AK Steel said May 26 that the Walbridge, Ohio, plant of AK Tube LLC has been honored with a Special Award for its safety performance from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, division of Safety and Hygiene.
The award recognizes the plant for working 803,114 hours without a lost-time injury, from November 14, 2006 to December 31, 2008. The award was presented at the Safety Council of Northwest Ohio's annual industrial safety awards banquet held on May 19, 2009.
"Congratulations to our AK Tube Walbridge employees for their outstanding safety achievements," said James L. Wainscott, chairman, president and CEO of AK Steel. "It is especially significant that they worked for more than two years without experiencing a single lost-time injury."
The Walbridge plant is also a recipient of the Safety Award of Merit from the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association, International (FMA) and CNA Insurance. That award was presented last month to the Walbridge plant for posting an injury and illness incident rate during 2008 that was better than the published Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rate for their industry by 10 percent or greater. For 2008, Walbridge's injury and illness incident rate of 1.75 was 77 percent better than the BLS rate for their industry.
During 2008, AK Steel led the steel industry in safety by a wide margin. AK Steel's corporate-wide total recordable injury rate of only 0.28 last year was about 8 times better than the industry average of 2.33, according to data compiled by the American Iron and Steel Institute.
About AK Steel
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, appliance, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6,200 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pa.; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind.; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
AK Tube LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 250 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio, and Columbus, Ind. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.
