Prevention of technological risks in Aceros Argentinos. Change alternatives for an improvement in security management
Abstract
Only intuitive and sensory organizations resist and know how to survive in the great transition periods. Patrick Lagadec It was 8:15 one cold morning in May 2008, and the sun was late to arrive on the windows of the office of Carlos Losada, Corporate Manager of Integrated Management Systems at Aceros Argentinos. He served himself a cup of coffee while waiting for his right-hand man, the Manager of Corporate Industrial Safety, Fernando Arregui. Together they were to review a series of documents for a meeting that would take place the following week with the line managers of the Villa Angela Steel Wire Plant. In his hands he held a diagnostic report on perceptions of safety in the plant that would serve as input for designing an action plan. This plan had to help put an end to a surprising series of serious accidents that had occurred after the certification of international safety standards, required by the parent company at all its subsidiaries in the world. During recent years the company’s shareholders and its corporate policies had changed several times. These changes had not only led to new and higher production and productivity standards, but had also influenced the management of human resources, quality, safety and environmental impact. Regarding safety, the objective of the certification of international standards was to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents, since both indicators were historically at around 35 accidents per million hours worked and 0.5 days lost each 1,000 hours worked, while the values considered desirable by the parent company were significantly lower (10 and 0.1 respectively). To face the problem, Losada decided to implement a pilot project in one of the wire production plants located in Villa Angela, Santa Fe province, considered the most favorable because of the good relations between its managers, supervisors and operators. The following week, Losada was to have a key meeting with Gustavo Álvarez (Manager of the Wire Plant) and his line managers to discuss an action plan. Losada’s mission was to reduce the frequency and severity of accidents over the next 24 months, promoting a lasting change in the safety management mode. With the support of Arregui, Álvarez and his team of line managers had to choose a course of action, considering the restrictions and the pros and cons of the different alternatives available to them. Losada wondered: how to achieve lasting changes without improvements taking too long to arrive? Should the preparation of managers and middle managers be given priority, or should the workers and their union representatives participate immediately? The main restrictions against choosing one course of action or the other were, on the one hand, the strong pressure of the parent company in favor of rapid improvements aimed at reducing the number and above all the severity of accidents and, on the other hand, the presence of a combative union, always distrustful of employer policies and accustomed to resorting to conflict as a tool to defend the workers’ interests. If the pilot project achieved positive results, it was hoped to turn it into a reference for the rest of the plants. If it failed, however, the improvements to be made could suffer additional delays, with the consequent risk of recurrence of serious accidents.Keywords:
Prevention of technological risks, Industrial safety, Risk Reduction PlanReferences
El Clarín (2008). Están graves dos de los ocho obreros heridos en la explosión de Aceros Argentinos. Buenos Aires, Argentina. Recuperado de: https://www.clarin.com/ultimo-momento/graves-obreros-heridos-explosion-acindar_0_H1jbdXAR6Ke.html
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