Implementation of Human Rights
Establishment of Foundation for Human Rights Operations.
The Company emphasizes the implementation of human rights, conducting its business with responsibility towards stakeholders in a balanced manner, guided by principles of corporate governance, under good corporate governance and respect for human rights. This includes adherence to business management guidelines focusing on sustainable development, accuracy, and strict compliance with relevant laws and regulations. These practices align with government policies promoting the BCG Model, aimed at comprehensively enhancing the quality of life for communities and society in the country, facilitating the effective distribution of opportunities, and reducing inequality.
The Company upholds human rights principles in its treatment of stakeholders across the value chain, encompassing employees, suppliers, customers, and local communities. This commitment is entrenched in the Company’s policies, such as the Code of Conduct and Supplier Code of Conduct, which are crafted collaboratively with suppliers. The Company also adheres to provisions stipulated in international human rights principles and labor standards, including the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Universal Declaration on Fundamental Rights and Rights at Work of the International Labor Organization, the Thai Labor Protection Act 2017, and respects the International Labor Organization (ILO).
Management Guidelines
The Company’s Prioritization on Respecting the Rights of Employees
The Company's labor management is based on respect for human rights in various aspects such as gender, religion, and belief, providing equal and fair opportunities for work and career advancement without discrimination, ensuring the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining as fundamental rights, securing employees' personal data, eradicating illegal child labor, and refraining from the use of coerced labor (labor which is illegally coerced to work) and forced labor (forcing laborers to work exceeding legal limits without compensation).
The Company treats employees fairly according to human rights principles. A welfare committee has been established, comprising employee representatives who play roles in negotiating with the Company on agreements affecting employees. Performance evaluations are conducted for every employee using clear criteria, and the results are used to determine fair compensation. Various training courses are organized for employees based on their job positions and responsibilities, aiming to promote progress and develop their potential. The Company also measures employee satisfaction and engagement levels annually and takes the results of these satisfaction assessments into consideration when developing projects, policies, and procedures to enhance care and promote employee potential. Additionally, the Company provides a comprehensive occupational health and safety system in the working environment for its employees.
The Company’s Prioritization on Respecting the Rights of Suppliers
The Company treats its suppliers equally and fairly, providing a transparent procurement process and ensuring fair competition without discrimination. Personal data of suppliers is securely handled. Additionally, the Company encourages suppliers to adhere to human rights principles by prohibiting the use of child labor, coerced labor, and forced labor. The Company has integrated human rights and occupational health and safety issues into its Supplier Code of Conduct, which is jointly prepared with suppliers. Additionally, the Company evaluates the environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) risks of its suppliers annually to ensure that they conduct business with respect to human rights. Moreover, the Company appropriately provides an occupational health and safety system for its suppliers and contractors.
The Company’s Prioritization on Respecting the Rights of Customers
Ensuring fair treatment of customers involves producing and delivering stable electricity, as well as consistently supplying safe electricity while maintaining the security of customer personal data. This commitment extends to conducting quarterly surveys and assessments to gauge satisfaction among both power plant and waste fuel factory customers.
The Company’s Prioritization on Respecting the Rights of Local Communities
The Company recognizes the importance of local communities by providing care, support, and building good relationships with them, while continuously listening to their opinions and participating in community activities. Additionally, the Company annually prepares the following reports: a report on performance in accordance with CSR-DIW Continuous standards for the social responsibility of entrepreneurs, a report detailing the results of surveys and monitoring related to the economic and social aspects of the power plant project's community, and a report summarizing the outcomes of a community satisfaction survey aimed at identifying concerns affected by the Company's operations. These concerns are then addressed to mitigate potential impacts on the community and society as a whole. Furthermore, the Company actively promotes the hiring of employees from surrounding communities and engages community workers in annual reforestation efforts, thereby supporting local livelihoods alongside its business operations.
Operational Goals
The Company acknowledges the importance of respecting human rights in its business operations, as evidenced by its commitment reflected in the Company's human rights policy. It has initiated a comprehensive human rights inspection process aimed at assessing risks arising from potential opportunities and impacts related to human rights issues. This process aids the Company in understanding the potential human rights impacts on both internal and external stakeholders, while also facilitating the identification and prioritization of human rights risks at the enterprise level. Such an approach enables the Company to effectively plan and manage the impacts of high-risk human rights issues through additional impact assessments.
Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD)
As the Company is aware of the importance of human rights management, considering that stakeholders in the Company's value chain may be affected by human rights violations, the Company has implemented a comprehensive Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) process. Its sustainability development working group follows the steps outlined below:
Steps in the Comprehensive Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) Process
- Policy Commitment
The Company has established a human rights policy to encompass the entire value chain, including its employees, suppliers, customers, and local communities. This policy incorporates various guidelines such as TPI Polene Power’s Code of Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct, as well as announcements regarding the International Human Rights Policy (No. 006/2016) and the Personal Data Protection Policy (BorKor No. 0017/2021).
