THE Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) has announced that it won for the second successive time the Saudi Arabian Award for Environmental Management organised by the Arab Organisation for Management Development, one of the leading Arab League agencies.

On the occasion, Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, Adviser to the prime minister on industrial and oil affairs and GPIC chairman congratulated members of the Board of Directors, executive management and all the employees of the company for winning the prestigious award.
He appreciated the continuous efforts being made for maintaining and developing the environment. He called for further efforts to be made to maintain the current gains and to go ahead for achieving more gains.
Meanwhile, Abdulrahman Jawahery, general manager expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to Shaikh Isa and to the members of the Board of Directors for their support of the company’s environmental projects that have enabled it to occupy a prominent position at all regional and international forums.
Jawahery added that the company has proved and is still proving that the success of industrial enterprises is not only measured by their profitability but is also gauged by their compliance with health, safety and environmental standards and their contributions to development of the community. At the time when the company has been able to reap lucrative profits year after year, it has been able to win numerous local, regional and international awards in all spheres.
Moreover, the company has been able to increase its contributions to the local community, a policy trend that is strongly supported by the UN and urges all concerned worldwide to comply with it under the title of ‘corporate responsibility’.
The award was presented at the end of 7th Arab Conference for Environmental Management, which was held in Cairo, Egypt when Prince Turki bin Nasser bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, president of Metrology and Environmental Protection in Saudi Arabia presented it to GPIC’s representative Fadhel Mallalah Al Ansari, technical services manager.
During the conference Abdul Ameer Al Mulla, electrical maintenance superintendent presented a technical paper in which he reviewed GPIC’s efforts in the area of occupational safety and health and the role of the company in supporting the local community and its public and civil organisations.
The KSA Award for Environmental Management has been established in pursuance of the policy of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to be granted at the pan-Arab, Islamic and international levels in the field of scientific research in environmental management and motivating the public and private sectors to show more concern for the environment.
The nomination letter submitted by the company for the award was entitled ‘Leadership in Environmental Protection.’ It reviewed all the environmental projects and initiatives implemented by the company and impact of its applications on health, economic development, protection of natural resources against depletion and pollution, product marketing, competitiveness, consumer satisfaction and staff satisfaction.
The Cairo-based Arab Organisation for Management Development holds this conference on an annual basis and presents the award every two years. The objectives of the award are as follows:
• Enhancement and adopting the broad concept of environmental management in the Arab world and promoting the proper utilisation of natural resources with the use of the lowest quantity to get the highest output to reduce waste and refuse levels;
• Strengthening principles and methods of sound environmental management in the Arab private and public sector organisations;
• Motivating the Arab countries to show more interest in the concept of sustained development;
• Highlighting the vital role played by environmental management in the Arab economies and their competitiveness in international trade;
• Contributing to the efforts designed to achieve a high standard of quality of life for the Arab people and the right of all Arab generations to enjoy a clean and pollution-free environment;
• Promoting scientific research to show more concern for environmental management and its applications and publishing results of research papers to enable the Arab states to enjoy their full benefits;
• Furthering the mechanisms of pan-Arab co-operation in the area of environmental management;
• Enhancing awareness of the outstanding efforts and successful Arab and international practices in environmental management and distributing them to the Arab states to learn from them; and
• Making concerted efforts to achieve innovative scientific and practical solutions for the current and future environmental problems.
The award is given every two years and presented at the closing session of the Arab Conference for Environmental Management.
In 2006, GPIC won the award equally with a Saudi company specialised in the field of the environment, reflecting the company’s concern with environmental issues. This year, GPIC was able to win the award independently.
GPIC’s concern with the environment has started since the inception of the company as the plant’s design has taken into account the highest international environmental standards enabling the company to continue its operations for more than 20 years without any breach of local or international environmental legislation. In fact, the company has gone as far as to play a prominent role in protecting the environment and natural resources. At the domestic level, GPIC has invested more than $3.4 million during the last 8 years for environmental projects within the company. A sum of $715,000 has been set aside for investment on the environment during 2009.
In March 1992, the company set up the Charity Garden to be the first of its environmental projects and was able to supply more than 20 tonnes of vegetables and dates for the needy people throught it. The Fish Farm, opened by GPIC in November 1996, has added to the country’s fish stocks more than 330,000 fishes contributing to improving conditions of local fishermen. In addition, the Bird Sanctuary, set up in June 2002 with an area of 600,000 sq m southwest of GPIC complex, provides a safe haven and habitat for migrating and local birds.
As part of this sanctuary, the company created two man-made islands (with an area of 3,800 sq m) as part of this sanctuary to provide shelter and food for the birds. Another artificial island was created near these two islands for culture of marine life to provide the basic feed for such birds. In an effort to protect Qirm trees, which are becoming extinct on Bahrain’s coastal areas, GPIC cultivated more than 2,000 trees of this species attracting many environmental research workers to have a close look at them.
In addition, the company has allocated 16,000 sq m for the Green Oasis project  and the GPIC employees donated more than 80 per cent of the trees while the senior guests and visiting delegations planted the remaining trees. Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, governor of the Southern governorate and chairman of the Public Commission for Protection of Marine Wealth, Environment and Wildlife opened the Medical Herbs Garden, which has a total of 20 different plant species in addition to hundreds of fruit trees such as banana, palm, pomegranate and olive trees. The company is currently seeking to expand this garden to include numerous desert plants and herbs. A total of 5,480 trees were planted in the complex covering 92 per cent of the uncultivated land area after the complex grounds were mostly reclaimed land from the sea but now they are beautifully landscaped.
