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AK Steel Employees Compete for the Health of it

04/29/2008 - Employees at AK Steel's Middletown Works complete a voluntary weight-loss program designed to promote healthy lifestyles.

Employees at AK Steel's Middletown Works recently completed a voluntary program designed to promote healthy lifestyles. Modeled after a popular reality television show, the program enticed more than 230 hourly and salaried employees to begin a 12-week weight-loss contest in which they competed in teams for fun and health.
 
As a result of the program, which began in January, participants lost a combined 4256 pounds by the conclusion of the contest. Results were determined by comparing each team's total weight at the beginning of the 12-week program to their collective weight at the end. Each winning team member received a $250 prize.
 
Although the contest has ended, AK Steel is encouraging employees to continue living a healthy lifestyle. An additional prize will be awarded in October to the team that demonstrates the greatest amount of improvement over its final contest results.
 
Enthusiasm for the contest elevated camaraderie among participating employees and their co-workers. Cheering sections sprang up for teams such as the slab yard's "Flab Yard Boys" and the hot mill's "Roll Shop Rascals." As in the television show, temptation was part of the game. From sending donuts to opponents during weigh-ins to delivering customized "good luck" cakes at lunch, teams found creative ways to gain a competitive advantage.
 
While AK Steel's weight-loss challenge and other health-related programs were designed to provide employees some fun, controlling the spiraling cost of health care is serious business for AK Steel and its employees. The weight loss contest was part of the company's larger "Healthy Choices" initiative, which is designed to help employees better manage their health, their family members' health, and the company's health care dollars over the long-haul.
 
Additional programs have included the AK 5K run and walk, seminars on various health topics, smoking cessation support, a spring fitness challenge and the company's "Healthy Choices, Healthy You" program.
 
AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steels, primarily for automotive, appliance, construction and electrical power generation and distribution markets. The company employs about 6500 men and women in Middletown, Mansfield, Coshocton and Zanesville, Ohio; Butler, Pa.; Ashland, Ky.; Rockport, Ind.; and its corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio.
 
AK Tube LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of AK Steel, employs about 300 men and women in plants in Walbridge, Ohio, and Columbus, Ind. AK Tube produces carbon and stainless electric resistance welded (ERW) tubular steel products for truck, automotive and other markets.