OMV Petrom holds itself responsible for protecting the human rights of our employees, rights related to non-discrimination, decent wages, working hours and employee representation, as well as for protection of these rights beyond our company limits, in the supply chain and the community. Our external responsibilities in the area of human rights include, but are not limited to, equality and non-discrimination, security, primary health care, labor rights in the supply chain (including fair wages and working hours), education, poverty reduction, land rights, as well as timely informed consultation with our communities. Our Human Rights Policy Statement outlines our commitments on human rights. It sets out our understanding and responsibility for the protection of human rights in our business environment. It is our guiding principle for dealing with human rights issues in all aspects of our daily business life.
Our commitments are further defined in our internal Human Rights Matrix, also adopted from OMV Group. OMV has mapped its human rights responsibilities in a comprehensive Human Rights Matrix, which constitutes the basis for our activities in the field of human rights and serves as a fundamental tool for its implementation. This includes the particularly sensitive areas of security arrangements and supply chain management as well as interaction with indigenous peoples. Categorized into essential, expected, and desirable, our responsibilities cover relations with relevant stakeholders, such as employees, communities, contractors, business partners, and customers. The Matrix examined human rights issues in all business practices along the value chain; it served as an umbrella for work already undertaken and allowed for the translation of practices into company directives.
The OMV Human Rights Matrix is a tool used to:
- map human rights responsibilities,
- help managers assess identified gaps.
Human rights issues addressed in the matrix:
- equality,
- security,
- forced labour,
- child labour,
- health and safety,
- adequate remuneration,
- freedom of association and collective bargaining,
- property,
- procedural rights and effective remedy,
- social security,
- standard of living,
- education,
- minorities and indigenous rights and religions,
- freedom of expression and assembly.
Our Human Rights policies and actions contribute to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals:
SDG 4 – target 4.7 – through our entire array of human rights issues addressed
- SDG 8 – target 8.7 – by ensuring full compliance with UN Goal of eliminating all forms of child labor or forced labor
Why is this important?
Human rights are universal values that guide our conduct in every aspect of our activities. Our Duty as a major regional energy player is to foster a company culture that recognizes moral and ethical obligations toward the members of communities where we operate. We commit to addressing social concerns and to increase awareness of operative and social risks within our core business.
Our human rights responsibility surpasses our company’s borders in our effort to avoid becoming complicit in human rights abuses across our sphere of influence, which includes: our employees, our business partners, our suppliers and contractors, the local community, government and state bodies, and the wider society.
Our desire is to conduct our business in alignment with our role as a good corporate citizen, with respect for people, security of our operations and protection of our company´s reputation.
Our commitment
We have been a signatory to the UN Global Compact since 2013, fully committed to the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our commitment is to conduct human rights trainings for all employees by 2025.
OMV Petrom’s Corporate Sustainability department is responsible for coordination of activities and reporting our performance on human rights issues, at the OMV Petrom Group level, including awareness-raising and training level.
We conduct awareness campaigns, training and risk assessments for our security forces.
Human rights aspects are embedded in all our social activities, and the responsibilities lies with the management of various departments to act and mitigate
Our Human Resources department handles human rights issues related to labor rights.
Our Procurement department is responsible for managing human rights issues in the supply chain, HSSE department is responsible for security-related human rights issues, and our Community Relations and Development department is responsible for site implementation of our policy related to human rights impact on communities.
Community Grievance Mechanisms are put in place to address community concerns.
Third-party experts support OMV Petrom in conducting due diligence on the Company’s exposure to human rights risks for our operations as well as new entry country due diligence, as needed.
An e-learning human rights course from MySF platform is provided to all employees with access to PC.
E-learning for all employees starting 2022.
In 2021, we worked specifically on:
- Risk assessment for security forces
- Human rights awareness campaign
- Human rights e-learning preparation for all employees starting 2022
Awareness campaign
As every year, a communication campaign for supporting human rights was conducted in December, when International Human Rights Day was brought to the employees’ attention. All employees Group-wide were informed about our commitment and invited to complete the human rights e-learning program.
e-learning
We are in the process of completing a training course for all employees without access to computers (blue collars)
Risk assessment
At OMV Petrom, we respect and prioritize the right to life, body integrity and health of our employees and people of local communities.
Security events, produced by security employees, or security incidents can potentially affect an entire spectrum of human rights, including economic, social, and cultural rights. Such events can also have a significant negative or positive impact on freedom of expression and may lead to involvement of local authorities.
In 2021, a risk assessment of the activities performed by security companies in Romania was conducted. The risk-assessment covers both broad human rights indicators and specific indexes, including child labor, access to remedy, hazards reporting procedure, grievance mechanism, corruption, and labor flexibility. Based on the results, we will prepare action plans and mechanisms for the protection of our employees and communities, which will be implemented in 2022 in coordination with our Security and Resilience department.
Concluding action needs – Risk Assessment report:
- Revision of the contractual clauses regarding human rights, for better communication of the principles assumed by the company.
- Inclusion human rights in the annual training program of contractors
- Continuing dialogue with the local authorities to bring up human rights issues of the Security services
Inclusion of human rights issues in the security audits that are performed on contractors
In 2021, 470 employees from OMV Petrom Group were trained on human rights through our e-learning course; approximately 940 hours training hours were provided.
A risk assessment of the activities performed by security companies in Romania was conducted
76% of employees trained in human rights during 2019- 2021
We updated the human rights KPIs to support a just energy transition that advances human rights and education for all employees
Human Rights training materials are prepared for all employees at OMV Petrom’s sites.
We will continue updating our human rights e-learning training tool and we will expand the training coverage to all our employees.