POSCO Eliminates Safety Blind Spots Through Collaborative Facility Investment with Partners

97 Improvement Suggestions from Partners Reflected in Steel Plant Equipment Investment Project

Process Introduced to Hear and Incorporate Safety Opinions from Partners During Equipment Investment

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik] POSCO announced on the 6th that it is taking the lead in establishing a safe working environment by introducing a process to listen to and reflect safety opinions from partner companies during steel mill facility investments.

When investing in steel mill facilities such as replacing aging equipment or installing new equipment, POSCO involves partner companies that operate or maintain the equipment from the investment review stage to collect safety-related improvement opinions and actively reflect them.

The process for reflecting partner company opinions operates in three stages: ▲collecting improvement opinions ▲design reflection ▲inspection.

First, when a steel mill facility investment project occurs, it has been made mandatory to include safety-related improvement opinions from partner companies related to the equipment from the investment review stage when proposing the investment. During the design stage, partner companies discuss detailed plans with POSCO’s safety, operations, and maintenance departments and agree to reflect these plans. Furthermore, partner companies can directly participate in equipment inspections to verify whether their improvement ideas have been incorporated.

Since the process was introduced in April, POSCO has reflected a total of 97 improvement opinions from partner companies in steel mill facility investment projects up to recently, resolving factors that workers might perceive as unsafe.

For example, in the ‘Gwangyang Blast Furnace Nos. 3, 4, and 5 Blowing Equipment Replacement Project,’ approved in July and scheduled to start construction early next year, the opinions of partner companies maintaining the blowing equipment were reflected by installing hoists (devices that lift cargo using hook-shaped rings) and rails on the upper part of the equipment to conveniently move heavy items such as pumps.

By suspending heavy objects with the hoist and safely moving them along the rails, it is expected to prevent collision accidents during transport and musculoskeletal disorders among workers.

In the ‘Pohang Cold Rolling Plant No. 2 Water Treatment Cooling Tower Distributor Replacement Project,’ completed in the first half of the year, partner companies’ ideas were also actively incorporated. To lower the temperature of the cooling water, the distributor and distributor cover installed on top of the cooling tower were made of highly corrosion-resistant stainless steel to prevent corrosion or deformation. Additionally, the protruding handles on the cover were changed to a recessed form like a manhole to reduce the risk of workers tripping.

Moreover, the narrow maintenance space was expanded to provide sufficient working space, and additional installations such as ladders and safety ropes were planned for safe high-altitude work, reflecting various ideas from partner companies to build a safer working environment.

POSCO plans to continue discovering safety improvements together with partner companies and reflect them in investments to ensure that all workers in the steel mill can work safely on site during facility investment projects.

Meanwhile, POSCO has been consistently conducting safety education for partner companies. In February, it established a dedicated department to support partner company safety management, and earlier this year introduced the Safety Report System, allowing partner company employees to report unsafe work or safety threats via a mobile phone application.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.