AK Tube Plant Recognized for Outstanding Safety Performance

WEST CHESTER, Ohio, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Walbridge, Ohio plant of AK Tube LLC, a subsidiary of AK Steel (NYSE: AKS), has been recognized for outstanding safety performance by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Division of Safety and Hygiene.  The recognition is part of a collaborative safety awareness program established by the Northwest Ohio Safety Council.  

"We are honored to be recognized by the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, Division of Safety and Hygiene, an achievement that speaks volumes about our culture of safety at AK Steel," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel.  "We congratulate all of our employees at AK Tube in Walbridge for their outstanding safety performance." 

The Walbridge plant of AK Tube received the "100% Award for Safety" for operating the entire year of 2011 without any lost-time injuries or illnesses.  The recognition marks the fourth time that the plant has received this award.  In addition, the plant also received a "Special Award for Safety" for operating 808,581 hours without a lost-time injury between March 17, 2009 and December 31, 2011.  This is the third time that the plant has received this award.

The Walbridge plant also received the "Safety Award of Merit" in 2012 from the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International (FMA), a leading trade organization that serves the metal forming and fabricating industry.  With a total OSHA recordable injury rate of 0.63 for the full-year 2011, the safety performance for AK Tube in Walbridge was 9.5 times better than the rolled steel shape manufacturing industry average.  

AK Steel's corporate-wide safety performance was about six times better than the steel industry average for the full-year 2011.

AK Steel

AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets.  The company employs about 6,200 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pennsylvania; Ashland, Kentucky; Rockport, Indiana; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.  Additional information about AK Steel is available on the company's web site at www.aksteel.com.

AK Tube LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio and Columbus, Indiana.  AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.  Additional information about AK Tube LLC is available on its web site at www.aktube.com. 

AK Coal Resources, Inc., another wholly-owned subsidiary of AK Steel, owns or leases metallurgical coal reserves in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  AK Steel also owns 49.9% of Magnetation LLC, a joint venture headquartered in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, which produces iron ore concentrate from previously mined ore reserves. 

SOURCE AK Steel