ArcelorMittal Annual Report 2008

Journey to ZeroAt ArcelorMittal, Health and Safetyis the top priority. As clear evidence,every meeting of both the GroupManagement Board and the ManagementCommittee begins with a Healthand Safety review.In March 2007, ArcelorMittal’sHealth and Safety policy was launched.Aimed at reducing the frequencyof accidents on a continuing basis,it underlines the commitment ArcelorMittalhas made to the well-being and safetyof all employees – both on and offthe job – and is a key componentof ‘transforming tomorrow’.In September 2008, ‘Journey to Zero’,ArcelorMittal’s Health and Safetyimprovement process, was launchedat the Leadership Conference in NewDelhi, India. The world class principlescontained within the Group-wide Healthand Safety policy form the foundationof ‘Journey to Zero’ – a widely heldand deeply felt initiative – with the goalof zero accidents.‘Journey to Zero’ represents thecommitted pursuit of an injury-free,illness-free and healthy workplace.As such, it is a common language usedto drive ArcelorMittal’s continual Healthand Safety improvement and to developcommon leadership actions to deliverperformance excellence. It leverageslearning and shared best practices acrossthe entire organization and engagespeople at all levels to identify highimpact improvement priorities.The process starts at the top and is ledby a senior site leader. In every site/location, a ‘talent’ has been selectedas project leader. Improvement initiativeswere rapidly developed since the launchand have already become part of localHealth and Safety business plans for 2009.The focus is on preventive operationalactivities, improving standards througheffective implementation of good andbest practices including hazardidentification and risk analysis, accident/incident investigation, critical taskanalysis, indicators follow-up, systemreview, communication process,layered evaluations/shop floor audits,colleague care and much more.This becomes part of a completeHealth and Safety Management System(‘HSMS’), underlying actions that areshop floor oriented and event analysisdriven. Each single Health and Safetybusiness plan on site can refer to theHSMS to devise key initiatives withreference to their own culture,their past results, their history andmotivational capabilities.Global Joint Health andSafety AgreementOn June 3, 2008, ArcelorMittal andthe European Metalworkers’ Federation,the United Steelworkers and theInternational Metalworkers’ Federation,signed a groundbreaking Global Agreementon Occupational Health and Safety.The agreement, the first of its kindin the steel industry, recognizes thevital role played by trade unions inimproving Health and Safety. It setsout minimum standards in every sitein which ArcelorMittal operates in orderto achieve world class performance.These standards include the commitmentto form joint management/unionHealth and Safety committees as wellas training and education programs inorder to make a meaningful impacton overall Health and Safety across theGroup. Also included in the agreementis the creation of a joint management/unionGlobal Health and Safety Committeethat will target plants in the Group in orderto help them to further improve theirHealth and Safety performance.Following the Global Health and SafetyCommittee meeting in East Chicago, USA,in June 2008, new Global Health and Safetystandards were refined and finalized.These included the new – and verycritical – global standards for contractors;vehicles and driving; cranes and lifting,as well as the Alert Procedure.From September 30 to October 1,2008, members of the Global JointHealth and Safety Committee metin Kazakhstan. Their primary purposewas to support implementation of thegroundbreaking Global Joint Healthand Safety Committee agreement.Continuing their work, union leadersand ArcelorMittal management metin Timóteo, Brazil from November 11-13,2008. Brazil has joint Health and Safetycommittees – CIPAs – which are a legalrequirement – composed of appointedmanagement and elected employees.At this second leg of the 2008 session,union members of the Joint Committeemet union representatives from acrossBrazil in Belo Horizonte.PerformanceDespite the current global economicuncertainties, the ArcelorMittal Groupplaces Health and Safety as its numberone priority. ArcelorMittal is ona ‘Journey to Zero’. The Group’sLost Time Injury Frequency Rateimproved in 2008 to 2.3 (comparedwith 3.3 in 2007, for steel and mining).The driving philosophy underlyingthe Health and Safety process is thatif some parts of the ArcelorMittalGroup can deliver best practice, all partscan. By learning together and sharingbest experience across the entireorganization, they achieve high impactHealth and Safety improvementthat protects the company’s greatestasset – the people.To leverage and improve the Healthand Safety performance around the Group,the Group Management Board identified15 high priority plants at end of year2008. The implementation of Healthand Safety improvement plans at thesesites will be closely monitored ona weekly basis with the direct involvementof the corporate Health and Safety team.Leading by exampleThere are many good examplesof ‘Journey to Zero’ progress in theGroup that show how the processcan be implemented.In 2008, ArcelorMittal Châtelet,Belgium, received the OHSAS 18001certification in January, followed by theService Centre based in Genk, Belgium,in April, ArcelorMittal Rodange,Luxembourg, in August, ArcelorMittalAncerville, France, in September andArcelorMittal Usti, Czech Republic,in October. More recently, ArcelorMittalTimóteo in Brazil, ArcelorMittal Genkin Belgium, ArcelorMittal Gueugnon,ArcelorMittal Isbergues, ArcelorMittalPont de Roide and Firminy in France,the Service Centre based in Poland andanother one based in Spain also obtainedtheir OHSAS 18001 certification.Health and Safety: The Number 1 PriorityArcelorMittal Annual Report 200815