OREANDA-NEWS. November 11, 2011. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Gerdau, Andre B. Gerdau Johannpeter, received on Tuesday (11) the "Safety and Health Excellence Recognition 2011" awarded by the World Steel Association for the company's safety practices. The company was recognized by the project "The Molten Steel Path," which aims to ensure safe procedures during the melting process, refining, and transportation of liquid steel. The award was presented during the association's 45th annual meeting that brings together the leading companies in the steel sector, which took place October 9-12 in Paris, France.  

The " The Molten Steel Path " is a safety policy that was developed to ensure the safety of persons and equipment in the stages where the operations with the liquid steel are carried out. Its formulation process involved those people responsible for all the company's industrial operations with a thorough review of procedures, which, as a result identified technological solutions to reduce, eliminate, and control all risks involved in these processes.

The project began to be implemented in 2007 in Brazil's operations and is currently being implemented in all of Gerdau's steel mills. The guideline was also included in the Gerdau Safety Management System and has been the basis for the dissemination of knowledge to all the company's operations. For Gerdau, no situation of emergency, production, or financial performance can compromise the health and safety of its employees.

The award, which is in its fourth edition, received 23 entries from 21 company cases this year. This is the second time that the company, the leading producer of long steel in the Americas and one of the largest suppliers of special long steel in the world, receives this recognition from the World Steel Association. The World Steel Association represents approximately 170 steel producers that produce about 85% of the world's steel.