Paul O’Neill Jr. and Geoff Webster: Supporting Nippon, US Steel in a better, safer way

The Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative leaders have decades of experience in industry, health care, nonprofits and government creating learning systems to make “habitual excellence” results possible.

As CEO of Alcoa, Paul O’Neill Sr. proved that the world’s best aluminum could be manufactured efficiently, at a lower cost, while treating employees well, with the precondition that there would be no harm to employees, neighbors or the environment. We believe Nippon Steel can and should make specific commitments to focus on doing no harm. Zero safety incidents, zero pollution and zero waste. Our organization was formed to bring the leadership lessons championed by Paul O’Neill Sr. to the entire Pittsburgh region.

The tragic explosion that took the lives of two of our neighbors and critically harmed five others illustrates that the current leadership is not either willing or capable of developing the systems and prioritizing the investments to keep their own workers and our community safe.

This is not a one-off “accident.” Safety has been an ongoing issue for U.S. Steel. A major fire just seven years ago risked harm for workers and released damaging emissions on top of the “regular” toxic mix that harms our air quality and kills or sickens dozens of our neighbors every year.

We know that U.S. Steel and Nippon can do better and become both the world leader in steel production and ensure the safety of workers and the community by changing their work to make some core commitments:

We will do no harm and make money — Alcoa was successful in achieving near-zero harm to its workforce for decades while driving the largest increase in market capitalization of any of the Fortune 50 organizations. Alcoa’s track record on safety offers a blueprint for how prioritizing worker safety can benefit workers and shareholders.

We will protect our environment and health in our communities. Under the leadership of Paul O’Neill, Alcoa became the first major company to go on a net-zero carbon emissions path and make continual progress for decades.

U.S. Steel’s current process has shown itself to be inadequate and needs to move past shows of regret — followed by predictable defensive legal maneuvering.

We know there is another way forward and invite you to pursue “no-tradeoffs” problem solving where we can become both the world leader in steel production and ensure the safety of their workers, the community and the environment, with massive win-win benefits for everyone.

The promised investments, wisely deployed and coupled with servant leadership and systems for continuous improvement, can lead to unprecedented safety, quality and profitability. We stand ready to help Nippon make this shift for the benefit of everyone involved — and so we never have to see this kind of disaster again.

Geoff Webster is board president and Paul O’Neill Jr. is treasurer of Pittsburgh Futures Collaborative.