EXHIBIT 31.1
CERTIFICATION OF THE PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICER
PURSUANT TO 15 U.S.C. 78M(a) OR 78O(d)
(SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002)
I, Michael D. Siegal, the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Olympic Steel,
Inc. (the "Company"), certify that:
(1) I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of the Company;
(2) Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any
untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact
necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to
the period covered by this quarterly report;
(3) Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all
material respects the financial condition, results of operations and
cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in
this quarterly report;
(4) The Company's other certifying officer and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the Company and we have:
(a) designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
Company, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;
(b) designed such internal control over financial reporting, or
caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the
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reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of
financial statements for external purposes in accordance with
generally accepted accounting principles;
(c) evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's disclosure controls
and procedures and presented in this quarterly report our
conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
quarterly report based on such evaluation; and
(d) disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the Company's
internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
the Company's most recent fiscal quarter (the Company's fourth
fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
affect, the Company's internal control over financial reporting;
and
(5) The Company's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
reporting, to the Company's auditors and the audit committee of the
Company's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
function):
(a) all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
design or operation of internal control over financial reporting
which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Company's
ability to record, process, summarize and report financial
information; and
(b) any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
other employees who have a significant role in the Company's
internal control over financial reporting.
By: /s/ Michael D. Siegal
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Michael D. Siegal
Olympic Steel, Inc.
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
November 13, 2003
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