The Quality, Health, Safety and Environmental department working at Techint Engineering & Construction for the Managed Labor-Usiminas project in Brazil has launched a number of actions aimed at developing a safety culture among employees.

In June, Techint E&C launched a series of actions aimed at raising awareness among workers of the importance of taking the right decisions in the workplace. The campaign was launched at the Managed Labor-Usiminas project in Ipatinga, Brazil, under the motto "Today at work. Tomorrow wherever you are", and gained a great deal of traction. Some 700 employees joined in and took part in the activities organized.

The company has been delivering electromechanical assembly services to the Usiminas plant in Ipatinga-MG since 2021, a leading company in the flat steel market in Brazil. This contract is Techint E&C's first Managed Labor Agreement in the country.

The safety campaign included six training courses sessions designed to raise awareness covering different disciplines, such as Scaffolding, Piping, Assembly, Electrical, General Services and Topography. The courses are designed to ensure that each employee gains a real appreciation of the importance of safety in their specific area of expertise, and understand which measures need to be taken to avoid deviations and incidents. The campaign also included stepping up the frequency of the Management Safety Dialogues, instances which focus on establishing direct communications between management and the workforce as a whole, sharing lessons learned.

“These meetings are an excellent opportunity to develop a robust safety culture among employees and disseminate good practices,” explains Rosemeire Correia, QHSE Manager at the project.

The crucial role played by leadership in prevention

With a view to preventing incidents and accidents, Safety Rounds, Blitz and Safe Hours are also carried out regularly. These actions are defined by the company’s leaders who work closely with safety professionals to define weekly task inspection routes, identify possible risks, and take corrective measures, as part of the work to ensure a safe environment for everyone.

So far, 23 Leadership Meetings have taken place, essential to align safety actions and ensure that information is properly disseminated. The Meetings are organized by the Production Coordinator, Lantiel Soares, and the Project Manager, Rodrigo Almeida, who had this to say about the initiative: “Actions like these mean we can significantly raise awareness among the entire workforce, enhancing their perception of risk. The positive impact can be measured in terms of the teams’ engagement rate, as they are responsible for ensuring that the topics addressed in the campaign are actually deployed at the work fronts as part of a better attitude toward prevention and greater operational discipline.”