E∙H∙S
E∙H∙S
Ulsan Aluminum is committed to supporting its stakeholders—its customers, employees, shareholders, and local community—by duly upholding environmental protection, health, and safety. Notably, the Company invests in financial and human resources in its operational and business processes for ongoing improvement in order to achieve the following objectives:
Objectives
- Achieve zero injuries and illnesses through prevention and risk reduction
- Minimize our impact on the environment by reducing the use of natural resources and preventing pollution
Policy
- Create an atmosphere that motivates each of us, our contractors and visitors to attend to our own health and safety and that of those around us
- Comply with all EHS regulatory requirements, UAL’ own high standards and other applicable requirements
- Proactively seek to increase aluminum recycling wherever we do business
- Challenge each other to question the status quo to foster innovation and improvement
- Measure our performance, procedures and equipment, and establish challenging objectives and targets to continually improve the effectiveness of our management systems
- Discuss problems openly, develop solutions collaboratively and share learnings broadly
- Build collaborative relationships with our customers, key suppliers and neighboring communities that foster continuous improvement and sustainable development
- Celebrate our successes and accomplishments
Health and Safety Policy
Health and safety is the Company's top priority. We consider the health and safety of our people before everything else in all that we do as a company. We identify and remove hazards on an ongoing basis to make improvements, reinforce our safety culture, and manage predictive indexes, making the Company an accident-free workplace.
Health and Safety Policy
EHS Certificates
Ulsan Aluminum has acquired EHS certificates, has established environmental and occupational health & safetymanagement systems, and encourages continuous improvement through the PDCA cycle.
- Safety Principles
- Health & Safety Activities
- Health Management
- Health & Safety Training
- Environmental Management
Safety Principles Ulsan Aluminum complies with “Seven Safety Principles,” which guide us in everyday job performance:
- 1. Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout / Tagout)
- Employees must achieve a zero-energy state and secure against re-start before performing maintenance or working on equipment
- 2. Machine Safety Devices
- Machine safeguarding devices or systems shall not be removed, defeated or bypassed. Equipment with inoperable or defective machine safeguarding shall not be operated
- 3. Mobile Equipment and Pedestrian Safety
- Only trained, certified and/or licensed employees may operate mobile equipment, and only if all safety features are operable and the load does not obstruct the operator’s view. Operators must follow all procedures prior to dismounting. Operators and pedestrians must be aware of crane another to ensure safe interaction. Operators are expected to comply with plant speed limits and all other mobile equipment safe operational procedures
- 4. Confined Spaces Entry
- Entry into a permit required confined space shall be made when issued a written permit that indicates that all specified safety conditions are met
- 5. Crane and Lifting Equipment Safety
- Only trained, certified and/or licensed employees may operate cranes and only if all safety features are operable and the load does not obstruct the operator’s view. Operators shall not take a suspended load over a person and pedestrians shall not walk under a load suspended by a crane.
- 6. Molten Metal Explosion Prevention
- Person shall not contaminate the scrap stream and molten metal processing equipment shall not be operated with known contamination.
- 7.Fall Prevention and Protection
- Work at heights above 1.2 meters shall not be done without a specified form of fall protection.
Health & Safety Activities In light of the managerial philosophy that “safety is our core value with the utmost priority,” Ulsan Aluminum makes company-wide, unceasing efforts to become an accident-free workplace from which all the employees return home each day to the embrace of their loved ones.
- 1. Process Safety Management (PSM)
- In order to prevent major industrial accidents such as a fire, an explosion, or an unexpected release of toxic substances that could cause great environmental pollution, losses for the Company, and harm to local residents and facilities, Ulsan Aluminum has launched a PSM taskforce for systematic safety management and accident prevention using a PDCA cycle, making its best efforts to make process safety management an integral part of our daily operations
- 2. Prevention of Serious Injuries and Fatalities (SIFs)
- Risks of serious injuries and fatalities are defined by analyzing the past accidents, and managers and workers identify risk factors for them on the shop floor and eliminate them. Notably, a committee meets to discuss and evaluate “observed unsafe working conditions or behaviors” in each department, and if the committee finds any such condition or behavior highly risky, a corrective measure is taken within 90 days and feedback is given to the workers concerned.
