Bangkok--26 Aug--Weber Shandwick
SABIC’s commitment in safety practices has bagged another national level safety award from the Ministry of Labor in Thailand in recognition of its world-class Environment, Health, Safety and Security (EHSS) practices at its manufacturing site in Rayong. The Zero Accident Campaign Silver Award was presented to SABIC by Dr. Indrarita Nontavacharasirichat, Vice Minister for Labor, Thailand on 23 August 2013. This Silver Award marks the plant’s sixth consecutive recognition, having secured the Bronze Award between 2008 and 2011 and a Silver Award in 2012.
The Rayong plant has maintained zero ‘lost time’ incidents since its operations in 2000 and also excelled across 14 workplace safety assessment criteria that the Zero Accident Campaign has established as EHSS benchmarks. This Zero Accident accolade follows SABIC’s recent eighth consecutive win in July at Thailand’s 2013 National Best Safety Management Award, also awarded by the country’s labor ministry to the Rayong plant.
Global EHSS performance
EHSS performance in SABIC is monitored globally across more than 40 countries with over 40,000 employees through a suite of KPIs, focusing especially on process safety. Its OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration - USA) Recordable Incidence Rate for employees has improved by 26% and the incidence rate including contractors has improved by 49%, since 2005. It has also developed a set of comprehensive parameters internally that measures all types of EHSS incidents (Process Safety, Occupational Health & Safety, and Environment & Security), known as the SHER metric, which has seen a 73% improvement since its implementation in 2005.
SABIC sites globally have received numerous safety & environment awards from well-recognized organizations. Its corporate headquarters and sites in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States have achieved third party Responsible Care? certifications, which is a global initiative by the chemicals industry that aims to improve EHSS performance in the industry.
In Asia, SABIC most recently also gained safety recognition from the Ministry of Manpower in Singapore with its fourth Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Performance Award (Silver) win in July.
Award-winning EHSS practices in Thailand
Sarun Sungkatavat, Country Leader, Thailand, explained, “Our culture of safety practices is deeply ingrained in our corporate DNA.” Safety measures, rewards and recognition, and programs such as Behavior Based Safety (BBS), Lockout Tagout (LOTO), Contractor Management, and EHS Concern Reporting have been implemented to guide and inspire employees to attain the highest safety standards at the workplace.
Today, SABIC’s best-in-class EHSS program is so well-recognized in Thailand that it is among a very select group of private sector companies in the Eastern Seaboard Industry Estate to have a representative on the Rayong Provincial Level EHS Committee. The plant’s representatives were also invited to be Best Safety Management Award Auditors, participating in the audit of companies in other industries that were up for the award.
SABIC’s Rayong plant produces engineering plastics for diverse industries such as electrical and electronics, automotive, medical and appliances.
Photo: SABIC’s Environment, Health, Safety and Security Manager, Thailand, Pornchai Raungchitchachavan (left), receiving the Zero Accident Campaign (2013) Silver Award from Vice Minister of Labor, Dr. Indrarita Nontavacharasirichat (right) for its manufacturing site in Rayong, Thailand.