Any business, company, or individual that mines for materials used to make steel, creates steel from those materials, fabricates parts or structures from the steel, transports the materials, sells the materials, manages employees during all of these processes, or brings steel to customers is considered part of the steel industry. Jobs in the steel industry can range from welders to miners, and from transport drivers to project managers. Other jobs in the steel industry may have little to do with steel: marketers and advertisers, for example, may work with steel companies to establish a recognizable brand within the industry.
Steel recycling companies also provide employment opportunities in the steel industry. Steel recycling is the process of collecting used steel and melting it down so that it can be reused for a variety of purposes. Trash collectors, drivers, pickers and sorters, machine operators, forklift operators, storage facility employees, managers, salesmen, and others can all be found working in the recycling industry. After the materials have been effectively recycled, a sales team may contact potential customers to work out delivery and sales details, as well as the product’s cost.
Welders are skilled individuals who use welding equipment to join steel pieces together. Jobs in the steel industry can be dangerous, but there are plenty of opportunities. A steel welder may work on construction sites erecting building frames or in a factory producing smaller parts. Automotive plants, for example, may hire a team of welders to join steel parts used in automobile construction.
However, before any of this can happen, steel must be made from melted iron ore, which must first be extracted from the ground. Many jobs in the steel industry revolve around this extraction, which takes the form of mining operations. The difficult work of extracting iron ore from the ground and transporting it to processing plants where it can be melted down into usable forms will be carried out by mine machine operators, drivers, and foremen. This method can be used to fabricate large steel beams for buildings. Blast furnaces are used to melt down the iron ore, and the melted material is then poured into molds; operators of these dangerous furnaces must be trained in safe operation, and the risk level of this job can be quite high. In order to avoid injuries and deaths, safety inspectors are frequently hired to ensure that safety protocols are followed at all times.