Officials of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Vishakapatnam, with the safety awards. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, May 18: The Joint Committee on Safety, Health and Environment in Steel Industry (JCSSI) distributed the safety awards to 14 steel plants of the country for the year 2004-05 at a function at the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) auditorium here today.

The plants awarded by the JCSSI included Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur, Rourkela, IISCO, Rastriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Tata Steel, Alloy, Salem and Maharashtra Electrosmelt Limited. Other awardees were Essar Steel, Ispat Industries Limited, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant and Mines of Bhillai Steel Plant.

A total of 43 awards was given away by M.K. Pandhe, the president of Citu. The parameters of the awards were decided on the basis of a new criterion developed by the JCSSI secretariat and underlined the necessity of a safe work environment.

A compendium of action points during the JCSSI meetings during the last 25 years were also released in the meet by K.K. Khanna, director, technical, SAIL. A souvenir Suraksha aur Swasthya Vatika was also inaugurated during the event.

According to Sashi Kant, the executive director, safety, steel industry is considered to be the second largest killer after the construction industry. But the situation is changing rapidly for the better, he said.

Officers of various steel plants also received individual awards for their contribution to safety such as designing safety calendars, posters as well as writing essays and articles on the issue.