Shanghai March 6, 2007 - Arcelor Mittal is today holding its first worldwide health and safety day since its merger to create the world’s largest and most global steel company. All the offices in China including Shanghai and Beijing, like hundreds of other plants and operations around the world participate in this internal effort to promote occupational health and safety as the number one operational priority for every staff member.

The day is being spearheaded by Mr Lakshmi Mittal, President and CEO, and Mr Joseph Kinsch, Chairman, who, along with the members of the Group Management Board, will visit a number of sites around the world to emphasise the importance of health and safety in the new company.

The aim of this day is not only to highlight the importance Arcelor Mittal places in health and safety to its 330,000 employees, but also to launch a new Health and Safety policy which will be applied across the Group.

The new policy has been created in consultation with employee representatives, doctors and safety professionals.  It aims to work towards further reducing the frequency and severity of accidents and the overall improvement of individual health across the group.

Lakshmi Mittal stated: “We have said repeatedly since our merger that health and safety is a priority in the new company.  The aim of our worldwide health and safety day is to help raise awareness of the importance of health and safety in our day-to-day operations. Every employee has an important role to play in achieving this, and by gathering everyone together across the company we hope to highlight the importance of adhering to strict safety guidelines at all times.” 

In China , the H&S day was held respectively on March 5 and 6 in Beijing and Shanghai office. Various initiatives were equally put in place in the other offices in China, such as Hong Kong, Urumqi, Changzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, etc.

In addition to the Corporate video projection, a presentation on the Safety Results 2006 & Action plan 2007 was made in Beijing and Shanghai. Furthermore, World Link and International SOS representatives reviewed basic H&S measures at work and in life. The H&S team put in great efforts and got all staff actively involved in sharing information and guidelines of evacuation procedures, Aids prevention, Contingency Planning & Crisis Management as well as IT security. A healthy Corner was set up during lunch time, providing fruit and basic health checks like BMI & blood pressure measurement.

Dirk Matthys, General Delegate of Arcelor Mittal in China added: “Health and safety is a priority which must be addressed every minute of every day. However, it is important to dedicate one day each year to remind people of the role everyone must play. This worldwide health and safety day is an excellent way of bringing together new ideas from across our company and sharing best practices with our colleagues from around the world.”