TPI Polene Power’s Code of Conduct
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http://www.tpipolenepower.co.th/index.php/th/th-aboutus/code-of-conduct-th |
Supplier Code of Conduct
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http://www.tpipolenepower.co.th/index.php/th/th-aboutus/supplier-code-of-conduct-th |
Announcements regarding the International Human Rights Policy (No. 006/2016) and
the Personal Data Protection Policy
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http://www.tpipolenepower.co.th/index.php/th/th-aboutus/pdpa |
- Cultivation through Organizational Policy
The Company is committed to following the human rights policy by promoting a culture of respect for human rights principles throughout the organization. This includes providing training and disseminating knowledge regarding respect for human rights principles to employees at all levels within the organization, as well as conducting continuous assessments of human rights risks.
- Assessment of Human Rights Risk
The Company has assessed human rights risks and will study and review human rights risks related to business operations throughout the value chain on an annual basis. This is to ensure that the plan and measures to mitigate, correct, and remedy the human rights impacts of the Company are appropriate, effective, and updated. The results of the risk assessment will help the Company effectively conduct business according to human rights principles in operating areas that are at risk, helping to prepare for and prevent damage that may occur from human rights violations.
3.1 Determination of Inspection Scope
The Company has considered activities that pose a risk of violating human rights in its main operating areas, namely the Bangkok office and the Saraburi Power Plant, where it conducts business or engages in activities with employees, suppliers, customers, and nearby local communities. The human rights issues of stakeholders in the value chain can be summarized as follows:
3.2 Assessment of Human Rights Risks
The Company's risk management process, as outlined in its policy, adopts the criteria of The Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission - Enterprise Risk Management (COSO-ERM) as guidelines, comprising 8 elements as follows:
- Internal Environment
- Objective Setting
- Event Identification
- Risk Assessment
- Risk Response
- Control Activities
- Information & Communication
- Monitoring
The evaluation criteria of the Company take into account the severity of impacts and potential opportunities stemming from activities that carry a risk of violating the human rights of stakeholders across the value chain, as outlined in 3.1.
3.3 Prioritization of Human Rights Risks
Based on the result of the human rights risk assessment, one high-risk human rights issue was identified: the risk of occupational health and safety for employees. Other human rights issues within the value chain pose medium to low risks, as follows:
Result of Human Rights Risk Assessment
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Level of Human Rights Risks |
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High Risk |
Medium Risk |
Low Risk |
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1. Occupational Health and Safety
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1. Efficiency, Availability and Reliability of Electrical System 2. Non-discrimination 3. Diversity & Equal Opportunity 4. Freedom & Collective Bargaining 5. Child Labor 6. Coerced Labor & Forced Labor 7. Local Communities 8. Personal Data Security |
1. Security Practices (Security Guard)
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The Company has established guidelines to control operations strictly adhering to international standards, ensuring safety for all stakeholders amidst occupational health and safety issues posing high risks. Further details are available in the Section “Occupational Health and Safety in the Work Environment”.
Remarks: Risk scores are divided into 4 levels as follows:
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Overall Risk Level |
Score |
Meaning |
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Low
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1-2
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The level of risk is deemed acceptable without requiring further risk control or additional management. |
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Medium
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3-6
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The level of risk is deemed acceptable, requiring risk control measures to prevent it from accelerating to unacceptable levels. |
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High
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7-12
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The level of risk is considered unacceptable, necessitating risk management to maintain it at an acceptable level. |
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Extreme
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13-25
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The level of risk is unacceptable, requiring urgent implementation of risk management to immediately maintain it at an acceptable level. |
The Company can manage risks according to the guidelines for human rights operations, with measures to prevent and reduce the risk of various human rights violations being strictly defined. The operation is closely monitored, as stated in the guidelines for managing human rights complaints and remedies, including continuous monitoring and reporting of performance results. This aligns with the goal of having no cases of human rights violations throughout the value chain.
Furthermore, the Company is committed to taking corrective actions in the event of any future violations. This ensures that affected parties will receive appropriate remedies for any damages incurred, as well as timely protection or assurances to prevent recurrence of the infringement.
