South Korean chemical maker LG Chem is activating its M-Project, a broad initiative for environmental safety that will be applied in the company’s global operations. This project involves internal and external environmental safety and process technology experts who aimed at achieving zero major safety and environmental accidents from 2021. This project is a follow-up of the company’s initiative to conduct safety inspection at its plants across the globe following recent accidents at its facilities in India and South Korea.
LG Chem found a total of 590 cases for improvement after completing emergency diagnoses on high-risk processes and equipment at its 37 sites in South Korea and abroad. It is also spending KRW81 billion ($68 million) in environmental safety measures this year. The company also plans to invest about KRW235 billion ($198 million) a year in environmental safety.
The company will focus on technology advancement to identify initial signs of accidents, using big data. LG Chem has established pilot facilities at its petrochemical complexes in Yeosu and Daesan, South Korea, to test digital transformation technologies. The firm also plans to apply these applications to its other manufacturing sites by 2021.
The company also plans to set up a corporate environmental safety organization by the end of 2020 to centralize the management of its investments and budget for environmental safety from all of its subsidiaries. There are also plans to strengthen the prevention of accidents through restructuring the handling of environmental safety across LG Chem’s businesses.
