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ArcelorMittal announces recommendations from dss+ workplace safety audit

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ArcelorMittal has released recommendations from a comprehensive workplace safety audit conducted by dss+ over nine months. The audit, commissioned in late 2023, covered fatality prevention standards, process safety management, and in-depth assessments of health and safety systems across the company's global operations.

Key findings include:

  • ArcelorMittal has appropriate policies and standards, but implementation varies across the group
  • There's a need to establish 'one safety culture' across the diverse organization
  • Contractor safety management requires improvement

The audit resulted in six main recommendations, focusing on improving risk identification, strengthening assurance models, embedding safety culture, enhancing contractor safety management, adopting best practices for process safety management, and integrating safety into business processes.

ArcelorMittal has begun implementing these recommendations and will provide regular updates on progress towards achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries.

ArcelorMittal ha pubblicato le raccomandazioni di un audit sulla sicurezza sul lavoro eseguito da dss+ nel corso di nove mesi. L'audit, commissionato a fine 2023, ha riguardato gli standard di prevenzione degli infortuni mortali, la gestione della sicurezza dei processi e valutazioni approfondite dei sistemi di salute e sicurezza nelle operazioni globali dell'azienda.

I risultati principali includono:

  • ArcelorMittal ha politiche e standard appropriati, ma l'implementazione varia nel gruppo
  • È necessario stabilire una 'cultura della sicurezza unificata' all'interno dell'organizzazione diversificata
  • La gestione della sicurezza dei contraenti necessita di miglioramenti

L'audit ha portato a sei raccomandazioni principali, focalizzandosi sul miglioramento dell'identificazione dei rischi, sul rafforzamento dei modelli di garanzia, sull'incorporazione della cultura della sicurezza, sul potenziamento della gestione della sicurezza dei contraenti, sull'adozione delle migliori pratiche per la gestione della sicurezza dei processi e sull'integrazione della sicurezza nei processi aziendali.

ArcelorMittal ha iniziato a implementare queste raccomandazioni e fornirà aggiornamenti regolari sui progressi verso il raggiungimento di zero fatalità e infortuni gravi.

ArcelorMittal ha publicado recomendaciones de una auditoría de seguridad laboral realizada por dss+ durante un período de nueve meses. La auditoría, encargada a finales de 2023, cubrió los estándares de prevención de fatalidades, la gestión de seguridad de procesos y evaluaciones exhaustivas de los sistemas de salud y seguridad en las operaciones globales de la empresa.

Los hallazgos clave incluyen:

  • ArcelorMittal tiene políticas y estándares apropiados, pero la implementación varía en todo el grupo
  • Es necesario establecer una 'cultura de seguridad única' en la diversa organización
  • La gestión de la seguridad de contratistas requiere mejoras

La auditoría resultó en seis principales recomendaciones, centradas en mejorar la identificación de riesgos, fortalecer los modelos de garantía, incorporar la cultura de seguridad, mejorar la gestión de la seguridad de contratistas, adoptar las mejores prácticas para la gestión de seguridad de procesos e integrar la seguridad en los procesos de negocio.

ArcelorMittal ha comenzado a implementar estas recomendaciones y proporcionará actualizaciones regulares sobre el progreso hacia el logro de cero fatalidades y lesiones graves.

아르셀로미탈은 dss+에 의해 9개월 동안 수행된 직장 안전 감사의 권고사항을 발표했습니다. 2023년 말에 의뢰된 이 감사는 사망 예방 기준, 프로세스 안전 관리, 그리고 회사의 글로벌 운영 전반에 걸친 건강 및 안전 시스템에 대한 심층 평가를 포함했습니다.

주요 발견 사항은 다음과 같습니다:

  • 아르셀로미탈은 적절한 정책 및 기준을 가지고 있으나, 그룹 내 실행 정도는 상이함
  • 다양한 조직 내에서 '하나의 안전 문화'를 확립할 필요가 있음
  • 계약자 안전 관리는 개선이 필요함

이 감사는 위험 식별 개선, 보증 모델 강화, 안전 문화 내재화, 계약자 안전 관리 향상, 프로세스 안전 관리를 위한 모범 사례 채택 및 비즈니스 프로세스에 안전 통합 등을 중점으로 한 6가지 주요 권고사항을 도출하였습니다.

