Bhelatand Amalgamated Colliery and Sijua Colliery of Jharia Division of Tata Steel have been given the National Safety Awards. In the category of difficult underground mines, Bhelatand amalgamated colliery has been selected as the winner for the “longest accident free period” for year 2004 and 2006. Sijua colliery has been selected as “Runners Up” for the longest accident free period for the year 2005. It has received this National Award for the first time in its history while Bhelatand amalgamated colliery was declared the Winner in 2003 also.

With Tata Steel focusing and strongly promoting safety, this award is an exemplary achievement. The underground mine has registered an accident free year which is truly commendable. Sijua and Bhelatand colliery are the underground coal mines, in Jharia division of Tata Steel. They are both Degree II gassy mines with a maximum working depth of over 450 metres.

About Tata Steel

Established in 1907 as Asia’s first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel today is the world sixth largest steel producer with geographic footprints in India, South East Asia, UK and Europe. With the recent acquisition of Corus Limited, the combined enterprise has a pro forma crude steel capacity of 28.1 million tonnes and finished steel capacity of 30.9 million tonnes in 2007 with over 84,000 employees across the four continents.

Safety being one of the most important tenets at Tata Steel, 2007 has been declared as the Safety Year by the Company. This award that has been conferred on Jharia division of Tata Steel is yet another step in the direction of ensuring safe practices at work places. Jharia Division, one of the underground mines of Tata Steel has become the first underground coal mines in the country to get OHSAS 18001:1999 certificate of approval from Indian Register Quality System (IRQS). The division is also the first underground coal mines to get EMS 14001:2004. Jharia division has been given this certificate of approval for its continued improvement to conform to the Occupational Health and Safety Management System specification and Environment Management System Standards.