An extraordinary safety drill in Differdange
At ArcelorMittal, safety is our number one priority. Every aspect of our activity is carefully analyzed to guarantee the safety of everyone on our sites. When an accident or illness occurs, no room must be left for the unexpected. Between production, co-activity and hard-to-reach areas, rescue in an industrial environment is a real challenge, requiring high-flying skills and coordination.
Exercises to prepare for all eventualities
On our Luxembourg industrial sites, the safety teams regularly organize personal and environmental safety exercises. Some, conducted in collaboration with the Grand Ducal Fire and Rescue Corps (CGDIS), take on a special dimension.
At the end of 2024, an exercise was prepared discreetly between the internal security service, around ten accomplice employees and the CGDIS services. The surprise effect made it possible to realistically assess the reflexes and skills of our employees when faced with a critical situation.
A malaise in a hard-to-reach area
On the day of the exercise, an employee accomplice, a bridge operator, took his place at his post. Just before a maneuver, he reported by radio that he was feeling unwell. The emergency procedure was then triggered:
- Intervention by a first-aider authorized to work at height: the bridge operator, in difficulty on his bridge, was in a complex access area, overlooking the still-hot semi-finished product yard.
- Alerting internal and external emergency services: the infirmary service and internal guards were informed to prepare to receive the emergency services and facilitate their intervention.
- Reception and guidance of emergency services: the teams must escort them quickly to the incident area.
- Coordination of emergency services: smooth collaboration between internal teams and CGDIS is essential to guarantee an efficient and safe evacuation.
- Production management: located between the steelworks and the rolling mill, the site must be partially shut down to ensure the safety of the intervention, requiring strict coordination to limit the impact on the activity.
- Evacuation of the victim: given the configuration of the site, a lateral evacuation was necessary, avoiding lowering the victim into a high-temperature area.
See the exercise in video:
Thanks to this exercise, our employees were able to test their reflexes in an emergency situation and verify their good knowledge of emergency procedures while allowing the security and CGDIS services to adjust their intervention protocols thanks to the lessons learned from this simulation.