There is never enough attention

This stands also for the four cases that occurred in the company operations during first four weeks of this year. More attention at work would save transportation worker leg, Power Engineering worker would not receive ten stitches on his palm and two employees would not need to temporarily lower their work performance. We did not enter year 2008 the way we would like to. However, we are in position to change all that. Encouraging for all of us should be results achieved last year.
Last year was the second year running in which U. S. Steel Kosice achieved the best results among the U. S. Steel Corporation's production operations as far as occupational safety and health protection are concerned. The only sections placed ahead of the Kosice works with a zero injury rate were the Corporation management and the Technology Center. Compared with 2001 the rate has dropped by 80 per cent. Injury frequency, which is the number of injuries for every 200 000 hours was down to the value 0.36 at USSK in 2007. This result was three hundredths of a point better than the planned target. The total number of injuries last year according to this assessment was 36, which was six less than in 2006. Fortunately nobody at USSK lost their life while doing their work last year.

Eleven men from Velka Ida working as guards

Eleven Roma men from nearby Velka Ida found temporary work at USSK in December 2007. This happened on the basis of an agreement between Velka Ida village council and USSK. The men are working in the area of the dry dump, and according to Gabriel Lörinc, CEO of U. S. Steel Kosice-SBS, the security company which assigns them work, so far they are happy with their performance. The men check the fencing around the dry dump area and report instances of trespassing on Company premises, as well as occasional damage to the fencing. It was the good experience with Roma patrols assisting with checking the steelworks fencing near the Roma neighborhood at Velka Ida in the past which caused USSK to return last year to the project dating back to 2003.

Penguins alike charm Kosice people

This year's 8th U. S. Steel Kosice Annual Ball was held like last year's in the Steel Arena. It took three days to transform the interior into a ballroom, until finally the covered-over ice-rink became a dance-floor flanked by two areas with tables for 400 guests, among whom U. S. Steel Kosice President David H. Lohr with his wife Susan and the Company Vice-presidents with their partners welcomed many USSK customers not only from Slovakia but also from abroad. On their arrival at the Arena the guests might well have been surprised to meet an ice "penguin" about 150 cm tall - and another one "attending" them inside. Both of them "survived" despite the above-zero temperatures right through to the end of the event, which was held in the style of an "Ice Ball".
There was an "icy tone" to the design of the Ball, with decorations dominated by the colors blue and white, enhanced with chandeliers in the form of snowballs with snowflakes, and a bar made of ice awaiting the guests. The "penguin" family was not included in the program by chance. This bird, as most sports fans surely know, especially ice-hockey fans, is namely the mascot of the Pittsburgh ice-hockey team. And among the great attractions in the auction, which was part of the Ball again this year, were the shirts of the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey stars Jevgenij Malkin and Sergej Goncar featuring their autographs. The guests also bid for artworks in metal made by local and foreign design students during last year's Metal Inspirations workshop, and for paintings by USSK employees and local fine-artists taking part in last year's plein-air session named Steelmakers paint with the Artists.
The proceeds from the auction, an amazing total of nigh-on a quarter of a million crowns (243 970 Sk to be exact), are intended for the account of Kosice Zoo to support an increase in the number of animals from May 2008 onwards with a family of real penguins, and to continue their upkeep. As several Ball guests remarked during the evening, they are already looking forward to seeing the penguins at the Zoo. Incidentally, this year's auction was a much bigger hit with the Ball guests compared with last year's.