Health, Safety and Environment

At Severstal we believe high HS&E standards provide the basis for the Company’s stable development and its long-term success. The HS&E policy is implemented by all companies, affiliates and business units.

Health & Safety

Since 2005 the consolidated Severstal Lost Time Incident Frequency Rate (LTIFR)1 decreased by more than two times.

The most significant contribution to preventing incidents was by the Severstal Resources division. In 2009 alone, LTIFR1 went down 27% compared to 2008 and more than five times compared to 2005. They achieved this through a large programme named Safety for All, costing $27.5 million. This envisages developing a culture of safe behaviour at workplaces and implementing global best practice for labour safety management.

Over the last five years the Russian Steel division LTIFR1 has reduced 1.8 times. In 2009, we audited the health and industrial safety management system in the Cherepovets Steel Mill and decided upon a plan of action plan was worked out. The total cost for this Health and Safety programme in 2009 was $4.4 million.

Compared to 2005, the Severstal International division LTIFR1 has reduced 1.6 times. We took measures at the division’s business units in France and Italy in 2009 to further lower the occurrence of industrial injuries. This involved the personal leadership of the managers in labour safety, improving the system for exchanging internal safety information, and intense training of employees in safe labour techniques.

During 2009 the safety performance of the steelmaking facilities in North America improved in all categories over the 2008 performance, particularly in reducing all recordable and lost time injuries.

Environment

The most important ecological programmes of Severstal Resources division in 2009 included the construction of an industrial waste disposal site in one of the gold-mining businesses, improved waste water treatment facilities and the lowering of atmospheric emissions of pollutants. Last year Severstal Resources division spent more than US$2.2 million on environmental measures.

In the Russian Steel division, a comprehensive energy conservation programme started at the Cherepovets Steel Mill. The programme calls not only for conservation of resources, but also for a considerable reduction in CO2 emissions to the atmosphere (c 1 million tonnes a year). Since the start of the energy saving programme the rate of power consumption at the plant has reduced more than 20%. In 2009, environmental measures at the Cherepovets Steel Mill cost $8.7 million.

The efforts of the Severstal International division were focused mainly on implementing the following programmes:

Energy saving and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Decreasing air pollution.
Recycling metal scrap and managing slag by-products.
Water supply and waste water treatment.
Solid waste management.