Owing to the company’s belief in the importance of education to conserve the environment at present and in future, it has targeted with its environmental message the families of employees and schoolchildren. During the annual Safety, Health and Environment Week organised by GPIC, the families take part in safety, health and environment competitions by contributing paintings and essays about these topics with the aim of furthering and enhancing safety and environment related concepts. Moreover, the GPIC engineers have delivered since 1998 lectures in 185 schools for the benefit of 13,800 school boys and girls. Around 350 schools participated in the Ministry of Education-GPIC Environmental Research Programme and the company financed around 81 projects at a cost of $120,000. In addition, the company distributed 33,000 school bags to the needy children and children of the company’s employees. Regular visits are organised for students, employees’ families and VIPs to have a close look at the company’s environmental projects.
In addition, GPIC’s strong participation in the local and regional decision-making process and in associations concerned with issues related to safety, health and environment has enabled it to make a positive contribution for the benefit of the environment.
GPIC’s win of the Saudi Arabian Award for Environmental Management is added to a long list of local, regional and international awards won by the company. During this year, the company received the first recognition of the Perfect Administration System (PAS 99) making all the GPIC systems recognised by international organisations. GPIC also enjoys having its systems approved by international organisations and these include ISO 27001, ISO 1401 and ISO 9001 respectively. The company’s health and safety system is approved by OHSAS 18001.
The company’s highest international recognition in the areas of health, safety and environment has come in the form of the most prestigious award presented by the Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA) and the Sir George Earl Award for being the first organisation from outside Europe and the US to win this major prize. In addition, the company has won the Safety Petrochemical Plant in the World from the same society during 2008.
In 2008 the company won the Robert Campbell Award for Occupational Safety and Health from the American Safety Board to enhance such achievements to become the only Gulf petrochemical company in the world to combine between the US Sir George Earl Award and the American Robert Campbell Award. Prior to this achievement, GPIC won the Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa Award for the Best Garden in an Industrial Enterprise in Bahrain in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Also won was the Award of Dubai Crown Prince for the Best Managed Organisation in the Arab World in the Year 2003 and the Award of Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister for the Best Industrial Organisation in Bahrain in 2001.
At the end of 2008 the company crowned its achievements by announcing record profits totalling $320 million making the company’s contributions to the national economy some $1.5 billion since the launch of the company in 1985.
All these achievements emphasise the excellent level of efficiency enjoyed by the Bahraini employees in the management and operation of the most advanced technological systems that are on par with these applied by the leading companies in this sector. The message is quite clear that our local organisations, no matter how small when compared to global concerns, can rival and even excel their international counterparts even on their home turf.
Meanwhile, Fadhel Malallah Al Ansari, technical services manager in GPIC won the Bahrain Outstanding Private Sector Manager Award 2008 at the annual ceremony held to honour hard working employees in private sector firms. The event is organised by the Ministry of Labour under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of the Kingdom of Bahrain who deputised Dr Majeed bin Mohsin Al Alawi, Minister of Labour to represent His Majesty at the event.
On this occasion, Jawahery expressed his sincere congratulations to Al Ansari for winning this prestigious award. He said it was an honour for the company that one of its officials was recognised at this event, which enjoyed the patronage and concern of the wise leadership. He emphasised that Al Ansari was one of the citizens of this beloved country whose efforts would contribute to the growth and advancement of the kingdom.
In this context, Jawahery said that GPIC focuses its efforts on the Bahraini human resources who are considered as the real wealth of the country and who are the backbone of all the local, regional and international achievements of the company throughout its 29-year history.
So any recognition of any worker in the company is considered as an honour for GPIC as well.
He added the company always seeks to train its employees with a focus on enhancement of knowledge since it believes that the coming phase is one of knowledge, hence it honours everyone who contributes to the dissemination of knowledge among the employees and there are many databases that focus on the promotion of knowledge. In addition, the company offers numerous intensive training courses for technical and engineering jobs. Other training programmes include but are not limited to preparation of reports, effective communication, business and time management, principles and concepts of total quality, community service, concern with the environment, proper meeting management and emotional intelligence.
Moreover, the company has set up an E-learning Centre for its employees through whom a variety of training courses are offered to promote self-learning and to prepare the employees to enter the e-learning age.
Jawahery said all these training courses have enabled the staff members to win prestigious local and international awards and prizes that will certainly have a positive reflection upon their job performance and to further develop the Bahraini industry that would contribute to the growth of the national economy and creating a generation capable of facing future challenges. He further said the support and patronage of the King to this issue gives us a further motive to go forward and to seek more achievements for the development of Bahraini citizens.
Al Ansari expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to Shaikh Isa members of the Board of Directors, executive management and all the employees in the company for their support of winning this important award.
Al Ansari joined GPIC in 1990 and held a number of senior positions including, shift supervisor, utilities superintendent, operations co-ordinator, maintenance manager and is now technical services manager. He chairs the company’s Environment Committee and has participated in a number of local, regional and international conferences and attended numerous training courses at home and abroad.