- 3. GEMBA Walk
- The Japanese term “GEMBA” means “the field,” and Ulsan Aluminum’s GEMBA Walk policy mandates that all managers walk around the shopfloor and observe the safety and health situation for at least one hour a day. GEMBA Walk helps mangers become role models in maintaining safety at the site and to encourage workers to participate in that endeavor
- 4. One-on-One Vertical Engagement
- Managers have periodical one-on-one interviews with their subordinates on safety in order to confirm how they usually perform dangerous tasks, whether their jobs involve any risk factors, and the like. Managers go on to take practical countermeasures to deal with the risks confirmed through such interviews and give and receive feedback to ensure a shared
- 5. Prevention of Forklift Accidents
- Measures have been taken to fundamentally remove risks for accidents involving forklifts on the shop floor. For example, overhead pedestrian walkways, interlocking doors, and the like have been installed to prevent encounters between pedestrians and forklifts in the first place. In addition, forklifts are installed with such safety devices as speed limiting devices, blue warning lights, operational monitors, and smart cards.
- 6. Prevention of Crane Accidents
- We ensure the structural safety of cranes and lifting equipment through precise third-party inspection, periodical in-house inspection, and inspection before each use. We also ensure workers’ safety by investing in equipment on an ongoing basis by, for example, installing interlocking doors and H-beams to safeguard workers.
- 7. Prevention of Falls from Heights (FFH)
- We identify all tasks involving working at height and eliminate fall hazards by modifying the tasks themselves or installing footholds, guardrails, and more. In places where installing guardrails is not feasible, we install anchorage points to ensure the safety of workers. We also continue to invest for the safety of truck drivers by, for example, installing fall protection equipment.
- 8. Prevention of Caught-In/Between Accidents
- We install trap keys and safety programmable logic controllers (safety PLCs) in each piece of equipment in order to prevent machinery and equipment from running by itself while being operated and thereby prevent workers from being caught or trapped and potentially injured.
Health Management Ulsan Aluminum places high priority on occupational health management aimed at the safety, health, and wellbeing of its people.
- 1. Periodical Medical Checkups
- The Company provides annual general and special medical checkups for all employees for early detection of health problems attributable to exposure to occupational risk factors in order to prevent occupational diseases and help maintain and improve the health of our people. Comprehensive medical checkups are provided for the employees aged 40 and over and their spouses. The results are followed up through consultations by health experts, in-depth examination (internal medicine), and visits to a clinic/hospital.
- 2. Working Environment Monitoring
- In accordance with Article 42 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, we conduct working environment measurement twice a year—in the first and second half—in order to better manage the health of employees and prevent occupational diseases by periodically measuring the levels of harmful substances and other health risk factors. Working environment measurement involves planning, as well as collection, analysis, and evaluation of samples. This helps us precisely understand the working environment of the Company and, if necessary, devise improvement plans and promptly take corrective actions in order to ensure that exposure is kept below hazardous levels. Ulsan Aluminum requires that working environment measurement be done at all hazardous work sites to determine the actual levels of hazardous exposure and, if necessary, devise improvement plans. The ultimate purpose is to reduce such exposure for the health of workers.
- 3. Health Promotion
- We promote health in many ways in order to help our people better manage their health, preventing cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal diseases through their early diagnosis, conducting the evaluation of job stress, and running such programs or campaigns as stretching exercises during work hours, antismoking, physical exercise, obesity prevention, and blood donation. The exercise program involves yoga and Pilates, and it has helped our people relieve stress and improve their muscular strength, cardiorespiratory endurance, and overall health.
- 4. CPR Training
- We train our people in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in order to improve their first-aid preparedness so that they can effectively respond to emergencies with basic lifesaving skills and ultimately promote health and safety. The CPR training is given for all employees once every other year and involves the basic principles of first-aid, instruction on how to perform CPR followed by a practice session, and other first-aid skills. The trainees are each given a certificate upon completing the training. Ulsan Aluminum is a workplace where people make efforts to keep themselves and their colleagues healthy and safe..
Health & Safety Training At Ulsan Aluminum, health and safety training is not a one-way street where instructors merely give lectures and trainees passively listen. Instructors exchange opinions with trainees to find safer ways of working; discussion is encouraged; and the training activities are practical.
- 1. Safety DNA Training
- Essential leadership qualities and capabilities are defined and discussed. With a list of them at hand, managers identify their own and each others’ weaknesses. In the process, managers by and among themselves understand which qualities and capabilities they need to develop.
