Occupational Health and Safety

Social Relationship

OH&S Management

Apart from implementing the OH&S management with respect to the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, the HSE and energy committee holds an extraordinary meeting at the beginning of each year to discuss the pilot review, baseline review, performance evaluation and assessment; review system performance in the previous year, and draw up the annual targets and expected achievements. Every quarter, the HSE management review meeting will be held to follow up and review the internal and external audit results, legal compliance, OH&S performance, system document revision, and various recommendations. Through the discussion and participation of all units, we aim to make continual improvement and enhance safety. Furthermore, the industrial safety department of the plant and construction responsible units perform industrial safety patrols and checks every day and engage in mutual supervision and experience sharing with USI affiliates to further enforce OH&S.

OH&S Management Approach Description

In consideration of the increasing industrial safety accidents in Taiwan in recent years, IDB has progressively implemented joint supervision on large petrochemical plants and found that those implementing process safety management (PSM) have significantly better performance in industrial safety. Therefore, in addition to arranging PSM education and training for employees, labor inspection units have constantly revised OH&S laws and regulations based on PSM. They also provide guidance and advice for petrochemical plants to implement PSM to enhance the employee’s awareness of process safety in order to reduce fires, explosions, leakages, intoxication, and occupational accidents.

PSM Management Approach

From 2019 to 2025, we have continuously built a safety culture of full participation, risk awareness, and continuous improvement through systematic management. Utilizing hazard identification, risk assessment, and compliance audits, centered on the standards of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and integrating concepts like Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS), we promote 14 key elements: process safety information, process hazard analysis, worker participation, Standard Operating Procedure, education and training, contractor management, Pre-Startup Safety Review, mechanical integrity of equipment, hot work permits, Management of Change, incident investigation, emergency response, trade secrets, and compliance audits. Through comprehensive planning and review, we enhance equipment reliability and management efficiency to prevent major disasters and ensure the safety of employees and the community.

In addition to complying with the 31 major categories (49 sub-items) of performance indicators set by the Group, in 2026, we will strengthen the 10 custom Key Performance Indicators for critical and aging equipment, enhance equipment integrity and process operation safety, and regularly review and track rolling strategy implementation management.

Emergency Response Mechanism

Based on in-house production activities, we have established emergency response procedures for raw materials (chemical) leakage, fire, explosions, and earthquakes. In addition, we have classified incidents into three levels and have planned different response stages. When the level of an incident rises, the stage of response also rises. The three stages of response are as follows:

Underground pipeline emergency response

To improve emergency preparedness and response ability to underground pipeline occurrences, we perform emergency response assessment on high-consequence areas (HCAs) based on the analysis results. Annual assessments are conducted on road sections near the pipelines, including the simulation of chemical spread after a pipeline leakage, people evacuation, receptor contacts, communication and coordination of external support, hoping to help improve the preparedness and efficiency of emergency response to underground pipeline accidents.

Emergency response drills on toxic and concerned chemical substances

An annual emergency response drill for toxic and concerned chemical substances is conducted, including one comprehensive response drill and two unannounced test drills, to strengthen autonomous responsiveness to toxic and concerned chemical substances.

Incident Investigation

We have established investigation procedures to record, investigate, analyze, and review incidents, covering disabling injuries, non-disabling injuries, and near misses, relating to plant production activities to prevent accidents or near misses from recurrence and thereby protect employee safety and health.

Healthcare

USI cares about the physical health of employees. Therefore, we arrange complete health checkups better than the legal requirements for employees every year and follow up their health condition periodically. Additionally, we combine the environmental monitoring data of statutory special operations to identify the risk of potential health hazards and arrange special health checkups for employees exposing to noise, dust, n-hexane, ionizing radiation, and 1,3-butadiene in order to capture the health condition of employees and provide a reference for employees to implement self-health management to achieve the aim of “prevention is better than cure” and create a safe workplace environment. In addition, every month we arrange labor health service physicians to provide in-house service, free medical consultation, and health and new healthcare knowledge promotion. We also develop the awareness and execution power of self-health management in employees through various thematic health talks.

Potential Work-Related Illnesses

Type	Hazard Factor.	Potential Work-Related Illnesses.	Preventive and Management Measures.
Physical	Noise	Occupational hearing loss.	Establishment of hearing protection plans. Periodic education and training. Provision of PPE.
	Lonized radiation.	Cataract, chronic radiation dermatitis, malignant tumors.	Establishing the radiation safety SOP. Measuring environmental radiation dose before operation. Annual calibration of the radiation detector.
	Work under Sunshine.	Heatstroke, heat exhaustion, heat shock.	Setting a shade. Installing aircon and fans indoor. Equip the control room with water fountains. Providing appropriate working clothes.
Chemical	Xylene.	Acute liver injury.	Shortening exposure. Providing PPE.
	Organic Dust	Byssinosis, occupational asthma.	Shortening exposure. Providing respiratory protective equipment (RPE).
	Potassium dichromate	Respiratory irritation, liver and kidney injury, irritant dermatitis, nasal septum perforation.	Shortening exposure. Installing local air exchange. Provision of PPE.
	n-Hexane	Acute idiopathic polyneuropathy, respiratory irritation, contact dermatitis.	Reducing use frequency. Replacing with low-hazard substances.
Ergonomic	Carrying heavy objects	HIVD	Reducing work frequency. Replacing labor with machinery. Demonstrating correct postures.
Ergonomic	Incorrect postures.	Neck and shoulder pain.	Leading health exercises. Stretch demonstration. Showing correct operation postures.
Social, physiological	Overwork	Cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases.	Working hours control. High-risk group identification and regulation. Reducing bad habits (weight loss and smoke cessation). Providing correct medical channels.
Social, physiological	Work-related stress	Occupational psychiatric disorders	Prohibiting workplace assaults. Announcing grievance channels and methods. Education/training for suicide prevention. Providing in-house physician consultation. Periodic care by in-house nurses.

GRI 403-6:2018

Medical Consultation and new health science knowledge

Every month, we arrange labor health service physicians to provide in-house service, including free medical consultation and health talks. To prevent employees from missing the opportunity for in-time medical attention due to busy work, by effectively analyzing the physical and mental health problems of employees through interviews, we provide appropriate referral service. We also develop the awareness and execution power of self-health management in employees through various thematic health talks. Every month, nursing staff responsible for labor health service edit new health science knowledge, measure blood pressure and provide them with health instructions for employees across the plant. Apart from correcting their medical misconceptions, they enhance the employee’s intention in self-health management.

GRI 403-6:2018

Friendly Workplace: Birth Rate Enhancement

Apart from providing birth and preschooler allowances, we sign contracts with kindergartens for employees to work without worrying about their preschool children. We also establish well-lighted, well-furnished, and clean breastfeeding rooms with refrigerators, sofa, aircon, and curtains for female employees to use without worries.

GRI 403-6:2018

Checkup Quality and Achievements

It is our obligation to ensure the quality of medical institutions providing the health checkup service to ensure the checkup results are effective and valid for reference. We select only checkup institutions accredited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and medics accredited by the Kaohsiung Department of Health. After the checkup, apart from explaining the results and giving health instructions and education to employees by health professionals, we enable employees to understand more about their health condition and promote health and acquire correct health care knowledge.