Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) Q.S.C., one of the leading petrochemical producers in the region, has achieved another significant milestone with the recent Responsible Care certification, following a recent audit conducted by independent inspection and technical services firm TUV from Germany, further strengthening the company’s commitment to sustainability and best practices implementations.
The RC 14001 is an international highly recognized standard focusing on seven key areas, namely community awareness and emergency response, security, distribution, employee health and safety, environmental protection, process safety, and product stewardship.
This global performance management certification comprises strict and specific requirements and entails rigorous and regular performance reporting and management frameworks.
Dr. Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, Vice Chairman and CEO of QAPCO commented on the certification by saying: ” As a responsible corporate citizen and in alignment with our strategy, at QAPCO we are committed to optimizing the impact of our operations on the environment, the economy and the society. Therefore, our successful Responsible Care certification is a major step forward in our sustainability journey where we focus on putting sustainability into action.
Elaborating Al Mulla said, “Responsible Care acts as a catalyst to further drive progress and sustainable development within organizations, as it covers all strategic aspects of a company’s business.
This new milestone will certainly translate into additional tangible sustainability results, delivering further benefits to all our stakeholders.” The Responsible Care ethics and principles compel companies to constantly innovate for safer and greener products and processes, and to work to continuously improve their environmental, health and safety performance throughout the entire life cycle of their products. Originally launched in Canada in 1985, Responsible Care is now practiced in more than 60 countries.
For his part, Yousuf Rebeeh, QAPCO’s Chief Operations Officer added “QAPCO’s full compliance with the RC 14001: 2013 augments the company’s existing health, safety, security, environmental and quality management systems which are already certified under ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 as well as OHSAS 18001.
For the past few months, many teams and departments have shown strong commitment and dedication to ensure our operations fully align with the Responsible Care standard. Today we are delighted to celebrate this new achievement that paves the way to new levels of operational excellence. RC 14001: 2013 surely strengthens QAPCO’s competitive advantage, driving continuous performance improvement, ” Rebeeh added.
Today, Responsible Care is taking leading petrochemical companies above and beyond their prior accomplishments, to achieve even higher standards of performance and generate greater value for their businesses.
Responsible Care brings many benefits for certified companies and is key to their success. For instance, it allows efficiency gains through the streamlining existing business processes and further promotes teamwork between different departments and interfaces. In addition, community outreach programs encourage stakeholder engagement and feedback to further improve community relations.
In compliance with Responsible Care principles and in alignment with its sustainability goals, QAPCO strives to work for the improvement of people’s lives and the environment, while striving to do no harm; be accountable and responsive to the public, especially our local communities, who have the right to understand the risks and benefits of what we do; take preventative action to protect health and the environment; innovate for safer products and processes that conserve resources and provide enhanced value; engage with our business partners to ensure the stewardship and security of our products, services and raw materials throughout their life-cycles; understand and meet expectations for social responsibility; work with all stakeholders for public policy and standards that enhance sustainability, act to advance legal requirements and meet or exceed their letter and spirit; promote awareness of Responsible Care, and inspire others to commit to these principles.
QAPCO is a Qatar-based company established in 1974 and is a joint venture between Industries Qatar (80%) and Total Petrochemicals (20%). The company is currently one of the largest producers of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the region besides producing ethylene, sulphur and other petrochemical products. QAPCO is currently involved in a number of joint ventures that include QATOFIN, QVC, and QPPC, thereby, producing various petrochemical products and making QAPCO a regional petrochemical powerhouse.
LDPE is considered as the most widely used type of plastic, with applications such as food packaging, agricultural films, toys, cables and wires, coating, lamination and many other products broadly used all over the planet. LDPE enriches our everyday life, making it more practical, safer, lighter and better. The LDPE produced by QAPCO is a high quality food-contact safe grade polymer and complies with all local, EU and U.S. FDA standards related to food packaging safety.
Source : Qatar News Agency