Maintenance and enhancement of personnel safety is one of the key objectives of Khorasan Steel Complex. To that end, the company has taken the following measures:
1. Adoption of safety policies and strategies – fundamental rules (FR) & supplementary rules (SR) – to monitor and control the state of safety
2. Identification, assessment and control of occupational safety and health hazards when it comes to all ongoing activities in the company
3. Monthly meetings of a technical protection and occupational health committee attended by the managing director, his deputies and senior managers of the company
4. VIP checks by the managing director and his deputies on a weekly basis to monitor and improve HSE in the company
5. Establishment – since the launch of the company – of an occupational health and safety management system [Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS) 18001] and its constant maintenance and upgrading
6. Formulation of HSE executive methods and guidelines to systematize health, safety and environment
7. Offering general and specialized HSE training to the newly employed personnel and holding annual refresher courses for the personnel and contractors
8. Formulation of an HSE plan for all contractors and monitoring full compliance with rules and regulations
9. Running daily checks and inspections and offering safety tips to prevent accidents
10. Carrying out emergency response drills according to plan to boost operational capability and preparedness in case of emergencies
Occupational health is defined as efforts aimed at the maintenance and maximal improvement of physical, mental and social health of the personnel in different jobs through preventing workplace health and safety hazards, and studying the unhealthy working conditions and their adverse effects on workers’ health.
This unit builds on its knowledge of workplace, working conditions, health risks and workplace hazards, and their effect on the health of the personnel to study, assess, measure and control harmful workplace factors and try to foster a safe and healthy work environment. Its efforts put a cap on occupational harms and diseases, and improve the health of personnel.
1. Securing, maintaining and improving the physical, mental and social health of the personnel
2. Preventing workplace accidents
3. Selecting the right workers for the right jobs (physical and mental fitness)
1. Identifying hot spots as far as accidents are concerned
2. Piecing together occupational health training courses
3. Identifying, studying and measuring workplace hazards and presenting plans to control and improve the work environment
4. Carrying out medical examinations for workers (pre-employment as well as periodic and specialized examinations)
5. Rendering treatment services and first aid
6. Presenting meal and diet plans for workers
7. Presenting rehabilitation plans
1. Spotting physical talents and personal capabilities among workers that fit the job which is up for grabs
2. Protecting the industry and capital as well as the health of other workers
3. Monitoring the applicants’ health and the restrictions they face in their next job
4. Early diagnosis of diseases and their treatment
5. Discovering contagious diseases among workers and stopping the spread of such diseases
6. Setting dates for follow-up examinations of workers depending on their health and working conditions
7. Compiling health files for workers and referring to them when they come back for periodic examinations
8. Getting familiar with the workers’ morale and their health data
1. Making early diagnosis of work-related diseases and complications and taking immediate action to treat them
2. Advising patients to change their jobs or limit their works
3. Determining the effect workplaces have on workers’ health
4. Evaluating safety and prevention methods
5. Preventing the spread and transmission of contagious diseases
1. Carrying out specialized examinations of workers who do hard and potentially harmful work
2. Carrying out medical examinations for women and young staff members
3. Carrying out medical examinations when workers switch jobs
4. Carrying out medical examinations when workers return to work after recovering from diseases and work-related injuries
The idea to launch an environmentally friendly complex – that is Khorasan Steel Complex – formed in 1983 when Japan’s Kobe Steel, a prestigious international company, was named consultant of the project to complete Khorasan Steel Complex. Feasibility studies as far as technical and economic aspects were concerned finally led to the selection of Neishabur – from among eight candidates in the province – as the construction site of the project in 1989.
Climatic conditions and their impact on the surrounding environment (nearby villages and towns) were a major factor in selecting the construction site of the company. In terms of technology, the company was constructed in compliance with Europe’s highest environmental standards.
A powerful consulting company (Mohit Novin Assessing Company) carried out studies into the environmental impact of expansion projects in 2005 in coordination with the Department of the Environment.
Improvement of environmental performance
One major goal of Khorasan Steel Complex is constant improvement of its environmental performance parallel to efforts to quantitatively develop production capacities, diversify products and improve their quality.
The company has formulated strategies and pieced together an operational plan to implement those strategies in line with legal requirements as well as national and international environmental rules. It has also tried to analyze environmental opportunities and challenges, weigh up stakeholder expectations, estimate domestic production capacity and spot its weak points which need to be addressed. It also evaluates the sufficiency and efficacy of its plans. That’s why it has put on its agenda plans to complete the managerial aspects of a process to revise and assess the strategies in a dynamic and efficient way. The process in question has helped improve the company’s environmental performance and uphold the rights of stakeholders in line with measures to undertake its social responsibility.
