Ternium’s Mexican mills attain OHSAS standard

Following more than one month of audits, plants operated by steelmaker Ternium Mexico have obtained or maintained certification of their Occupational Health and Safety Management System under the OHSAS 18001: 2007 standard.

The objective of OHSAS 18001: 2007 is to eliminate or minimize the risk level of operations, with goals of creating a culture of prevention; having fewer accidents; improving legal compliance; and having an increasingly safe and healthy work environment.

Ternium indicates its Largos Norte and Largos Puebla plants achieved certification for the first time and registered “zero non-conformities.” The company states employees at the plants worked more than one year to organize and share relevant information to help ensure the facilities complied with the standard.

“Congratulations to all who participated in this great achievement,” says Eduardo Cabello, the safety and hygiene manager of Ternium Mexico. “With this result, it was found that people increasingly see a greater added value to the Occupational Health and Safety Management System. Every time a result of zero non-conformities is issued, it is a very important [result], because the bar is very high.”

Adds Juan Carlos Rodrígues, director of Largos México, “We are a very large organization, with different cultures within the plants in different states, but the industrial culture must be unique—it must be aligned with the main culture of Ternium. This helps us to unify and everyone speaks the same vocabulary, the same rules, and so we all give the same value to Occupational Health and Safety management.”

In 2015, Ternium’s Tenigal, CIT Pesquería and Planta Guerrero were certified under the OHSAS 18001: 2007 standard, while in 2016, the Churubusco Plant, the University Plant, the Monclova Plant and the Juventud Plant also complied with it.

Ternium Mexico is part of the larger Argentina-based Ternium organization.