- 2. VR Experience Programs
- Ulsan Aluminum has its people experience actual past accidents through virtual reality so that they can better understand how such accidents occur and what dangers they involve, in turn causing everyone to consider what to do to prevent such accidents on the shopfloor and more effectively respond if similar accidents occur again.
- 3. Emergency Response Training
- Ulsan Aluminum also provides emergency response training in order to minimize the loss from an emergency. Emergency response plans address the expected aftermath of each type of emergency or disaster. Emergency response scenarios have been devised for fire, unexpected release of gas or the like, power outage, earthquake, and so forth, and company-wide evacuation training, earthquake response training, department-level emergency training, in-house firefight team training are executed. Gas detectors are installed along the boundaries of the premises of the Company, and the gas detection system sends out emergency text messages to all employees in the event of an emergency. There is also an emergency public address system that reaches every corner of the entire plant so that an emergency can be quickly broadcast and handled.
- 4. Safety Awareness Campaign
- Guided by the motto “Together We Are Safe,” Ulsan Aluminum seeks to raise safety awareness. All executives and employees are encouraged to actively participate in the initiative. The Company, hand in hand with the union, has launched a safety awareness campaign that involves such activities as communicating the importance of safety to people coming to work every morning and reminding workers of basic safety rules. As part of the campaign, management and the union hold safety resolution ceremonies where people make a public commitment to safety by declaring “My Promises to Myself.”
Environmental Management Ulsan Aluminum systematically manages all aspects of environment including greenhouse gas, air, water and waste by applying rigorous environmental standards.
- 1. Energy and Greenhouse Gas Management
- We manage energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions on an ongoing basis, not only to comply with applicable laws and regulations, but also to contribute the improvement of global warming problem. We set the company-wide energy management objectives and targets every year, and we also steadily invest and improve processes in order to more efficiently use energy and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, we monitor and analyze energy consumption for different production processes in order to systematically manage energy consumption. We also monitor our performance toward achieving our annual energy consumption and greenhouse gas targets and take action to reach the targets.
- 2. Air Pollutant Management
- We apply more rigorous management standards than required by law on the emission of air pollutants in order to improve the quality of air in the local community and also reduce particulate matter, which is a big issue recently. Those efforts include installation and operation of bag filters and wet scrubbers, among other air pollutant control equipment. In addition, we have introduced environment-friendly fuels, improved burners, and optimized combustion conditions to minimize the volumes of air pollutants that we emit, and we monitor what we release into the air by measuring the concentrations of air pollutants every week. By all these efforts, we help make our local community a more pleasant place to live.
- 3. Water Pollutant Management
- Waste water from each process gathers in waste water treatment facility to be physically, chemically, and biochemically treated according to our own water quality standards, which are more rigorous than required by law. We continually invest to reduce the water pollutants that we generate and discharge. For example, we have constructed a new waste water treatment facility and improved processes that generate waste water. Not only that, we are recycling waste water to reduce the volume of waste water discharged into the river. Furthermore, a water quality tele-monitoring system (TMS) monitors the discharge of water pollutants in real time. Our long and rich experience in the operation of waste water treatment facilities helps us treat waste water effectively and efficiently.
- 4. Hazardous Chemical Management
- All chemicals used in our company are extensively evaluated about their impacts on the human body and the environment before purchase and use. All our employees have expertise in safe handling of hazardous chemicals for safe management of hazardous chemicals. Experts who have the license to handle hazardous chemicals, regularly inspect the facilities. And also processes and equipment are continually improved in order to prevent chemical accidents likely to occur at facilities. Emergency response procedures are in place and emergency training is provided in order to promptly respond in the event of an accident and minimize the impact of an accident on the local community.
- 5. Waste Management
- We constantly make the effort to recycle and reduce the waste that we generate. These efforts are included not only analyzing the waste generation processes but also replacing materials. We recycle more than 85 percent of the total waste the we generate annually. And separate collection of different types of waste is also firmly entrenched, and waste generation processes have been improved on an ongoing basis.
Cultural Beliefs
At Ulsan Aluminum, we incorporate the Focused 5 areas of our desired corporate culture into everything we do in order to become more competitive as an organization. The Focused 5 areas of our corporate culture will lead us to the right beliefs and actions we must have and do to achieve our Focused 5 goals and targets.
- Be Open I seek and embrace ideas that allow us to win together.
- Build Trust I genuinely care for our people, seek diverse perspectives and recognize contributions
- Say Anything I listen actively, speak candidly, challenge respectfully and follow-up.
- Be Authentic I lead by example.