other,
we reduced overall accident frequency
and severity rates. We are now
concentrating on the areas of maximum
vulnerability, such as falls from height,
road and rail traffic, loading of materials
and unauthorized access to particular areas.
We are involving everyone, from top
to bottom, and we are working hard
to share the lessons of every incident
in all our plants worldwide. Nothing is
more important than safety and we are
determined to achieve the highest
possible standards.
Christophe Cornier: In the steelmaking
and iron ore operations, we are making
continuous, step-by-step progress.
Safety ratios improved over the year
and the extension of our ‘world-class
manufacturing’ initiative in 2009 will keep
the pressure up in areas such as good
housekeeping. The coal mining operations
are another matter. We are engaged in
a $1.2 billion mine modernization program
spanning over five years to complete.
While other areas of capital expenditure will
be trimmed in 2009, safety will be one of our
focus areas – testimony to the overriding
importance we give to lifting safety standards.
Sudhir Maheshwari: For me, the key event
was the launch of the ‘Journey to Zero’
initiative, aimed at making accidents a thing
of the past. I am confident this program
will yield positive results in 2009 and beyond.
Davinder Chugh: Health and Safety
of our colleagues and contractors working
in our plants is of utmost importance
to the management. Our supplier selection
criteria now include a good safety track
record. Contractor training is enforced and
we have introduced stricter norms in our
contracts for adherence to safety standards.
There are consequences for safety lapses
and there is motivation for good safety
performance by contractors.
We face a big challenge.
As part of a value
chain that extends from
our suppliers at one
end to our customers
at the other, steel
consumption is bound
to be hit if, for instance,
people are not buying
cars or ordering new
buildings. The answer is
that we must focus
on the three ‘Cs’ – Cash,
Customers, and Cost.
Michel Wurth, GMB.
GMB members,
from left to right:
Lakshmi N Mittal
Sudhir Maheshwari
Michel Wurth
Aditya Mittal
Christophe Cornier
Gonzalo Urquijo
Davinder Chugh
7
Questions for the Group Management Board
ArcelorMittal Annual Report 2008