OREANDA-NEWS. Lebedinsky GOK (“LGOK”), Oskol Electrometallurgical Plant (“OEMK”) and Ural Steel (all part of Metalloinvest) were among the winners in the tenth industry contest for ‘Companies in the metals and mining sector with high social efficiency’. LGOK was a winner in the ‘Protection of health and provision of safe working conditions’ category while OEMK and Ural Steel were victors in the ‘Personnel development’ category.

LGOK received a high grade for having one of the lowest levels of industrial accidents and achieving a reduction in the level of occupational diseases. LGOK continues to strive to make further progress on these indicators. In 2012, over RUR 300 million was allocated to improve working conditions, increase safety levels at workstations, and reduce occupational diseases.

The success for Metalloinvest enterprises in the ‘Personnel development’ category was due to a high quality ongoing professional development qualifications system, comprising a mixture of active upskilling work and collaboration with key educational institutions to create new programmes aimed at advancing professional knowledge and skills at the plants’ Education Centres.

This year, enterprises from 24 regions in Russia participated in the tenth annual contest. The event seeks to enable the analysis and knowledge sharing of leading organisations’ experience and to develop and improve social partnership practices. The businesses participating in the contest are evaluated based on the results of working with staff and young people, industrial safety, implementation of social programmes, protection of the environment, preservation of resources, and the socio-economic efficiency of collective agreements.