JG Summit Petrochemicals Group aims to embed sustainability in all aspects of its business and as part of the overall business strategy. A major component toward achieving this is providing a safe and healthy work environment, which is why JGSPG has made the carrying out of its operations in a safe and responsible manner part of its mission. Offering its employees a safe and pleasant workplace as well as providing its host communities with the peace of mind that comes from having a safely operating plant in their neighborhoods are integral to JGSPG’s management policy.
These are among the many reasons JGSPG has always striven to comply with or even exceed international standards for health and safety. In 2021, JGSPG reached a new milestone in this regard after JG Summit Petrochemical Corporation and JG Summit Olefins Corporation successfully migrated their Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) management systems to the ISO 45001:2018 standard.
Achieved after an external audit by Certification International Philippines, the company’s ISO 45001:2018 certification is a testament to JGSPG’s strong and continuing commitment to its employees, stakeholders, and host communities.
Before its transition to the ISO 45001:2018 standard, JGSPG’s OH&S Management System was certified to the OHSAS 18001:2007 standard, the previously recognized global benchmark for occupational health and safety.
Published in 2018 by the International Organization for Standardization, the ISO 45001:2018 framework guides organizations toward the creation of safe and healthy workplaces by preventing work-related injury and ill health, eliminating safety and health-related risks, assessing opportunities to proactively improve OH&S performance, and fulfilling legal and other requirements.
With ISO 45001, there is a stronger focus on the organization’s context and the needs and expectations of its workers and other interested parties. Furthermore, ISO 45001 requires the incorporation of health and safety aspects into the overall management system and culture of the organization, thus driving top management to have a stronger and proactive role in its implementation.
Led by the ISO Administration Team and the Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Department, JGSPG underwent more than a year of preparation to ensure the success of the initiative. The preparation activities, which began in January 2020, included training sessions, gap analysis, consultations, risk assessments, internal audits and management reviews before the actual external audit held from May 20 to 25, 2021.
Safety training programs, such as this high angle rescue exercise, are an important component of the ISO 45001 framework toward providing a safe and healthy workplace.
Various groups within the organization had critical roles to play in JGSPG’s ISO 45001 certification, from the leadership and full support of its senior management and its ISO Steering Committee, to the ISO and SHE Teams’ expertise and the participation of all employees.
JGSPG President and CEO Patrick Henry Go congratulated the SHE and ISO Teams, as well as the whole company, for the seamless execution of the transition to the new standard, while Remilie Ruiz, the head of JGSPG’s ISO Administration Team, lauded the active involvement of the employees and the full support of management.
ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety Management System is complementary in structure to the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System and the ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management System, which both JGSPC and JGSOC are certified to. The three standards comprise JGSPG’s Integrated Management System, which helps guide the JGSPG organization to work as a cohesive unit with unified quality, safety, and environmental management objectives.
For more information on JG Summit Petrochemicals Group, visit jgspetrochem.com
