Safety first: thyssenkrupp Steel cooperates with the Herne mining rescue organisation on occupational safety

28 April is the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. However, the Steel Division of thyssenkrupp doesn’t just prioritise the safety of its employees on this one day, which is why it is once again dedicating almost an entire week to the World Day for Safety. During this week, there will be lots of initiatives drawing attention to this topic. The most important thing is that the entire workforce goes home fit and well at the end of every day.

Cooperation with the Herne mining rescue organisation helps to prevent accidents.

Occupational health and safety at thyssenkrupp requires the active involvement of all employees in order to continuously improve safety in the workplace. This is because each and every practical experience feeds into the development of solutions to problems at an early stage during the planning process. Michael Cremer is responsible for the mechanical maintenance of the coking plant in Schwelgern. The respiratory protection team at the coking plant frequently needs to perform major gas work. As part of this work, the team needs to carry heavy respiratory equipment on their backs and wear masks that limit their field of vision. Lots of experience is required to work in these conditions. However, there is no suitable training facility to gain this experience under controlled conditions on the coking plant premises. This is why the respiratory protection team has been working together with the mining rescue organisation in Herne. “This collaboration is extremely beneficial because it enables the team to train with original equipment and to gain the necessary experience,” says Michael Cremer. All employees are prepared for their assignments with practice-based safety training. This prevents accidents that result from improper training and insufficient experience.

Long-term goal: Zero accidents

The long-term goal at thyssenkrupp is to have zero accidents. In order to achieve this goal, occupational health and safety needs to be an integral part of all operational processes. Safety is more important than speed at all times. However, patience is required to make this perception of safety the norm. “In order to establish a new safety culture in the company, we need one thing above all else: Time. We need to take this time because we don’t want to do things by halves. We want to do it right,” says Dr. Sabine Maaßen, Chief Human Resources Officer at thyssenkrupp.