A week-long offline session was held at Kamet Steel for students of the bachelor's programme "Occupational and Process Safety". Students of Metinvest Polytechnic took part in master classes, practical classes, training sessions at training facilities, as well as in roundtable discussions on improving the workplace safety.
The field session at Kamet Steel's site allowed the students to gain practical experience and expert knowledge. In addition, by studying the processes based on real-life cases and participating in trainings, they once again became convinced of their choice and emphasised the importance of occupational safety at an industrial enterprise.
"For future professionals, seeing how the theory they learned in lectures looks like in practice is a valuable and informative experience. The bachelors trained together with the emergency rescue team to work in gas-hazardous areas, learned to assess risks when working with lifting equipment, and identified hazards and risks in a work at height training facility using personal equipment. They not only had the opportunity to see the process with their own eyes, but also to apply the skills they had acquired in practice, accompanied by leading specialists of Kamet Steel and experienced trainers. I am confident that this experience will motivate the students, and soon, after receiving their diplomas, they will become part of the team that creates safe working conditions at Metinvest's enterprises," said Nataliia VOLODCHENKOVA, Head of the Department of Occupational Safety and Environmental Protection at Metinvest Polytechnic.
During the master classes, which were conducted by university teachers, professional trainers and subject matter specialists of the steelworks, students learned how to collectively develop a risk map, studied in detail the technological processes and specific aspects of Kamet Steel's operations, as well as Metinvest's strategic focus areas and policies on occupational health and safety. Given the digitalisation of processes and a multi-faceted approach of modern professionals, they learnt the intricacies of the audit work, reporting and work in Power BI, developed occupational safety measures and practised at training sessions organised for them directly at training facilities.
The students shared their positive impressions of the programme of the session packed with practical insights.
"We would like to thank the teachers and specialists of Kamet Steel who gave us a warm welcome, shared their experience with us, and told us about situations that will help us improve the safety of working conditions in the future," said Henadii HORBADIEIEV.
Student Alina VOLOKH shared that she was also delighted with the workshop, as it was the first time the whole group had met offline: "For two years we saw each other only through the camera, and finally we met. We have a wonderful group." A hands-on training with gas rescue equipment conducted by Kamet Steel's specialists made the biggest impression on the students.
In particular, student Bohdan MUSIIENKO said that he enjoyed practising with climbing and gas rescue equipment the most: "For several minutes, we walked around in compressed air cylinders and were in air generation systems to work in a gas-free space. It was a very interesting and valuable experience."
The students noted the high level of organisation of the offline session organisation and thanked Kamet Steel's specialists for the extremely important collaboration. The future occupational health and safety specialists expressed confidence that this experience will become a solid foundation for their further career growth and search for new ways and approaches to workplace safety, which is important because life is the highest value.
