May 2, 2006 — AK Steel’s Zanesville Works received three awards at the Zanesville-Muskingum County Safety Council's annual safety meeting held on April 26, 2006.

The awards, which recognized 2005 safety performance, were presented by the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, division of Safety and Hygiene.

Awards included the Group Safety Award for having the lowest incident rate in the industrial group; the 100% Award for operating the entire year without a lost-time injury; and a Special Award for working 1,366,226 hours without a lost-time injury, from April 21, 2003 to December 31, 2005.

"We congratulate our Zanesville employees for their exceptional safety performance," said James L. Wainscott, Chairman, President and CEO of AK Steel. "We are especially proud of their significant achievement of working well over two years without a single lost-time injury."

Mr. Wainscott added that the company had the best safety record in its 105-year history during 2005. He commented that AK Steel’s corporate-wide total recordable injury rate of only 0.36 during 2005 was about 15 times better than the steel industry average rate of 5.43, according to data compiled by the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Headquartered in Middletown, AK Steel produces flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products for automotive, appliance, construction and manufacturing markets, as well as tubular steel products.