A roundtable discussion with representatives of the Main Department of the State Labour Service in Dnipro Region was held at Northern Iron Ore. Trade union leaders from Northern Iron Ore's shops, specialists from the occupational safety and industrial safety directorate, HR department specialists from Metinvest Iron Ore, and employees of the corporate fire station at Northern Iron Ore participated in this discussion. The seminar was organised as part of the occupational safety week events, traditionally held in the lead-up to World Day for Safety and Health at Work.
The roundtable discussion focused on current occupational safety issues amid wartime conditions. State Labour Service inspectors conducted a seminar covering topics such as employee work permits, workplace certification, pre-shift medical examination, and more.
Ihor RAPINA, head of the Occupational Safety Department of the Directorate for Occupational Safety, Industrial Safety, and Environmental Protection at Metinvest Iron Ore plants, commented: "For over three years we have been living and working under martial law, and throughout this time we have faced additional threats and risks to the lives and health of people – our employees. Therefore, considerable attention during the seminar was paid to implementing approaches for health and safety that take into account the current situation, as well as issues of psychological support for employees."
The training participants emphasised its importance during the war for maintaining mental health of employees, reducing stress levels, increasing productivity, and preventing injuries.
The roundtable participants also stressed the need to continue sharing experience between enterprises and maintaining social dialogue to create a safe and healthy working environment during the war and in the country's subsequent recovery. They emphasised the importance of continuously improving the occupational safety management system and implementing the most effective practices to prevent injuries.
As part of Occupational Safety Week, additional themed safety meetings – stop-hours – were held in the Iron Ore plants' structural divisions. These meetings focused on the highest-risk work activities in production: safety in lifting operations, working at heights and with electrical equipment, gas safety, working with moving and rotating machine parts, railway transport safety, and the risks of falling objects from heights. In total, over 1,320 stop-hours were conducted for employees at Kryvyi Rih's Iron Ore facilities.
