NUCOR Earns Unique Certification for Steel Company

Congressman Mike Pence and Indiana Labor Commissioner Lori Torres will be in Crawfordsville today to celebrate NUCOR Crawfordsville earning an OSHA-sponsored STAR classification. It’s the highest safety rating a company can achieve, and NUCOR would be the only steel company in Indiana to earn the designation.

NUCOR Crawfordsville, one of the largest employers in west central Indiana, has added one more “first” to its ever-growing list of accomplishments and  has  scheduled a celebration to acknowledge the 710 teammates who worked together  to reach  this milestone…

“Working safely  is Priority One at all NUCOR locations and achieving the highest rating for the VPP program is something that we all worked to accomplish and will continue,” said John J. Purdy, Safety/Medical Director for the Crawfordsville operation.  He added that Nucor Steel Indiana is also dual registered in two other Safety Management Systems, ANSI Z10 and OHSAS 18001.

“It was a rigorous process that took three years to complete and involved a comprehensive wall-to-wall inspection with a dozen OSHA Safety and Health experts who spent two weeks observing and evaluating our procedures and talking with teammates,” said Ron Dickerson, Vice President and General Manager. “With the addition of VPP Star to the two other designations, we take great pride in being the only steel mill in Indiana and the Midwest to reach this level of Excellence in Occupational Safety and Health,” he said and added that the Crawfordsville Division joins eight other NUCOR steelmaking operations across the country which have achieved VPP’s STAR designation.

This latest accomplishment adds to the list of “firsts” attributed to the Crawfordsville plant.  When it opened in 1989, it ushered in a new era of steelmaking as the first Mini-Mill in the world to make quality flat-rolled steel using the revolutionary technology of “thin” slab casting.

In 2002, the plant also introduced the world’s first Castrip® Micro Mill which produces Ultra-Thin Cast Steel. The process instantly transforms molten steel directly into steel sheets in just one remarkable step. Compared to a traditional steelmaking facility, the Castrip process consumes about 95 percent less energy and emits less than one-tenth the greenhouse gases.

“We couldn’t be prouder of our teammates who have embraced the Safety First culture and entrepreneurial environment at NUCOR and work with us to keep the Crawfordsville operation a safe, top-performing facility,” Dickerson added.