The Mechanics Division has worked more than four thousand days with no environmental incident
Already in this summer the Mechanics Division recorded four thousand days with no incident, which means that for almost ten years there has not been any emergency incident which would increase the environmental load. And this trend continues.
The director Juraj Prokein says that each plant has its particularities and they cannot compare their activity with other shops. "When renovating and manufacturing spare parts we try to use technologies which are as environmentally-friendly as possible. That includes waste generation and disposal, and air as well as water protection. Employee awareness-raising plays an important role in this effort. We are paying long-term close attention to the environmental issue in the Production Support Department, including standards of cleanliness and housekeeping currently known as "5S". It is producing results."
Long-term monitoring of selected indicators confirms his words. "Mechanics operates six medium-size air pollution resources. Over the last three years they have reduced generation of main pollutants by 1.7 metric tons," says Production Process Environment Manager Jozef Vozáry with respect to the air protection issue. He mainly attributes this to compliance with the technological policy and the technical and organizational measures taken, such as thorough servicing and inspection of separators as well as maintenance work.
"The division collects and internally recycles approximately 86 percent of generated waste, and approximately 14 percent of generated waste is recovered and disposed of externally or stored at the landfill," J. Vozáry evaluates the waste disposal. The statistics of the last two years shows the growth in internal waste recycling at the expense of external disposal.
One of the positive examples we found at the Steel Plants Repair Shop, and it concerns the cleaning of heavy equipment. "We used to degrease equipment and spare parts from the Steel Plants at the degreasing workplace using oildissolving chemicals. During the chemical cleaning of equipment hazardous waste was generated, the disposal of which was carried out by an external company through the exhaust system from the cleaning pit. This way the shop polluted the air," explains Juraj Prokein. "Area Manager Ján Mravčák along with the former ecologist at Mechanics Juraj Jakub found an option in the washing and cleaning product Bio-Circle, which is based on microorganisms. These microorganisms liquidate oils and as long as the specified temperature and the proper pH are maintained, they proliferate themselves. So since 2011 the plant has not generated this type of hazardous waste, has not polluted the air and there have been no costs related to waste disposal by the external company. Bio-Circle is not toxic for employees working in the pit. It even recalls the smell of apples.” As the director adds, in order to reduce the environmental load due to waste they needed an initial investment for buying the product, some small adjustments to the collecting vessel, and then regular checking of pH.
Continuous improvement also includes the area of water protection. In the shops there are areas for handling oils; currently there are seven of them and they are equipped with special SIKAFLOOR paint. Year on year they also reduce the sewage network load from waste water. In 2014 the load was reduced by 18 percent compared to 2012, says J. Vozáry.
Several projects are also currently ongoing in the field of environmental protection. "One of them is a setup of the central paint warehouse which will meet strict fire and environmental measures” - explains Division Director J. Prokein. “It should be completed in March 2016. Next year we plan to reexamine all collecting tanks and tanks for liquids intended for operational oils and evaluate their technical condition. They are inspected once in five to ten years."
