SAFETY HEADLINESSafety
AK’s Zanesville Plant Honored for Safety Achievements
Apr. 4, 2007 April 4, 2007 — AK Steel’s Zanesville, Ohio, Works has received three awards for the plant's 2006 safety performance, along with an award recognizing its positive economic impact on the Zanesville area.
The safety awards, presented by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, division of Safety and Hygiene, in conjunction with the Zanesville-Muskingum County Safety Council, included the Group Safety Award for having the lowest incident rate in the industrial group; the 100% Award for operating the entire year without a lost-time injury; and, a Special Award for working 1,809,293 hours without a lost-time injury, from April 21, 2003 to December 31, 2006.
Zanesville Works also received the Award for Community and Economic Success (ACES) from the Muskingum Growth Partnership, which honors companies that invest in new facilities or equipment or increase employment during the year. AK Steel received the award for its restart of an idled cold rolling mill as well as an annealing and pickling line during 2006, both of which resulted in the recall of previously laid-off employees. The award also recognizes the company's $2.5-million investment in a new steam boiler system for the plant's process and heating requirements. The new natural gas-fired system, which replaces an older coal-burning system, meets new, more-stringent environmental regulations. The new boiler system will help to reduce total air emissions from the plant by approximately 80%.
AK Steel is also making an additional investment of approximately $30 million in the Zanesville plant—one of the largest capital expenditures that AK Steel has made in recent years. The investment is part of a previously-announced capital expenditure totaling $55 million to increase production capacity for high-quality, grain-oriented steels at the Zanesville and Butler, Pa., plants. The project involves upgrading and modifying exiting production equipment.
Headquartered in Middletown, AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products for automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets, as well as tubular steel products.