Employees are working excessive amounts of overtime. A maintenance employee working a double shift 20 years ago simply was on standby in case something went wrong. Today, he's more likely to be performing maintenance all 16 hours. New technology must be designed and installed to promote safety. Fatalities to outside contractors account for more than half of such accidents in some mills.
Contractors also create hazards for the regular workforce.
Steel companies have much stronger health and safety programs than ten years ago, Wright says. They also have full-time safety union reps. But work remains. We're beginning to understand how inadequate that is. They look for underlying causes, such as studying written procedures and analyzing the consequences if something breaks or goes wrong.