MMK Introduces New Mobile App For Industrial Safety and Labour Protection

Since January 2021, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), a Metal-Expo regular exhibitor, has been using the "Safety Navigator" - an automated system based on a mobile application designed to record dangerous activities/conditions identified by managers at the industrial site, as well as to monitor their swift elimination.

According to Pavel Shilyaev, MMK CEO, this innovation in the field of labour protection and industrial safety will reduce the risk of injuries and help ensure safe conditions in the workplace. "Ensuring a safe production environment is one of our top priorities. In 2020, we approved a new version of the Industrial Safety and Labour Protection Policy in accordance with the programme for implementing the requirements of the international standard ISO 45001:2018. In this area, we strive to achieve zero injuries, gain a leading position among metallurgical companies in relation to our quality of industrial safety and labour protection, increase the production culture and personal commitment of staff to comply with the requirements of industrial safety and labour protection," Pavel Shilyaev said.

The mobile application "Safety Navigator" can monitor production departments using personal data. The head of the structural division goes around the shop four days a week, recording the hazards in the "Safety Navigator" mobile application. At the end of the inspection, all detected hazards are displayed in the "Safety Navigator" app for the managers of the sites which have been surveyed. Then, the dangerous conditions can be swiftly eliminated within time limits set by the manager.

In addition, when identifying a dangerous action with the help of the "Safety Navigator" app, you can conduct a behavioural safety audit - recording employee’s dangerous behaviour or violations of labour protection requirements, identifying the root causes of dangerous violations and gathering suggestions from employees to ensure the safe execution of work. The implementation of the new system has already yielded its first set of results. Since the beginning of the year, more than 3,000 dangerous conditions that could have led to injuries have been identified and eliminated. 2,616 proposals were received from employees of the divisions, 2,094 of which were implemented.

To assess the involvement of managers in ensuring industrial safety and labour protection, the mobile application "Safety Navigator" rates them using a points system.