Corus Lisburn achieves outstanding Health & Safety award

Corus Ireland Service Centre in Lisburn has just achieved a remarkable feat. The site has been awarded the prestigious Level 8 ISRS Health & Safety standard, a huge success for the international steel company"s safety record.

The 38 acre site is now one of only two organisations in Ireland independently accredited to Level 8 of the International Safety Rating System. Lisburn is the first Corus site in the UK to achieve this level. Of all the fifty Corus sites worldwide, only one other site in Koblenz, Germany has achieved this level of safety award.

Following the successful achievement of Level 7 in 2003, every employee at Corus Lisburn has worked incredibly hard to achieve this new level 8.

Clare O"Neill, Health & Safety facilitator for Corus Ireland, explained what the award means to the company and employees.
"We set our targets for safety standards very high and we have all worked so hard to succeed. The award means so much to us all, not only in the recognition and praise that has come to us for succeeding, but also in the knowledge that we are all working in a safer and healthier environment.

"We succeeded because we had good teamwork and spirit of involvement from everyone in the company. That team spirit is now a permanent fixture onsite," she added.

William Hamilton, senior consultant with DNV Consulting who carried out the external audit for the award, talked about the outstanding success of Corus Lisburn.
"All employees should be congratulated on their achievement. Without their enthusiasm they could not have succeeded so well. They had to take on several new Elements to a new total of 19, in order to achieve Level 8 and they had to appoint new Element Leaders to lead these. The difference between each Level is not the same and it gets exponentially harder to achieve each new level. Although they didn"t know this at the time of the audit, they were actually very close to achieving the next level 9," he explained.
"The real success came because the company had a total management commitment to improve the working environment to make it safer for everyone," he added.

David Bell, Strip Team Leader and one of the Element Leaders responsible for training and task observation, spoke about the changes he had seen in the company and in the safety of the working environment, since the ISRS Health & Safety awards had started, only a couple of years ago.
"We operate daily on a massive 38 acre site with some of the heaviest machinery and equipment and with a fleet of large loading vehicles and traffic busy across the site. It is vital that we can operate safely and not put ourselves, or others at risk.

"Only three years ago in 2001, we had a poor record of 55 lost time accidents, some of which were dangerous accidents. Through our improving safety procedures, we have cut this figure to 29 in 2002, and have achieved no lost time accidents in both 2003 and also in 2004.

"Since we have made the changes to create this safer environment, we are noticeably more involved in making our daily working practices stay safe. It is the responsibility of us all now," he added.

Richard Carter, internal auditor with Corus Group, congratulated everyone for the achievement. "The great team atmosphere that now exists throughout the site coupled with the clear leadership commitment, is the real reason for this success."