Five years ago, I announced a comprehensive plan of both internal and external actions to challenge our employees to continuously improve performance to achieve excellence in safety, health and environment. Since then, we have made significant progress toward our goals.

I am pleased to report that Bethlehem's safety and environmental performance in 1998 was the best ever recorded by the corporation. Since 1994, when a joint safety performance effort was begun with the United Steelworkers of America, our lost workday case incidence rate has declined by 58 percent, and our all-injury and recordable case rates both have declined by 49 percent.

Safety performance for the first six months of 1999 compared to 1998 shows even further improvements in all three safety metrics. Implementation of the Employee Safety Process (ESP) has been instrumental in the substantial improvement in Bethlehem's safety performance.

During 1998, we reduced our Environmental Compliance Index, our corporate method of measuring environmental compliance, by 73 percent over 1997. Since 1994, the ECI has been reduced by 85 percent. Performance for the first six months of 1999 shows a 10 percent improvement thus far compared to 1998.

External recognition is another measure of performance upon which we place great emphasis. In September 1998, Bethlehem was recognized as a Program Champion in the Environmental Protection Agency's WasteWise Program for finding practical ways to reduce municipal solid waste. In May of this year, the Patapsco and Back Rivers Railroad at Sparrows Point received a Silver Award from the E. H. Harriman Memorial Awards Institute for being the second safest short-line railroad in the United States in 1998. In 1997 the railroad received a Bronze Award for being the third safest. We were recently informed that Bethlehem has been selected as a 1999 recipient of both a Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence and EPA's Climate Wise Annual Partner Achievement Award.

These record-setting performances and recognitions for excellence in safety and environment have been accomplished by our employees who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement in both the safety of their work place and the protection of the environment. The support of our employees is critical to the attainment of our business goals and vision and, in turn, our safety, health and environmental policies, objectives and goals.

Our employees are making the difference in our quest to Be the Premier Steel Company. We have made significant progress and remain firmly committed to achieving excellence in all aspects of our safety, health and environmental program. I have great expectations and confidence that, when the final results for the year are tabulated, safety and environmental performance in 1999 will replace 1998 as the best ever recorded by the Corporation.

Curtis H. Barnette 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Safety, Health and Environment Department
1170 Eighth Avenue, Martin Tower; 12th Floor, Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
For further information about this report, send mail to [email protected]

1998/99 Environmental Report Table of Contents