News

Dec 03, 2023

Safety and health in the steel industry: Data report 2023

Openness and transparency are key to improving safety and health in the industry

Openness and transparency are key to improving safety and health in the industry

For terminology definitions and calculations, please refer to the worldsteel publication Safety and health principles and definitions available at worldsteel.org

worldsteel's safety and health benchmarking is based on balanced and collective metrics.

Monitoring and reporting on accidents and diseases globally ensures adequate risk-based prioritisation and focused global efforts to guarantee the availability of adequate and effective risk controls. Openness and transparency are key to improving safety and health in the steel industry.

The safety statistics for 2022 were derived from data provided by 55 organisations, representing 60% of worldsteel members. In terms of crude steel production coverage, worldsteel collected data covering 487 Mt of crude steel, corresponding to 26.6% of global crude steel production.

In terms of general industry performance, this report shows progress, with lagging indicators reaching record lows. However, despite this cause for cautious optimism, it is important to recognise that 90 fatalities were reported to worldsteel in 2022. Our immediate focus needs to remain on the reduction and elimination of fatalities across our industry.

worldsteel's position on lagging indicators

The most popular lagging indicators, such as Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) or Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate (TRIFR), will be kept within the worldsteel reporting framework and as a reference of the industry's general performance.

However, comparisons between organisations or local sites should not be made using LTIFR or TRIFR.

Below are the main reasons:

These two indicators should not be part of individual, team or organisation objectives, bonuses, or incentives as they can foster a negative attitude towards reporting, limiting the organisational ability to learn and improve.

A Serious Injury is a permanent impairment or life-altering state, or an injury that, if not immediately addressed, will lead to death or permanent or long-term impairment.

A Potential Serious injury or Fatality is a near miss incident that could have resulted in a serious injury or fatality if not for specific barriers or countermeasures or if one factor around the event had been changed.

A precursor of PSIF is a high-risk situation in which control methods are absent, ineffective, or not complied with, and if allowed to continue, would potentially result in a fatality or serious injury.

The number of individual sites reporting to worldsteel the use of the PSIF framework has increased in recent years. The figures below only include data from companies/sites reporting PSIFs and combine contractors and employees.

Total Recordable Incidents comprise Fatalities (F), Lost Time Injuries (LTI), Restricted Work Cases (RWC) and Medically Treated Injuries (MTI). In the data survey, restricted work cases and medically treated injuries are reported separately. Working hours are counted only on sites that have reported at least one restricted work case or medically treated injury.

* In 2022, there were 90 fatalities reported to worldsteel. In order to preserve the ratios within the TRIFR section of this report, Fatalities reported by organisations that were not able to provide TRIFR information have been excluded from this analysis.

Safety pyramids can be used to compare the shape of a company's incident triangle. In case the company triangle is narrower, it could mean that not all incidents are reported, or that fatality prevention requires more attention. It should be noted that the average incident triangle is not necessarily optimal; it should probably be wider. Reducing the number of more minor incidents does not directly reduce the probability of severe incidents, but having those reported allows action to be taken to mitigate risks that might otherwise cause severe incidents.

The table shows the ratio between Lost Time Injuries and Fatalities by cause. Small ratios mean that per Fatality, there are, on average, only a small amount of Lost Time Injuries; a big ratio indicates there are many Lost Time Injuries per Fatality. If these were drawn as an incident triangle for each cause, the triangles for the small ratios would be very narrow.

These ratios show that to prevent Fatalities, it is more important to undertake comprehensive and robust incident investigations and instigate preventive measures for those incidents with a low ratio. It is precisely these incidents that are most likely to lead to Fatalities without effective prevention. These ratios also emphasise the usefulness of categorising Potential Serious Injuries and Fatalities among other incidents. Please see the next chapter for further information on this.

Lost Time Injury (LTI). Any work-related injury resulting in the employee or contractor being unable to return to work for their next scheduled work period. Returning to work with work restrictions does not constitute a Lost Time Injury status, no matter how minimal or severe the restrictions, provided it is at the employee's next scheduled shift. However, if an Injury deteriorates and time is later lost, an LTI should be recorded. Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) is calculated by combining Fatalities (F) and LTIs.

The following graphs show the distribution of causes separated by employees and contractors.

Death from a work-related injury, certified by a medical professional. Fatality Frequency Rate (FFR) is calculated on the number of Fatalities per million man hours.

* Data received from China via Sinosteel Wuhan Safety & Environmental Protection Research Institute (SEPRI) does not distinguish between employees and contractors. Data received directly from Chinese worldsteel members does and is included in the analysis.

The following graphs show the distribution of causes split by employees and contractors.

Note: events registered as ‘other’ or ‘Unknown’ are not included.

Process Safety Management (PSM) is a blend of operational, engineering and management skills focused on preventing catastrophic accidents and near misses, particularly explosions, fires, structural collapse, and damaging releases associated with a loss of containment of energy or dangerous substances such as molten metals, fuels, and chemicals.

The manufacturing of steel involves processes with intrinsic hazards that need careful management. The measures required to control these hazards are often complex. The focus of Process Safety Management is not limited to protecting the people within the company but also includes the environment, assets, and the surrounding community.

The Process Safety Management maturity analysis was derived from data provided by 28 organisations, representing 30% of worldsteel members.

Increasing maturity in process safety management can be observed. The industry has grown in experience and expertise in process safety management; however, there is an important area of improvement for element 15 (measurement and metrics). Process Safety KPIs are different from Occupational Safety KPIs. This issue has led to requests from worldsteel members to provide effective indicators for benchmarking and monitoring purposes. In the past, worldsteel has referenced well-accepted frameworks (e.g., RP API 754); however, a specific set of indicators and guidance will be developed.

Sickness absence [Percentage] is calculated as the total number of hours of sickness absence per total work hours. This indicator is only calculated for employees.

The following table shows the sickness absence per region.

* In 2022, CIS data is derived from member companies/sites located in Ukraine and Kazakhstan