Table: Potential Impacts and Mitigation of Impacts on Stakeholders of its Value Chain
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Stakeholders |
Impacts |
Impact Management Guidelines |
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Employee |
· Discrimination against employees occurs due to gender differences, including female and male, as well as against groups of people with diverse genders, races, ages, religions, ethnicities, cultures, and classes. · Occupational health and safety of employees · Employment conditions & Labor relations · Employee personal data may leak to outside parties. |
· The Company’s related policies such as human rights policy, sexual harassment prevention policy, Personal Data Protection Policy, including good corporate governance and Code of Conduct. · Promoting employee health and safety through system standards such as ISO 45001: 2018 · Establihsing measures to deal with the COVID-19 crisis, such as Work From Home and Online meetings. · Establishing a welfare committee that promotes the bargaining power of employees. · Conducting annual employee satisfaction and engagement surveys. |
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Supplier |
· Discrimination against suppliers · Occupational health and safety of suppliers · Supplier personal data · Hiring illegal workers
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· Signing for acknowledgment and Supplier Code of Conduct in the business operations of manufacturers procuring products, raw materials, and services. · Explaining to suppliers at the operational level and complying with guidelines for supervising operations to be consistent with the Company’s requirements and standards and labor laws of the International Labor Organization (ILO) regarding labor rights · Complying with the supply chain management system. · Assessing economic risks posed suppliers. · Evaluating and monitoring the performance of suppliers through the ESG RISK assessment of suppliers · Evaluating the On-Site ESG Audit with suppliers. |
|
Customer |
· Reliability in the efficiency of electrical system. · Satisfaction with various services · Discrimination against customers. · Customer personal data |
· Quarterly assessing environmental and climate risks and preparing a report on the project's production operations to propose to EGAT once a month. · Conducting customer satisfaction surveys twice a year. · Handling customer complaints. |
|
Community |
· The standard of living and quality of life of people in the community. · Community’s access to clean water sources. · Negative impacts on the environment such as air pollution emissions, improper waste management, occurrence of unexpected events |
· Paying attention to solving problems with the community by preparing a report on the results of surveys and monitoring of economic and social aspects, and a report summarizing the results of the annual community satisfaction survey. · Continuously participating in building relationships with the community through social projects. · Policy and plans for sustainable water management, ensuring access to clean water sources without obstructing them, which involves refraining from blocking or diverting community water sources until a drought occurs. · Establishing an Environmental Management System with measures to prevent and solve problems in the short and long terms. · Strictly adhering to the measures outlined in the environmental impact assessment report to prevent and mitigate environmental impacts. · Continuously developing innovations to mitigate environmental impacts. |
- Impact Remedies
In providing remedies for cases of human rights violations, the Company will establish a process for accepting complaints. All employees are expected to collectively monitor compliance with the principles of good corporate governance and the Code of Conduct, encouraging the reporting of any practices that conflict with, or are suspected of conflicting with, the rights of stakeholders in good faith. All received information will be treated as confidential. Complaints supported by clear evidence will be handled with fairness, transparency, and care, ensuring equitable treatment for all parties involved. An appropriate period will be allocated for the inspection and investigation of complaints. Additionally, guidelines will be established to protect the rights of stakeholders affected by violations arising from the Company's operations. Compensation for damages will be considered to be provided at a rate no less than that specified by law.
Contact for receiving complaints
TPI Polene Power Public Company Limited
26/56 TPI Tower, Chan Tat Mai Road, Thungmahamek, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120
Tel. 02 2131039
EMAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
However, in 2023, no reports or complaints of human rights violations were received, and consequently, no remedial action was taken.
- 5. Follow-up & Reporting
The Company follows up on compliance with the human rights mitigation measures outlined, with a focus on mitigating and reducing negative impacts. Functions that have implemented mitigation measures must monitor, inspect, and review action plans to ensure effective development and undergo re-evaluation to ensure that the impacts are properly and appropriately addressed.
Human Rights Operations in 2023
The Company has established clear goals and directions to both promote and protect against human rights violations, enabling it to assess risks and mitigate the possibility of future violations. Awareness surrounding human rights is being strengthened to create value, develop, and expand various projects by increasing participation based on the principles of respect for human rights across all stakeholders throughout the value chain.
In 2023, the Company addressed human rights for stakeholders as follows:
Engagement with Internal Stakeholders
Respecting Employees' Rights
- A new Welfare Committee for the year 2023 was elected; it represents employees with roles and responsibilities in negotiating with the Company regarding agreements that affect employees.
- The Company provides equal employment opportunities without discrimination, encompassing both disabled individuals and other disadvantaged groups. In 2023, a total of 68 new employees were hired, including 62 general employees, 3 elderly individuals, and 3 disabled persons. Additionally, the Company made a financial contribution to the Empowerment for Persons with Disabilities Fund, as stipulated in Section 23 of the Empowerment Of Persons With Disabilities Act, B.E. 2550 (2007), with an amount of Baht 957,760 equivalent to employing 8 people with disabilities.
- The Company has continuously managed and developed the potential and skills of personnel, with the set goal of providing training for no less than 20 hours per person per year. The Company has achieved the target of 33.88 hours per person per year.
