BUSINESS: 468 PRACTICES
Founded in 1998, HELLENiQ ENERGY (https://www.helleniqenergy.gr/en) is one of the leading energy groups in South East Europe, with presence in 6 countries and activities spanning across the energy value chain, namely: oil refining and fuel marketing, exploration and production, renewable energy sources, petrochemicals, power and gas.
EKO SA (EKO) as leading fuel marketing company conducts its business activities by prioritizing in Health and Safety of their employees, partners and residents of local communities, as well as in the Environmental Protection. Our aim is to serve customers safely and run an economically viable operation with zero accidents, with respect to the environment and society and compatible with the principles of sustainable development. Furthermore, we seek to contribute substantially to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 3 for good health and prosperity and Goal 8 for sustainable economic development and decent work.
Each and every person who works for us or with us has an important role to play in ensuring a safe working environment. We expect our people to take personal responsibility and comply with the rules and safety regulations related to their work, to intervene and prevent unsafe conditions and respect their colleagues.
We believe that a positive safety culture directly impacts customer service, which impacts customer satisfaction. Day-by-day, our clients are trained to respect the safety rules of petrol stations and in the end become HSE conscious.
Finally, we seek to strengthen our cooperation with our neighbors and local communities on Safety matters. Risk Management Measures and mutual accountability are key elements of such cooperation.
The implementation of the Dynamic Model of Health & Safety Management in Fuel Stations started in 2014 and continues until the present time.
The Dynamic Model of Health & Safety Management, which we apply in EKO, attempts to incorporate knowledge about human behavior and social psychology in an attempt to explain and influence human behavior in the context of workplace safety.
Employee involvement in delivering health & safety messages: In order to involve our employees in delivering health & safety messages at work, we launched the voluntary action 'Together for the customer". EKO employees and executives, who participated, voluntarily worked for a few hours at a CALYPSO petrol station after participating in Safety and Customer Service training. We pursue an open dialogue with all employees on occupational health & safety in order our targeted information campaigns to respond to their questions and concerns.
We are all trainers and trainees in Safety: Since 2015, the revised Safe Operation Manual (SOM) is distributed to our petrol stations network (EKO/BP). The new SOM is a key element in providing the desired customer service, to ensure customer and employees, assets and environment protection, as well as to preserve the company’s (EKO, Hellenic Petroleum) reputation. The new SOM is also our basic training material for our employees and our partners, who then train their own staff in Safety.
Since 2014, we conduct fire-fighting training courses annually (for Sales Executives and EKO CALYPSO Agents, in the premises of our Group refineries), Health-Safety-Environment (HSE) training for our BP partners as a part of the program “BP-More for you”, first aid training courses and training of our partners in the SOM. Additionally, on an annual basis, all EKO CALYPSO heating diesel oil truck drivers are trained in HSE issues from the company’s Dangerous Goods Safety Adviser.
Direct Communication line for Safety matters: On a monthly basis, newsletters titled "Target Safety" are sent to our partners. Though them, the opportunity to be informed on matters of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), legislation issues and HSE industrial incidents, to get answers to their questions, share with their customers all the information and practices concerning safe handling of fuel and finally train their staff using these newsletters as training material is given. The email address [email protected] is the "direct Communication line" between the company and its partners, for every HSE issue.
Informing our Customers: Hardcopy informative material on various subjects such as motorcycle safe refueling, safe filling of certified fuel containers, are distributed to all our customers throughout the petrol stations network.
In our new EKO website, under "Safety in the fuel station," customer instructions and tips have been posted regarding the safe supply of liquid fuel or gas, safe driving to the service station, safe refueling of motorcycles and safe filling of certified fuel containers.
Continuous improvement: The retail HSE Division, the Sales Executives and the Safety Engineers conduct HSE inspections throughout the fuel stations network in order to identify deficiencies and omissions and make sure the necessary corrective actions are taken. The annual number of HSE inspections at the petrol station network exceeds 1000.
Rewarding: The Performance in Safety - Reward program incorporates granting token gifts to employee groups of EKO when the targets (man-hours without incident) are achieved.
In EKO, the driver and his loved ones are at the center of all our activities. We meet the needs of the driver arising from modern way of life by offering exemplary service and safety in the fuel service station. The EKO and BP fuel stations network represents 33% of all fuel service stations in the country. Taking into consideration that the average number of visits at a station per day exceeds 150, the effect of the program to the general public is extremely important.
EKO offers a direct customer support line. Until now, no consumer complaints regarding Safety in fuel service stations have been recorded.
The program covers the entire EKO and BP fuel stations network.
Employee and partners training is done in cooperation with other institutions, for specific training topics.
Achieving our objectives in safety is the result of cooperation between many departments within the HELPE Group of companies.
Safe operation of our fuel service stations constitutes a responsible attitude towards the public, ensuring and maintaining their "social operation license".