아르셀로미탈은 이러한 권고사항을 구현하기 시작했으며, 제로 사망 및 중상 부상을 달성하기 위한 진행 상황에 대한 정기적인 업데이트를 제공할 것입니다.

ArcelorMittal a publié des recommandations provenant d'un audit de sécurité au travail réalisé par dss+ sur une période de neuf mois. L'audit, commandé à la fin de 2023, a couvert les normes de prévention des décès, la gestion de la sécurité des processus et des évaluations approfondies des systèmes de santé et de sécurité dans l'ensemble des opérations mondiales de l'entreprise.

Les principales conclusions comprennent :

  • ArcelorMittal dispose de politiques et normes appropriées, mais leur mise en œuvre varie au sein du groupe.
  • Il y a un besoin d'établir une 'culture de la sécurité unique' au sein de l'organisation diversifiée.
  • La gestion de la sécurité des contractuels doit être améliorée.

L'audit a abouti à six recommandations principales, axées sur l'amélioration de l'identification des risques, le renforcement des modèles d'assurance, l'intégration de la culture de sécurité, l'amélioration de la gestion de la sécurité des contractuels, l'adoption des meilleures pratiques en matière de gestion de la sécurité des processus et l'intégration de la sécurité dans les processus d'affaires.

ArcelorMittal a commencé à mettre en œuvre ces recommandations et fournira des mises à jour régulières sur les progrès réalisés vers l'atteinte de zéro décès et de blessures graves.

ArcelorMittal hat Empfehlungen aus einem umfassenden Sicherheitsaudit am Arbeitsplatz veröffentlicht, das von dss+ über einen Zeitraum von neun Monaten durchgeführt wurde. Das Audit, das Ende 2023 beauftragt wurde, umfasste Standards zur Verhütung von Todesfällen, Prozesssicherheitsmanagement und detaillierte Bewertungen der Gesundheits- und Sicherheitsysteme in den globalen Betrieben des Unternehmens.

Wesentliche Erkenntnisse umfassen:

  • ArcelorMittal hat geeignete Richtlinien und Standards, aber die Umsetzung variiert innerhalb der Gruppe.
  • Es besteht die Notwendigkeit, eine 'einheitliche Sicherheitskultur' im vielfältigen Unternehmen zu etablieren.
  • Das Sicherheitsmanagement von Auftragnehmern muss verbessert werden.

Das Audit führte zu sechs Hauptempfehlungen, die sich auf die Verbesserung der Risikobewertung, die Stärkung von Garantie-Modellen, die Verankerung der Sicherheitskultur, die Verbesserung des Sicherheitsmanagements von Auftragnehmern, die Annahme von Best Practices für das Prozesssicherheitsmanagement und die Integration der Sicherheit in den Geschäftsprozesse konzentrieren.

ArcelorMittal hat begonnen, diese Empfehlungen umzusetzen, und wird regelmäßige Updates über die Fortschritte zur Erreichung von null Todesfällen und schweren Verletzungen bereitstellen.

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9 October 2024, 08:00 CET

ArcelorMittal (the 'Company' or the 'Group') has today published the recommendations of the comprehensive dss+ workplace safety audit that was commissioned at the end of 2023, against the backdrop of a clear necessity to strengthen Group safety performance.

The audit, which was ongoing for nine months across all geographies, functions and levels of the organization, had three main scopes:

1.   Fatality prevention standards for the three main occupational risks leading to serious injuries and fatalities (work at heights, vehicle driving and energy isolation);

2.   Process safety1 management focused on the highest risk assets; and

3.   In depth assessments of health and safety (H&S) systems, processes and capabilities; governance and assurance processes; and data management.

