The certificate for the Occupational Health and Safety Management System was handed to Alexei Mordashov by Philipp Lanternieye, vice-president of Bureau Veritas Quality International. This independent auditing company has examined Severstal in December 2002 and recommended it for certification to OHSAS 18001:1999.

The ceremony was attended by Valery Yanvarev, first deputy Minister of HR; Boris Krasnykh, deputy director of the State Mining and Industrial Control, representatives of other controlling and overseeing organizations at the national and regional levels, city’s and region’s authorities.

This certificate will give Severstal a competitive advantage in international markets as those companies, which are certified to international standards, chose partners, whose management systems are of the same high quality.

According to Mordashov, this certificate is more than an achievement. It involves tremendous responsibility to the business community and the society on the whole. From the inception of the modern Occupational Health and Safety Management System the number of work related accidents at Severstal halved. Its next goal is to develop and improve the system in place.

Severstal has spent 770 million rubles in 2003 on occupational health and safety, said Alexei Mordashov at the press-conference, following the ceremony.

“The new system of occupational health and safety is not the last of the Severstal’s efforts to apply progressive management systems at Severstal. Leading international companies are already developing and applying systems of social responsibility. Severstal has already received its first award for effective social policy, which is indicative that we are ready to develop and apply the system of social responsibility which meets the SA:8000 international standards,” said Mordashov.

Severstal is the first Russian company which has an integrated management system certificate. Severstal has received an international ISO 9002:1994 certificate for its quality management system, and ISO 14001:96 for its environmental management system earlier

Severstal is one of the first Russian companies which has an integrated certificate. It has received an international ISO 9002:1994 certificate for its Quality Management System, and ISO 14001:96 for its Environmental Management System. In Russia Lukoil is the only other company, which is OHSAS 18001:1999 certified. The certificate is given for three years and is subject to follow up audits every sixth months. In three years the company must have its management system recertified. Besides that, in the beginning of December Severstal had a recertifying audit of the Quality Management System by Lloyd’s Register. Severstal was recommended for certification to ISO 9001:2000. The certificate will be issued in March.

26 Febrary 2003