AK Steel's Ashland, Ky., coke plant has received the Max Eward Safety Award from the American Coke and Coal Chemicals Institute (ACCCI). Employees at the plant worked the entire year of 2009 without a single OSHA-recordable injury, leading all ACCCI-member companies in safety performance.
This marks the fifth consecutive year that the plant has earned the award, and the 12th time in the past 13 years that an AK Steel cokemaking facility has received this recognition, the company notes.
"Earning the Max Eward Safety Award for the fifth consecutive year speaks volumes about AK Steel's commitment to workplace safety," said James L. Wainscott, AK Steel Chairman, President, and CEO. "We congratulate everyone at our Ashland coke plant for their outstanding safety performance—an achievement that reflects AK Steel's commitment to safety at all of our plant operations."
AK Steel says that its company-wide safety performance was about eight times better than the steel industry average for 2009.
"The employees at AK Steel's Ashland coke plant are role models for safety in the workplace," said Bruce Steiner, ACCCI President. "We congratulate them, and the company, for promoting a culture of safety that continues to produce outstanding results."
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, appliance, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6,200 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
AK Tube LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio, and Columbus, Ind. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.