Commenting, Aditya Mittal, Chief Executive Officer, ArcelorMittal, said:

“Last October I said that we would take a hard look at our safety performance, in order to identify areas for improvement, and strengthen our actions, processes and culture to ensure that we can prevent all serious accidents. 

“To achieve our aim, we contracted dss+ to carry out an extensive workplace safety audit across our operations in every region of the world. Over the course of nine months, dss+ visited more than 150 of our sites and interviewed hundreds of our people, from the shop floor to the board room. This unprecedented level of access allowed them to thoroughly review safety practices across the Group, providing us with a clear set of recommendations which we are committed to implement.

“Although the dss+ audit confirmed that we have the right policies and standards, the biggest challenge is to truly embed “one safety culture” across the Group. The dss+ analysis makes clear that while there are areas of good practice and world-class performance, this is not uniformly the case and there are business units where improvement is required. The recommendations therefore focus on lifting underperformers and consistently embedding best practices across all business units, underpinned by strong governance and assurance.

“This will not be an easy journey. We have been on this road for some time already without achieving the results we want. Different outcomes require a different approach. It will require openness to doing things differently, at all levels of the organisation. I am pleased the audit confirmed understanding and support for this across all segments – we need everyone to be fully committed.

“We are now defining the most effective ways to implement these recommendations in an accelerated manner. The recommendations sound simple but there is a lot of detail that sits underneath including the site-specific workplans that are now being developed and will be the workhorse of our efforts.

“We recognize the ongoing interest of stakeholders in our progress and are committed to providing regular reports, explaining our progress on our journey to zero fatalities, as well updates on the implementation of the recommendations.”

Commenting, Davide Vassallo, CEO of dss+ said:

“ArcelorMittal has made considerable effort to improve its safety standards and processes in recent years and there is understandable concern that results still fall short. Across a Group of such scale and breadth it is not surprising that we encountered considerable variability in performance. But in interactions with hundreds of people, we found all were very genuine in their desire to keep people safe and open to learning, improving and, where recommended, doing things differently.

“A key finding was that while standards and protocols across the Group were broadly in line with good practice, behaviours can fall short of what the policies require. There are undoubtedly good performers in the Group, who demonstrate all the characteristics of those companies that can sustain excellent safety results. The challenge is to raise all operations in the Group to this standard – and this is what our recommendations are fundamentally designed to address.

“This means enhancing risk evaluation, building a “Plan Do Check Act” continuous improvement mentality, coaching and mentoring all shop floor workers to become safety ambassadors, ensuring the same standards are in place for contractors, upgrading Process Risk Management standards, taking action in response to both excellent and poor safety performance, and then ensuring rigorous three-line assurance.

“There is no silver bullet when it comes to delivering sustained, excellent safety results, and each of the six recommendations deserve and need equal focus. Together they build on the good practices we identified to more deeply integrate, align and connect all safety related activities, creating a solid foundation on which all operational activity then sits.

“The commitment of leadership is vital – and I am reassured through our interactions that it is there, at the Group, segment and business unit level.

“At dss+ we passionately believe every company has the potential to operate entirely safely. ArcelorMittal, having commissioned this very detailed audit, is taking the right steps to ensure it can move in this direction.”

The audit

The audit was carried out over nine months and comprised of:

-   155 site audits (including JVs) on the three main occupational risks;

-   Process safety management audits on the 14 highest risk assets;

-   Thorough examination of H&S management practices across the Group, including

o   Key H&S documents and data review;

o   280+ interviews of ArcelorMittal employees, including board members, senior leadership, middle management, H&S personnel and union members;

o   60+ management and H&S meetings attended; and

o   80+ focus groups with shopfloor employees (union and non-union), supervisors, and middle management.