Following its launch in 2002 and installation of equipment in its production lines, Khorasan Steel Complex put on its agenda the application of an environmental management system (EMS) in accordance with the requirements of international standards such as ISO 14001 and managed to secure an international environment management certificate (ISO 14001:2004) from DNV (Det Norske Veritas Certification). The environment management system is annually audited by a reliable foreign certificate authority. The company’s system was last audited by a Swiss company, SGS, in October 2017. The environment management system mainly focuses on the following activities and objectives:
1. Making initial preparations including formation of committees and implementation of projects needed for the launch of the EMS
2. Offering training courses to the company’s personnel and contractors active at different organizational levels
3. Formulating guidelines, forms and other documents which are required for an EMS
4. Training internal auditors and doing in-house audits prior to third-party auditing
5. Holding sessions to revise the management system
1. Formation of specialized committees in each unit
2. Identification of environmental aspects in each unit
3. Separation of aspects according to environmental pollutants and use of resources
4. Assessment of environmental aspects
5. Identifying and prioritizing noticeable aspects in each unit
6. Planning to control and reduce noticeable aspects
7. Periodic revisions of environmental aspects in each unit
As far as the environmental performance is concerned, the company has taken measures over issues related to air, water and wastewater.
Construction, installation and development of air pollution control equipment:
To prevent the spread of pollutants in the environment, Khorasan Steel Complex has – since its foundation – installed air pollution control equipment including cyclone separators, multi cyclones, baghouse filters, scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators (ESP). The company has always tried to improve the efficiency of its air pollution control devices, raise their capacity proportionate to expansion projects, and upgrade them.
This unit, whose filtering device has cost $3,163,250, filters and removes primary and secondary dust (and fume) stemming from the processes involving electric arc furnace (EAF) and laden furnace (LF) during the PLC melting operations and multiple bag filter systems. Thanks to an FTP, the measurements have shown that the emission of fume and gases into the environment is well below the permissible levels.
The dust collecting devices used in the pelletizing mill to reduce environment pollutions include wet scrubbers, bag filters and electrostatic precipitators. As much as 26 billion rials and €359,000 has been spent on these devices which measure up to Europe’s modern standards and designing.
These devices are used to prevent environment contamination and help return particles coming out of hoods and windbox exhaust fans installed at furnaces in the pelletizing mill.
In a bid to honor its commitments and meet legal requirements, Khorasan Steel Complex has placed on its agenda operations to design, select and install such devices. Thanks to the implementation of the contract most of these devices are now operational.
Investment: 100 billion rials and €6,669
Volume: 540,000 cubic meters per year
The water used in the production lines of rolling, steelmaking and direct reduction plants is transferred to the industrial waste treatment plant to be used in the cooling process, and in separation of oil and other dissolved solids. After undergoing the necessary separation and treatment processes, the water returns to the production cycle. This reduces the volume of water used and prevents adverse environmental effects as well as waste of energy resources.
The sewage transfer network which has absorbed $42,000 and 400 billion rials in investment covers the entire premises of Khorasan Steel Complex. With a capacity of 36,000 cubic meters per year, the network collects and transfers sewage discharged from restrooms, showers, kitchens and runoff water. The biological system uses an aerobic method to treat sewage. In this system, the treated sewage is collected in water storage tanks before it is used for the irrigation of green space in the company.
Clarifiers which have absorbed $1,447,000 and 160 million rials in investment are responsible for treating and recycling the water consumed and the sediments that sink in water as well as treating dust in the production lines of the iron making plant.
A major environmental challenge each industrial unit faces is production of waste. In order to prevent it from contaminating the environment, the waste should be managed properly. In an approach based on sustainable development, managerial plans primarily focus on minimizing the waste by correcting industrial processes and methods. The secondary focus of such management is on recycling or reusing the waste. The company manages five main groups of waste:
1. Industrial Waste
Industrial waste which is discharged during the production process or activities on the sidelines falls into two categories: disposable waste and recyclable waste. Currently the company’s disposable waste includes slag, metal shells, scraps collected from fume collecting devices, the remains of detergents used to clean up the mills, construction waste and refractories which are directly transferred to a site where disposable waste is kept. As for recyclable waste, it undergoes a recycling process before being reused in production. Metal scraps, return scraps, pellet fines and iron ore belong in the group of recyclable waste. Slag is one of the bulkiest wastes the steel industry produces. In cooperation with a private-sector contractor, Khorasan Steel Complex has taken measures to recycle and reuse slag in other industries like the cement industry. Currently the contractor is equipping its site outside the company to take the slag from a depot inside the company to its site.
