New Safety Measures Protect
People and Productivity

New Millennium has always stressed safety first, because it takes a safe working environment to foster the highest productivity. Prevention is the key. Thinking first, acting second can prevent accidents from happening.

“The biggest part about safety is being proactive,” says Lake City, Florida Production Manager Al Singleton. “You have to react before a potential accident, because it’s too late after it’s already happened.”

Monthly safety training

Accidental injuries are the fifth leading cause of death in the United States. That’s why New Millennium has safety coordinators and monthly safety awareness training sessions to help its employees.

“It’s thinking about what you’re doing before you do it,” explained Steel Dynamics Corporate Health & Safety Director Jan Conwell. "Time and comfort are the two biggest causes of unsafe acts.” 

A key safety initiative at New Millennium is the Lockout, Tagout program that trains employees how to work in confined spaces. The program makes sure employees put an individual lock on a piece of equipment to stop the source of power to make sure the power is off before they enter a paint tank or other piece of equipment.

According to Conwell, New Millennium is developing a “user-friendly” computer program that will allow employees to print out material safety data sheets that detail important safety hazards for different pieces of equipment. The program, she says, will be available by the end of 2008 and will further help prevent accidents by giving employees more information about potential problems.

Major changes at Florence

New Millennium has already taken steps to go above and beyond safety standards to make working conditions safer. Revolutionary welding helmets deliver fresh air that can be warmed or cooled. Other changes and safety improvements are happening at all the plants.

The transformation is probably most notable in Florence, South Carolina. When New Millennium purchased the facility, the plant was given a total renovation. New cement floors, heating, air conditioning and other improvements immediately made the plant safer. Other improvements include three new production lines and a prototype automatic rigging table to improve workflow, creating an environment that is now both safer and potentially much more productive.

New safety training room at Butler

In Butler, a new safety training room is being built, in addition to a new locker room and cafeteria. “In the past we used the cafeteria for safety training,” Butler Production Manager Jake Fetters says. “Now we will have a separate room without distractions.”

Light curtains or “electronic beams” have been added to Butler's deck mill to prevent accidents. Any time the beam is broken the line shuts off. A remote control has been added to the overhead crane on the rod line so the operator has a safer distance from the load to the material he or she is transporting.

Continental clears the air

At New Millennium's Continental, Ohio facility, many changes have added to plant safety over the last year and a half. Production Manager Craig Bracken says the entire facility has new concrete floors where employees are walking and forklifts are traveling. 

The air in the plant is heated, cooled and filtered. The welders also wear conditioned air shields that provide fresh air to them while they are welding. 

Salem lights the way

Indoor and outdoor lights were added at Salem to foster safety. Well lit and well equipped, the work environment from parking lots to manufacturing lines has been enhanced. Truck drivers loading and unloading at night can do so more safely, along with the loading crew and the traffic department.

In addition, a new 8400 square foot building provides first aid facilities, a locker room, cafeteria and kitchen.

Lake City looking after each other

At the Lake City, Florida plant, more automated methods are now in place to maneuver joists in the welding pit, help prevent injuries and increase production. The first-aid room is now modernized with new and expanded supplies. Additionally, new guarding on equipment has been installed to cover moving machinery parts.

Al Singleton, Production Manager at Lake City, says talking about potential problems and recent accidents help prevent new ones. After an accident happens, the question should always be asked: What we can we do to prevent this in the future?

“Safety is about looking out for yourselves and looking out for each other,” Singleton said. “Use your head. You have to be aware of surrounding in all settings. It just takes a second to look at your surrounding and ask, ‘Am I or is somebody going to be put in jeopardy?’ Every accident is preventable. It’s a vigilance we all need to have.”

Added Singleton, “Take care of yourselves. If one person gets hurt, it hurts the entire line and his family. Our employee handbook states that our most important asset is our employees. That’s very true.”