Observations from the audit

The recommendations build on the current workplace safety context across ArcelorMittal, which dss+ identified as follows:

  • Recent global workplace safety improvement efforts have focused on the pillars of “Risk Management” (including differentiation between occupational risks and process safety risks) and “Safety Culture”.
  • While ArcelorMittal has good occupational health and safety standards (including its fatality prevention standards), supported by the life-saving golden rules, the implementation of the standards varies across the Group.
  • Similarly, the implementation of process safety management (PSM), which at ArcelorMittal relies on a set of established technical standards developed by both ArcelorMittal and vendors, varies across the Group.
  • Leadership knows that the current performance is not satisfactory and is committed to intensifying the organization’s commitment to the Journey to Zero, which is the aim of achieving zero fatalities and serious injuries.
  • The Company recognizes the importance of establishing “one safety culture” and is alert to the fact this will be a long-term effort due to the diversity and complexity of the Group.
  • There is a particular challenge with contractors. The number of contractors working across ArcelorMittal’s projects and operations varies every day depending on activity but will always be at least 20,000 and can be as high as 50,000.

Overall, while there are areas of excellence in the Group, variability in performance exists which must be addressed by initiatives that fast-track the strengthening of “one safety culture,” underpinned by enhanced governance and assurance across all operations. 

Recommendations

dss+ has presented its recommendations to the Company’s Board of Directors, the Executive Office and the Group Management Committee.

The recommendations are classified into six main areas:

1: Improving the identification and understanding of operational risk exposure

dss+ recommends strengthening the identification and understanding of operational risk exposure, through several measures:

1. Enhancing the governance framework to better identify and understand operational risk exposure; and

2. Building on the existing fatality prevention standards to upgrade the “Plan Do Check Act” (PDCA) cycle, supported by additional governance practices (e.g. additional leading indicators and enhanced risk-management routines).

2: Strengthening the existing health & safety assurance model

dss+ recommends strengthening the existing health & safety assurance model with three lines of assurance across all business units to provide more comprehensive oversight, thereby better identifying and addressing implementation challenges. This will help mitigate serious accidents. The additional improved lines of assurance will provide more consistency and will support ArcelorMittal’s desire to strengthen its “one safety culture.”

dss+ recommends operationalising the assurance model through regular assurance reviews across the three-line model that are prioritised based on the level of operational risk.

3: Continuing to embed safety values, mindsets and behaviours to strengthen the “one safety culture”

The reach and diversity of ArcelorMittal’s footprint introduces complexity in driving a common safety culture across the Group. dss+ recommends on-the-ground coaching and mentorship programs to be designed and introduced for all leaders (involving more than 10,000 people) to reinforce the existing safety training programs, e.g. “Take Care”. This will provide a strong foundation for “one safety culture” across all levels.

4: Improving contractor safety management standards

dss+ recommends standardizing and improving each contractor safety management element (e.g. contractor selection, evaluation, onboarding, execution and post-performance review) across all contractor cohorts (embedded and projects contractors) to help ensure full adoption of ArcelorMittal’s existing and planned best practices. This will help bring any lagging contractor safety performance up to ArcelorMittal’s standard requirements.

5: Adopting industry best practices for Process Safety Management (PSM)

dss+ recommends developing and implementing a common PSM framework and accompanying standards that further incorporates best practices in all relevant PSM elements (e.g. avoidance of all unwanted process safety events through hazard identification, analysis, control, and better asset integrity). Ensuring alignment with relevant management systems (e.g. operations and maintenance) will be essential to improve controls effectiveness and mitigate process safety-related risk.

Additionally, dss+ recommends launching pilot sites to implement prioritised PSM elements in waves to achieve faster impact while the full framework elements are being rolled out.

6: Integrating health & safety elements into supporting business processes

dss+ recommends further integrating supporting business processes into H&S to support an improved “one safety culture” across the Group. Four specific processes require additional focus:

1.        Further integrate safety elements into all parts of the employee life cycle encompassing selection, onboarding, development and promotion;

2.        Consistently reward and recognize good performance and achievements, and increase consequences for not following processes and rules, e.g. consequence management;

3.        Further enhance the identification of critical safety investments to support risk reduction efforts; and

4.        Strengthen safety management practices throughout capital projects life cycle, from design, engineering, procurement, and contracting, to construction and start-up, including governance and assurance framework.