2. Industrial Waste
Oxide scales are also among bulky industrial wastes in the steel industry. The company has plans to sell its oxide scales to the private sector so that they can be recycled and reused in steelmaking and related industries.
3, Hospital Waste
This kind of waste is produced at the company’s emergency department (ER). Under a contract the company has signed with a hospital in town, the waste is collected and rendered safe before being transferred to the hospital’s incinerator to be disposed of.
4. General Waste
General wastes are transferred to the primary depot after being collected from the company site. Then they are transferred by municipality’s trucks to the landfill where urban waste is buried.
5. Agricultural Waste
Agricultural wastes are produced as a result of activities done in the company’s green space. Agricultural wastes are reused for other purposes.
6. Special Waste
Special wastes include wet-cell and dry-cell batteries, fluorescent lamps, etc. After being sorted, they are transferred to the site designed to keep special waste and are disposed of in a safe way.
A committee has been formed at the direction of the managing director to make decisions about the optimal use of energy (water, electricity and gas) and minimization of energy consumption. The committee, which brings together senior managers of the company, constantly supervises energy consumption and defines projects and measures to correct the company’s consumption pattern.
The establishment of an energy management system was part of a project carried out in previous years to boost organizational excellence in the company. Training on standards started last year and was followed by the formation of the executive committee of energy management. The responsibility to run the committee lies mainly with the Operations Department and the secretary of the committee. In cooperation with the company's consultant on energy management and the energy management's executive team, the committee followed through on the establishment of required standards.
In the meantime, the company carried out an in-house auditing this year with its consultant serving as the facilitator. The findings of the auditing were later brought up in a management revision meeting which formulated corrective measures and sent them to different departments and units in the company.
To secure a certificate for the standard in question from SGS, the company first carried out a pre-auditing process. In light of the fact that the company was ready for the second-phase auditing – the one carried out before a certificate is issued – the stage was set for the main auditing which was carried out by SGS in December 2017. The two-day auditing process focused, among other things, on calibration, accuracy of the equipment, implementation methods and related guidelines as well as training and its efficacy.
The landscape plan of Khorasan Steel Complex was formulated in 1990 by Iran International Engineering Company (IRITEC). Three sites have been dedicated to green space in the landscape plan:
1. Green belt around units with production lines to control contamination
2. Green space between the mills which are mechanically connected to each other in order to beautify the workplace
3. Green space around the office space
Given the environmental commitments, the company has allocated part of its premises (around 140 hectares in area) to the development of green space. Khorasan Steel Complex’s green space is 270 hectares in area, 95 percent of which is equipped with drip and pressurized irrigation systems. Using simply runoff water and wastewater in its irrigation systems, the company has taken a step bigger than simply honoring its environment protection commitments and optimizing water consumption.
1. Curbing contamination: In light of the fact that strong winds blow on the eastern and northern flanks of the complex, a tree-lined belt has been developed to slow down the winds. The company has also planted trees to prevent the rising of dust from stacking and reclaiming lime and its spread to nearby areas.
2. Making the workplace more favorable: By covering unpleasant sights with trees, building fountains and scaffoldings, and planting lawn and flowers, we can render the workplace more favorable. By creating green space (1.5 hectares in area) on its industrial and administrative site, Khorasan Steel Complex has improved the working environment for the personnel.
3. Adjusting the complex with its natural surroundings: Since the company’s natural landscape plan has been designed for a place outside of town, efforts should be made to adjust the company with the natural environment.
1. Optimization of irrigation systems and reduction of water consumption
As a pioneer company in creating industrial green space, Khorasan Steel Complex is using modern irrigation systems in line with efforts to reduce water consumption. Drip and sprinkler irrigation accounts for 95 percent of irrigation in the company.
2. Recycling and reusing wastewater
The company’s green space contains three water storage pools: A) A pool for storing 18,000 cubic meters of water coming from Bar Dam; B) A pool for storing 4,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater; and C) A pool for storing 160,000 cubic meters of industrial wastewater and runoff water.
3. Honoring commitments regarding environment and green space and creating quality green space
The green space of the company is divided into three parts in terms of location and use: 1) A 240-hectare forested area; 2) An industrial green space (10 hectares); and 3) An administrative green space (20 hectares). Given the climatic and geographical conditions of the region, different species of trees have been selected and planted in various parts of the company. These species include cupressaceae, platycladus orientalis, junipers, robinia, morus, pinus eldarica, fraxinus excelsior, platanus, Judas tree, Melia azedarach, Amygdalus lycioides, almond, lawn, Yucca, Pampas Grass, and Berberis.
