L-R: Safety officers Ralph Lee, Vince Peralta and Rian Con-ui, First Balfour’s first individual awardees at the SOPI Construction Safety AwardsFirst Balfour won 10 awards across various categories during the 15th National Construction Safety Conference of the Safety Organization of the Philippines Inc. (SOPI) held on April 26, 2024.

Given to institutions that maintain a safe and healthy construction workplace resulting in zero lost time incident (LTI) records, the SOPI Construction Safety Awards has six categories based on the number of recorded safe man-hours.

These include the Award of Excellence (seven million), Award of Distinction (five million), Award of Honor (three million), Award of Merit (one million), Perfect Safety Award (one year without LTI) and Award of Commendation (10% reduction in frequency rate against the previous year’s performance).

Awards for five projects

Five of First Balfour’s ongoing projects and facilities were recognized for their safety performance including an Award of Distinction for the Palayan Binary Power Plant project for achieving 5,921,901 safe man-hours from January 2021 to March 2023 and an Award of Honor for its Leyte projects for recording 3,064,653 safe man-hours from January 2022 to February 2024.

Awards of Merit were given to the First Balfour corporate office for logging 1,486,080 safe man-hours from January 2022 to February 2024, the Tanawon Geothermal Power Plant project for its 2,591,395 safe man-hours from October 2022 to March 2024 and First Agua Joint Venture’s East Bay Water Treatment Plant project for its 1,722,934 safe man-hours from January 2021 to June 2023. Both the corporate office and the East Bay project also received Perfect Safety Record awards.

Additionally, First Balfour safety officers Ralph Vincent Lee (Tanawon) and Mariano Rian Con-ui (Mahanagdong) were among the 10 recipients of the Outstanding Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Practitioner award out of the 30 nominations SOPI received. Vincent Ray Peralta (East Bay), on the other hand, received an Outstanding OSH Consultant award.

“The screening for these individual awards had been a really tedious process because of the number of requirements we needed to submit. We are fortunate enough to be finally recognized by SOPI,” said Peralta, who noted that this was the first time First Balfour received individual awards for its safety officers.

Reflection of values, commitment

Organized by SOPI and the Department of Labor and Employment Occupational Safety and Health Center, the awarding was held alongside the SOPI national convention which had been a successful gathering of safety engineers, practitioners and advocates from various construction firms and safety organizations from around the country.

“These awards reflect the values and commitment of our organization to place safety and a safety culture at the center of our endeavors. Certainly, given the challenging environment that we face every day to deliver projects that make a difference to Filipinos, we owe it to our employees and partners to have the appropriate conditions to work optimally and return to their families safe and in good health every day,” First Balfour deputy chief operating officer (COO) Joval Pantangco Jr. noted as he congratulated the winners.

The awards demonstrate First Balfour’s adherence to world-class safety practices anchored on its ISO 14001: Environmental Management System and OHSAS 18001: Occupational Health and Safety Management System certifications which it has maintained for over 20 years.

First Balfour president and COO Anthony Fernandez also said: “This comes at a critical time as we grow at a pace we have never encountered before. Today, our overall man count is closing in on 8,000 men, and equipment and vehicle count is nearing 2,000, both more than double from three years ago. Our job of nurturing our ESH culture is now more challenging. I trust these awards provide our people with the inspiration and drive to further excel.”

(Story/Photos by:Dolly Pasia-Ramos)