20.6.2013
Ostrava One of the stated priorities of the management of EVRAZ Vítkovice Steel (EVS) is to protect the health of its employees at work and minimize the impact of company activities on the environment. The priority is confirmed by the new, successful certification of the company in the work safety system, compliant with the international standard OHSAS 18001, and at the same time a successful outcome of the extension audit of the system of environmentally focused management EN ISO 14001, which was also re-confirmed by the certification company TÜV NORD Czech.
Work in heavy industry, including the production of steel products, carries a higher risk of worker injury. It is mainly caused by the nature of work in more demanding conditions than what would be considered normal, and also by the manipulation of heavy items and/or at high temperatures.
Based on a long-term goal of the EVRAZ Group management to reduce the injury rate at its plants to zero cases, EVS management implements activities that bring measurable, positive results. In general, EVS has been injury-free for more than 200 days, and its most successful production plants for over 850 days!
It is not only a matter of reducing workplace risk, such as by the investments in the purchase of new protective equipment or systems reducing the risk of falls. The main goal is to change people's minds towards the protection of their health as a priority, so as to contribute to building a modern company culture. The main purpose of the application of the OHSAS 18001 standard is to motivate all employees of the company to propose, and the management to introduce, such proactive and corrective measures that wherever applicable, would eliminate, reduce, or isolate risk to employees. Where this isn’t possible, work activities must be planned and managed by organizational measures so that their performance is safe, and health is free from risk.
"The health protection of our employees is a priority for the entire EVRAZ, and is a never-ending process. Its goal is simple, yet very important. We want every employee who comes to work to return home to his or her family healthy. The obtained OHSAS certification proves to our company that we take the goal seriously, " said Dmitrij Ščuka, Chairman of the Board EVRAZ Vítkovice Steel, a.s.
Both above listed successful audits, including frequent inspections by the state supervisory authorities that occurred without any significant comments on the performance of our duties, confirm that EVS does not "just" meet statutory standards, but carries out appropriate activities above and beyond the legal requirements.
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Crest Communications Ostrava
Jaromír Krišica
Work cell: +420 603 543 572
krisica@crestcom.cz
EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL specializes in the production of steel and its subsequent products: thick plates and cut shapes from thick plates. The goal of the company is to continue increasing the sales of products with a high added value, for example, the supply of plates for product pipelines. Thanks to the indispensable support of the Evraz Group and its strong position on the Russian and world markets, the company successfully entered the Russian product pipeline market. In the field of thick plate production, EVRAZ VÍTKOVICE STEEL is the main European manufacturer and the dominant producer in the Czech Republic.
EVRAZ is a vertically integrated steel, mining and vanadium business with operations in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, USA, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy and South Africa. EVRAZ is among the top 20 steel producers in the world based on crude steel production of 15.9 million tonnes in 2012. In 2011 EVRAZ sold 15.5 million tonnes of steel products. A significant portion of the company's internal consumption of iron ore and coking coal is covered by its mining operations. The company's consolidated revenues for the year ended 31 December 2011 were US$16,400 million, and consolidated EBITDA amounted to US$2,898 million. The H1 2012 consolidated revenue was US$7,619 million and the H1 2012 EBITDA was US$1,175 million.
