Just a quick one. Given all the injures and deaths at the plant I have to ask:

Do they employ H&S people over there?
If so what do they do?
Does anyone listen to them?
And, why is it such a dangerous place to work in this day and age?

For example, why did someone have to die (and a true hero to boot) before they put barriers in place?

Just a thought.

Oh for an edit function?????

I started my H&S career at the plant over 20 years ago & IMHO steelmaking was one of the highest risk industries we had in the UK at the time - spend a shift standing within 5feet of 350T/hour of liquid steel at>1500'C flowing past - with the constant risk that one minor technical fault causing a back-blast of the liquid metal in all directions & the only protection you have is molten metal standard PPE you soon realise the risk and work in a safe manner. Or worse was a shift on the coke ovens & its fumes which would linger on your body for 5/6 showers and had the potential to cause major respiratory problems even if you wore your RPE correctly - I know since morbidity studies on this group of individuals.

I cannot, & will not comment, on current risk levels - since I have not been back there since, but I would guess that even if some technological advances in the industry being adopted with new blast furnaces and steel casting equipment - a lot of the site is pretty old and the risk remains. Plant maintenance was a major ongoing process and the legacy of the plant, equipment will probably remain to make it one of our highest risk industries - similar to coal mining (1 year since the tragedy of 4 killed at the small Gleision colliery), but Port Talbot Steel works directly employs 3,000+ at the site, therefore pro-rata much safer!

I've worked in lots of industries since then - nuclear, aerospace, manufacturing and construction and none come close to the intrinsic risk factors of steel-making. One solution would be produce the steel abroad (I visited one steel works in India where >100 fatalities / year was the accepted norm).

So quick answers to your quick questions:
Yes they employ H&S people there - some were very, very good (I was an exception !)
They work hard - harder than in any other industry I've encountered
They have a lot of respect within the site and re NOT responsible for H&S on the site - this is responsibility of the company - management, managers, employees and contractors

Accidents happen & people learn & systems improve -they just have a longer way to go than most.

Zimmy - I suggest that you give them a call and ask to have a site visit so you can appreciate the risks

Like others I haver been on and off the Port Talbot Steelworks over the past 10 to 15 years.

Have things changed yes.

The safety standards were always high because of the environment people are working in.

As Sub Contractors we had to comply to set standards which were rigourosly checked on the first time we went there and on our last visit the same which was only completed last week.

I would suggest there are good safety people in there and there always have been. You will get injuries and fatalities in this environment purely because of the processes that are used.

It is sad but a fact of life, is this the fault of the safety teams or processes not being carried out properly?

Again we as a company have had no problems in there and never felt we were coming up against jobs worth people but only people doing there jobs to ensure everyone,s safety.

Regards Alex

Made me smile that one - 'you'd love to have look round the place' I was out with a load of my old mates last weekend (who still work in steel plants) and part of the conversation was I'm never going in one ever again - not safety though too old for the graft………………