Health promotion

We believe that health protection should not simply be limited to the provision of adequate personal protective equipment, but should also involve eliminating, reducing or isolating hazards wherever possible. The range of identified potential health hazards includes noise, vibration, hazardous substances, manual handling, driving and climatic conditions.

We are currently in the process of establishing baseline exposure levels to prioritise our improvement plans and to measure their effect.

Controlling health hazards

A programme has been introduced at all our European sites to identify, control and minimise potential health hazards. The goal is to reduce the number of employees exposed (without personal protective equipment) to the five main health hazards on our sites by 25 per cent by 2015.

Health promotion

In India, we are working with an organisation called SAFE and have engaged external consultants to create a comprehensive safety education campaign for schoolchildren in Jamshedpur and in the communities surrounding our mines and collieries.

In Corby in the UK, the Tubes site hosted a ‘Healthsplash’ day in February 2010 in conjunction with the National Health Service and the Corby International swimming pool. Employees were offered health and wellbeing advice, free BMI (body mass index) checks and free gym passes for one month.

In Port Talbot, the company’s drug and alcohol awareness campaign, run in partnership with the Community Union and local contractors, has resulted in almost 6,000 employees receiving drug and alcohol awareness training, and 970 managers being trained in how to spot and deal with possible substance misuse.

Over 50 employees received help via the rehabilitation programme, with a success rate in excess of 92%. Fourteen members of employees’ families have also been helped. The Welsh Assembly Government has commended Tata Steel as an example of workplace excellence on this issue.