Implementing the recommendations:

The Company has begun actioning dss+’s recommendations, including:

  • Implementing the interim recommendations given to sites during the Fatality Prevention Standard (FPS) audits (more than 90% completed to date);
  • Ensuring business units’ development of customized, business unit-specific workplans, to incorporate into their five-year planning cycle;
  • Identifying the priority sites that will be the first to implement the new Process Safety Management framework in connection with the business unit-specific workplans each business unit develops;  
  • Taking steps to apply process safety management elements to all new projects; and
  • Improving select ArcelorMittal fatality prevention standards based on dss+’s recommendations.

The Company will keep stakeholders updated on progress.

ENDS

About ArcelorMittal

ArcelorMittal is one of the world’s leading integrated steel and mining companies with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking operations in 15 countries. It is the largest steel producer in Europe, among the largest in the Americas, and has a growing presence in Asia, including India, through its joint venture AM/NS India.

ArcelorMittal sells its products to a diverse range of customers including the automotive, engineering, construction and machinery industries, and in 2023 generated revenues of $68.3 billion, produced 58.1 million metric tonnes of crude steel and 42.0 million tonnes of iron ore.

Our purpose is to produce smarter steels for people and planet. Steels made using innovative processes which use less energy, emit significantly less carbon and reduce costs. Steels that are cleaner, stronger and reusable. Steels for the renewable energy infrastructure that will support societies as they transform through this century. With steel at our core, our inventive people and an entrepreneurial culture at heart, we will support the world in making that change.

ArcelorMittal is listed on the stock exchanges of New York (MT), Amsterdam (MT), Paris (MT), Luxembourg (MT) and on the Spanish stock exchanges of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid and Valencia (MTS). For more information about ArcelorMittal please visit: http://corporate.arcelormittal.com.

   
Contact information ArcelorMittal Investor Relations  
   
General +44 20 7543 1128
Retail +44 20 3214 2893
SRI +44 20 3214 2801
Bonds/Credit
E-mail
+33 171 921 026
investor.relations@arcelormittal.com
   
   
Contact information ArcelorMittal Corporate Communications  
 

Paul Weigh
Tel:
E-mail:
 

 

+44 20 3214 2419
press@arcelormittal.com
   



1 Process safety is management of risks that involve the safe operations of a process that is specific to the operating unit or the equipment itself (e.g. blast furnace, coke plant, etc)


FAQ

What were the main areas covered in ArcelorMittal's (MT) workplace safety audit?

The dss+ workplace safety audit for ArcelorMittal (MT) covered three main areas: fatality prevention standards for key occupational risks, process safety management focused on high-risk assets, and in-depth assessments of health and safety systems, processes, capabilities, governance, and data management.

How many sites did dss+ visit during ArcelorMittal's (MT) safety audit?

During the nine-month safety audit of ArcelorMittal (MT), dss+ visited more than 150 sites across all regions of the company's global operations.

What are the six main recommendation areas from the dss+ safety audit for ArcelorMittal (MT)?

The six main recommendation areas from the dss+ safety audit for ArcelorMittal (MT) are: 1) Improving operational risk exposure identification, 2) Strengthening health & safety assurance models, 3) Embedding safety culture, 4) Improving contractor safety management, 5) Adopting best practices for Process Safety Management, and 6) Integrating health & safety into business processes.

How is ArcelorMittal (MT) addressing contractor safety based on the audit recommendations?

ArcelorMittal (MT) is addressing contractor safety by standardizing and improving contractor safety management elements across all contractor cohorts. This includes enhancing contractor selection, evaluation, onboarding, execution, and post-performance review processes to ensure full adoption of ArcelorMittal's safety practices.

What steps is ArcelorMittal (MT) taking to implement the dss+ safety audit recommendations?

ArcelorMittal (MT) is implementing the dss+ safety audit recommendations by: 1) Actioning interim recommendations at sites, 2) Developing business unit-specific workplans, 3) Identifying priority sites for new Process Safety Management framework implementation, 4) Applying process safety management to new projects, and 5) Improving fatality prevention standards based on dss+ recommendations.

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