SABIC has teamed up with DuPont Sustainable Solutions (DSS) in an effort to enhance its environment, health and safety (EHS) performance.

Riyadh-based SABIC said it is becoming more global, more distinctive in its product offering and more integrated in its operations, in line with its 2025 strategy. As a result, the executive team has decided to invest further to accelerate its progress towards becoming a world leader in the EHS arena.

The Saudi group’s vice president of corporate manufacturing, Ahmed AL-Shaikh, said the Saudi Arabian group’s EHS achievements in recent years have been impressive; however the leadership team have a strong desire to “reach the next level in EHS culture maturity”.

DSS will assist SABIC to strengthen its operational risk management and leadership capabilities as well as the effectiveness of systems and processes to manage EHS performance. Johan van der Westhuyzen, managing director of DSS – Turkey, Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, said it looks forward to working with SABIC to identify and mitigate the specific risks, which will ultimately allow the Saudi giant to achieve sustainable improvement.

“The positive shift that companies have made from a compliance-driven approach to a risk-based approach has delivered much value to improve their EHS performance and leaders play a key role in driving sustainable change through greater engagement of all levels in the organization,” commented Ehsan Akhavan, the DuPont director leading the project.

Since 2005, SABIC said, the combined EHSS rate of the group’s affiliates has improved by 82% and its overall injury rate has improved by 67%. In its 2016 Sustainability Report, the company reported a reduction of 13% in the total number of incidents last year, although the relative overall severity increased. The company suffered 14 fatalities in 2016, compared with zero in the three years 2013-2015, as a result of a fire on Apr. 16 during maintenance work at its United Petrochemical subsidiary in Al Jubail.