- In 2023, the measure of employee satisfaction and engagement revealed an average total score of 83.20%, surpassing the Company's target of 75%. Leveraging the results from the employee opinion survey, the Company has consistently crafted activities aimed at fostering positive relationships with employees to maximize their satisfaction levels.
- Concerning the occupational health and safety of employees, the Company observed zero work-related fatalities, zero injuries stemming from high-impact work, and zero illnesses due to occupational diseases, all aligning with the Company's established goal of occupational health and safety.
Engagement with External Stakeholders
Respecting Suppliers' Rights
- Suppliers, amounting to 96.05% of a total of 557, have signed to acknowledge the Supplier Code of Conduct concerning human rights practices, which the Company emphasizes for strict compliance by suppliers.
- The economic risk arising from the Company's suppliers and the ESG Risk (environmental, social, and corporate governance) were assessed with 39 suppliers in Critical Tier 1, accounting for 7% of a total of 557 suppliers. The assessment concluded that they met reliable criteria, indicating no economic risk from suppliers and no ESG risk across all assessment topics.
- The Company enhances the human rights risk management process by focusing on reducing the risk of human rights violations and improving the quality of life in the working environment, which covers labor, health, safety, and well-being. Additionally, it provides knowledge to foster understanding and awareness about the importance of respecting human rights, and conducts random inspections through actual field visits. As a result of these efforts, it was found that suppliers had no cases of human rights violations.
Respecting Customers' Rights
- Continuously generating and delivering stable electricity and safe in supplying electricity
- The overall satisfaction assessment from power plant customers, including EGAT and TPI Polene Public Company Limited, averaged 100%. The Company has established a yearly satisfaction goal for these customers of no less than 80%.
- The overall satisfaction assessment from customers of the waste-to-fuel power plant and TPI Polene Public Company Limited averaged 95.83%. The Company has established a yearly satisfaction goal for these customers of no less than 80%.
- The Company consistently delivers electricity to all customers while ensuring safety, which is a basic right and promotes a good quality of life for the customers of the Company and its affiliates.
Respecting the Rights of Local Communities
- The production of high-quality and efficient electricity utilizes modern technology that is environmentally friendly and has no impact on the community and society, aligning with the policy of reducing the use of highly polluting coal and emphasizing alternative energy sources as fuel. In 2023, the project to build two boilers using alternative fuels was completed, and an additional three boilers will be completed in 2026, enabling the use of alternative fuels to generate all electricity in 2025.
- The Company conducted a survey designed to examine the conditions and concerns of the community and society that may be impacted by the Company's operations. This involved preparing the following reports: a report on the results of the economic and social monitoring survey for the Company's power plant project in 2023; a report summarizing the community satisfaction survey results for the Company's power plant project in 2023; and a report on performance in accordance with CSR-DIW Continuous standards for social responsibility of entrepreneurs in 2023.
- On March 16, 2023, the Company collaborated with community leaders and villagers from Thap Kwang Sub-district, Tha Khlo Sub-district, Kaeng Khoi District, and Mittraphap Sub-district, Muak Lek District, Saraburi Province, to plant forests under the 'TPIPP Reforestation Project: Reduce Heat, Save the World,' planting 1,000 Bungor trees, 1,000 teak trees, and 1,000 neem trees within a 100-rai area inside the Saraburi factory.
- The Company fosters participation and executes projects aimed at enhancing the quality of life for individuals in communities surrounding the power plants and society at large. These initiatives adhere to principles emphasizing respect for fundamental rights and job security.
- The Company has supported various public benefit projects and activities, amounting to approximately Baht 43.34 million in total, benefiting communities, educational institutions, temples, hospitals, and various government agencies. The Company donates health products and products of the TPI Polene Group, including cement, construction materials, organic bio-fertilizers, drinking water, and health products to prevent pathogens.
- The Company has supported the voluntary budget to help communities and society surrounding these power plants as follows:
(1) Since 2019, a health insurance fund has been operating for communities surrounding power plants. As of the end of 2023, the fund has accumulated a total of Baht 3,020,173.04.
(2) The fund for research projects focusing on community career development, natural resource conservation, and environment restoration has been operational since 2019. By the end of 2023, the fund has accumulated a total of Baht 1,866,800.
(3) The budget supporting personnel quality, medical equipment, and public health research has been operational since 2019. By the end of 2023, this budget had accumulated a total of Baht 7,970,443.80.
(4) The budget supporting occupational health and safety to be used for supporting the increase of the hospital's potential, promoting sub-district health facilities and public health personnel has been operational since 2019. By the end of 2023, this budget had accumulated a total of Baht 356,273.
(5) The budget supporting biodiversity for supporting tree planting activities and increasing forest areas for communities and related agencies, has been operational since 2019. By the end of 2023, this budget had accumulated a total of Bath 786,000.