The company that was chosen to be discussed in terms of its Corporate Safety Policies (CSP) is Chevron Corporation (i.e. Chevron). Chevron is an American multinational corporation that has states in the energy industry particularly in geothermal, oil, natural gas, and hydrocarbon exploration and product and product derivative sales , among other processes and aspects that it facilitates. Knowing the kind of business that the company is engaged in and the inherent health and safety risks associated with them, it would only be fair to assume that the company has a sophisticated and well-thought of CSP. After reading the company’s Corporate Safety Policy which was located within a larger document called Business Conduct and Ethics Code, it would be safe to state that the company’s CSP has met the author of this paper’s expectations and perceptions. All in all, the entire CSP was a good one. For specific reasons as to why this is so, kindly refer to the responses to the below questions.
Chevron Corporation’s CSP has numerous likeable aspects. One of the most notable of which would be the company’s commitment “to protect the safety and health of the people and the quality of the environment and to conduct our operations reliably and efficiently” as stated in the company’s CSP. It is known that energy companies have a bad reputation when it comes to caring for the environment but it appears that Chevron is doing some really good job to counter the proliferation of that perception.
Conversely, there are some not so likable aspects of the company’s CSP. The first and most important of which would be the fact that it does not have a dedicated document for its CSP. The company’s CSP is located as a part of the company’s Business Ethics and Code of Conduct. This somehow shows the level of importance that its CSP receives within the organization. In terms of the actual CSP though, it is almost perfect, with little to almost no room for improvement.
Chevron directly stated its commitment to protect the health and safety of its people in all of its operations; the same is true for the environment. Some of the best Key Performance Indicators to use in this case would be the water and air pollution levels or indices in the surrounding communities where their main business operations are being conducted.
If the water and air pollution levels or indices are going to be used as the KPI or measure of the company’s CSP’s success and effectiveness, safely stable if not continuously decreasing levels of water or air pollution (measured by the indices) would only mean that the company’s worker and environmental health and safety protection strategies are actually working.
The process of auditing the CSP should be done professionally. In this case, the most practical and logical option would be to hire a professional and third party auditing firm, similar to how corporate financial statements and reports are being audited. This way, there would be minimal to no room for misstatements and discrepancies with the CSP’s real outcomes .
Works Cited
Chevron Corporation. "Chevron Business Conduct and Ethics Code." (2015): 01-31. Print.
Duflo, E., et al. "Truth-telling by third-party auditors and the response of polluting firms: Experimental evidence from India." National Bureau of Economic Research (2013): 01-49. Print.
