TOTAL WORK SAFETY

Growing guarantees for safety in the workplace

The Gerdau Group developed the Total Safety System in order to ensure that all of its activities are carried out with the maximum degree of safety. An absolute priority for the Company, the system directly involves top management and all employees and service providers. In 2003, investments in this area totaled R$ 10 million.

The program is structured according to International Safety Classification System methodology, a management instrument used in some 6,000 organizations worldwide.

The safety management methodology incorporated more rigorous standards in 2003, with the aim of improving performance in this area. Nine new elements for workplace analysis were included, reinforcing aspects such as the evaluation of critical tasks and the standardization of activities.

This year, the Gerdau Group implemented an innovative practice called Safety Hour. Every day, industrial unit leaders in Brazil devote a full hour to activities designed to improve the system in their teams.

The system also includes ongoing awareness-raising, training and team involvement activities. Once a year, we hold an Internal Work Accident Prevention Week in all units. The event includes lectures and awards and participation extends to employee family members.

Together with the technological resources made available to improve safety levels, these actions were responsible for a reduction in the accident frequency rate - defined as the number of accidents resulting in lost time per 1 million man hours worked - from 5.9 during the previous year to 2.9 in 2003.

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