AIST Foundation Steel Intern Scholarship - Don B. Daily Safety
Matthew W. Christy
I was fortunate to be asked to return to Ellwood Quality Steels in New Castle, Pa., USA, for the summer of 2025 for a second internship. Having been asked to return to continue the work I had started the previous year — and to be a part of the EQS Team again — was an honor. Ellwood Quality Steels (EQS), a steelmaking facility part of the Ellwood Group, is a family-owned, non-union facility that makes American-made steel, harbors a family-first atmosphere, and puts its team members first. This is best seen in that there are no “employees” in this organization; there are only team members. Being a part of this family gives an extraordinary opportunity to participate in something much larger than oneself. The proudly American-made steel produced will support a vast array of industries, including NASA, the U.S. Military, the aerospace industry, locomotives, and many final products people use in their everyday life at home.
Senior leadership within Ellwood will tell you it’s the people that matter, not just the customers, but Ellwood’s people, the family. This had an immeasurable impact not just as an intern but as a future professional awaiting the start of a career. This mindset, now instilled in me, has fostered a way of thinking that each team member is an extension of my own family, which creates a drive to go above and beyond when designing safety measures or systems of protection. I was shown that even on the smallest projects, developing a diverse team will yield the most innovative solutions. This allowed me to develop a more substantial aptitude for critical thinking and strong interpersonal skills, both of which are invaluable.
While some might consider a steel mill or a meltshop’s high temperatures to be a state of normalcy, EQS continues to drive innovation. With the utilization of wearable devices and technologies that are still relatively new to the world, the team is able to monitor members’ biometric indicators that would otherwise go unseen, leading to serious heat events. Seen in the photo, I led an instruction on the device and the dashboards used by one of EQS’s teams, learning how to understand what the technology does and how it offers protection to each member. By looking out for one another’s safety, EQS can produce high-quality, American-made steel that, for over the past century, has fostered growth in the U.S. I will be taking this growth forward as I begin my career as a safety professional, knowing that it’s the people who matter. I am beyond thankful to my mentor, Adam Turner, safety manager at Ellwood Quality Steel, for coaching me and helping me hone my skills in the steel industry. As a Slippery Rock University safety management student, it was an honor to work under a Slippery Rock University alumni.