What’s as important as producing the best batteries is to provide safety. LG Energy Solution should protect its assets, keep its facilities stable, and ensure safety of its employees. The battery maker’s ultimate goal is to present valuable customer experience with batteries manufactured in safe infrastructure.
This is why LG Energy Solution has the Environmental Safety Team. Then, what would be the goal that pushes Chang-geun Ahn at a team that pursues a strong safety system? Let’s explore!
Q. Please introduce yourself.
Hi. I am Chang-geun Ahn and I deal with jobs related to accidents, emergency preparedness, and firefighting at the Environmental Safety Team.
To be specific about the 3 main duties, first, I monitor accidents, analyze them, and build plans to prevent a recurrence of such accidents. Also, I revise work instructions and make them become the standard at worksites.
Second, emergency preparedness is to prepare for risky situations such as a fire. With the purpose of establishing a system and thoroughly preparing for unforeseen situations, we enhance employees’ readiness by conducting mock drills for an emergency, assessing them, and fixing problems, if we have any.
Last, for firefighting, we check our fire protection systems such as fire sprinklers and surveillance cameras, and take care of maintenance and repair of the systems. We look for ways to make fire protection systems more efficient and come up with the most effective answer.
Q. What do you do to improve your professional abilities?
Since many parts of environmental safety works are about laws, I do a lot of learning about relevant laws including the Industrial Safety and Health Act. I also participate in off-the-job training where I analyze theories and case studies and apply what I have learned for my job. I find it especially interesting when I learn about the safety systems of plants of other industries as well as battery plants.
Q. What is the most necessary qualification for safety management?
You should be able to see the potential risk in small clues. It may look easy, but actually it isn’t. An accident could take place even in seemingly simple and ordinary situations. Therefore, you really need to see a risk in repetitive daily routines for safety management.
Q. Do you have a goal you want to realize with the skills you have polished?
I had worked on the environment before I came to take care of safety. Environment and safety works are often grouped together, as the two areas are organically related. This is particularly true for process safety management*, the beauty of environmental safety. I plan to harness my experience both in the environment and safety and become a safety consultant and ESG expert.
*Process safety management: A practice to follow the rules for preventing a serious industrial accident caused by a leak of hazardous materials or a fire.
Q. What is your attitude and how do you think you can contribute to society?
I always ask “Why?” for all given situations, because I believe I can learn the essentials with a more proactive attitude. So, I always think about “Why I have to do this” and “How I can get the best result” when I do my job.
Establishing a safe work environment is fulfilling. I will build expertise further and play a part in making LG Energy Solution a leader in managing environment and safety risks as well as suggesting the criteria for a safe work environment.