Sustainability

Human Rights Management

Sustainability

Human Rights Management

Sustainable Development Goals
   





PTT’s operational impacts on Human Rights

PTT has improved and reinforced the human rights management guideline in alignment with the sustainability management since 2016. PTT has also proactively identified and assessed its human rights impacts (Human Rights Due Diligence) covering the operations of PTT and companies in PTT Group, under the guiding principles sated in the PTT Group Way of Conduct, by which 17 companies located in 21 countries covering 50 operational sites are covered. The material topics found are security and safety, employees and contractors’ occupational health, labor rights, suppliers’ working conditions, communities’ living standards, and the rights of indigenous people. Those topics were assessed, and the results were integrated with the material topics on sustainability of PTT in 2022, covering all aspects of the impacts from economy and environment, and the impacts on an individual, communities and society, in compliance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Sustainability Reporting Standard 2021: GRI 3: Material Topics 2021.

Management Approach

PTT Human Rights Policy

PTT has realized the importance of the human rights towards the sustainability of the company. Therefore, the company has fundamentally put human rights at its core while essential practices are set according to the human rights principles abiding by laws and regulations and international standards such as United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR,) United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs,) and International Labor Organization (ILO.) PTT has determined in operating its business operations by adhering to the human rights principles as stated in the PTT Human Rights Statement declared by its President & CEO. This is to verify that the company is determined to prevent, control, and mitigate risks from human rights violation, which can cause impacts on its stakeholders who, for example, are, employees, local communities, and business alliances and their employees, by referring to the laws, standards, commitments, or international principles. Besides, the company’s determination on human rights is shown in the Compliance Policy of PTT Public Company Limited.

Governance Structure, Roles and Responsibilities of the PTT Board and the Management regarding to Human Rights Management 

In charge of human rights management, which is integrated in the sustainability management of the company, is the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee (CGSC) appointed by the PTT Board of Directors. The committee is responsible for setting the PTT Group sustainability management policy covering human rights management overseeing the business value chain of the PTT Group. The committee consists of members with expertise, knowledge, and experiences, in managing human rights impacts on various aspects. The committee members are as follows:

Mr.Jatuporn Buruspat Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee Educations/ Training Records
  • Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
  • Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Chulalongkorn University
  • Master of Science (Forest Resource and Environment Administration),
    Kasetsart University
Work Experiences
  • 2017 - 2019: Director-General, Department of Marine and Coastal Resources,
    Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
  • Present : Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment
Associate Professor Dr.Narongdech Srukhosit Independent Director/Member of the Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee/Member of the Enterprise Risk Management Committee Educations/Training Records
  • Bachelor of Law (First Class Honors), Chulalongkorn University
  • LL.M. , University of Cambridge , UK.
  • Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy (Law)) , University of Edinburgh, UK.
Work Experiences
  • Present: Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Chulalongkorn University (Chairman of the Public Law course)
Mr.Payong Srivanich Independent Director/Member of the Nominating  Educations/Training Records
  • BS in Industrial Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA
  • MBA, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Work Experiences
  • Present: President, Member of the Risk Oversight Committee, Krung Thai Bank Public Company Limited

GRCMC holds meetings on quarterly basis to follow up the progress and provide suggestions on policy, long-term/annual target, material-topics on sustainability, human rights risks, action plans, and risk management. For the passing period, GRCMC has provided suggestions on the improvement of system/process of human rights management, for example, the more focus on the human rights issues that might occur with the contractors’ operations, and vendors assessment for high-risk vendors, which PTT has continuously improved the sustainable assessment and evaluation process of its vendors and suppliers.

Incentive and Performance Management of Board

The performance of the Board is appraised (Performance Incentive) by covering the aspects on environment, society, and corporate governance in which the human rights is included. The appraisal process complies with the State Enterprise-Assessment Model (SE-AM.) PTT has set a fair and reasonable remuneration policy (which more information can be found in the 56-1 One Report, Part 2, Good Corporate Governance, under the topic PTT Board Remuneration Policy, and at pttplc.com, under the topic Good Corporate Governance.)

The Remuneration Committee will determine the remuneration of the president and the CEO based on performance in both financial and non-financial aspects, encompassing challenging criteria and objectives aligned with the company's short-term and long-term strategies, including social responsibility, community, and environmental considerations. Key performance indicators related to risks and impacts on human rights are:

The eco-efficiency indicator, which measures the efficiency in controlling greenhouse gas emissions of Scope 1, 2, and 3 to reduce the impact on climate change, which currently affects the quality of life and health of people.

The Smile Innovation project indicator, which is a CSR project where PTT operates to reduce the economic impact on the community through the use of knowledge, technology, innovation, and experiences of the PTT group in community development.
More information can be found on the Corporate Governance website under the topic “PTT President & CEO Remuneration Process and Performance Results

At the management level, responsible for the human rights management is the Governance Risk and Compliance Management Committee (GRCMC) which works under the EVP, Sustainability Management, SEVP, Corporate Strategy and Sustainability. The Department of Sustainability Strategy is responsible for the overall process developing of the governance and management on sustainability and human rights of PTT and PTT Group. This includes cascading the practices throughout the company across various business units, functions, and operation areas, with relevant process owners responsible for setting policies, strategies, objectives, processes, and mechanisms in managing risks and impacts related to each human rights issue.

  • Human Resources department oversees labor rights in various aspects, such as working conditions, freedom of association and collective bargaining, forced and compulsory labor, discrimination, and sexual harassment, and provides human rights training to employees.
  • QSHE department oversees workplace safety and well-being issues, prevention and mitigation of environmental impacts, and security awareness related to human rights.
  • Corporate Social Responsibility department oversees human rights issues related to communities and society, such as standard of living and quality of life, community health and safety, and community engagement.
  • The Procurement department oversees issues related to contractors and suppliers.
  • The Legal Compliance department and Corporate Governance department oversee, monitor, and promote compliance with laws and regulations, including complaint management and grievance mechanisms.



Moreover, PTT Board and the management have worked on the human rights management both inside the company and with alliances and networks outside PTT.

Human Rights Performance Indicators of Executive

Examples of Performance Indicators Relating to Human Rights Impacts

Indicators

Scope of performance evaluation

  • Climate change management impacts quality of lives and livelihood of the people
  • State Enterprise Assessment Model: SE-AM): GHG emission intensity (Scope 1, 2, and 3)
  • Corporate KPI/ Functional KPI : GHG emission Scope 1 and 2)

Included as a part of PTT President & CEO’s performance indicators, who is also a member of the PTT Board.

Performance evaluation of the President & CEO and the SEVPs, and related business units.

  • Occupational health and safety impact basic labor rights of employees and contractors in having workplace safety
  • Corporate KPI/ Functional KPI: Safety Management Effectiveness of employees and contractors
Performance evaluation of executives at all levels from the President & CEO, SEVPs, and below.
  • Human rights management effectiveness
  • Indicators according to the Master Plan and deployment as business unit Functional KPIs : the number of human rights violations which PTT is found guilty.
Performance evaluation of the executives from the related business units.

PTT’s Human Rights Management Process

PTT Group Human Rights Management System was developed in 2016 and was set as PTT Group Human Rights Management Guideline in a written format. The guideline has been used to manage human rights impacts with which the operations of PTT and PTT Group involve, including all the activities that may cause the impacts throughout the business life cycle, from the merging and acquisition, the construction, to the cease of operation, as well as, throughout the business value chain.


PTT has driven the companies in PTT Group to apply and follow the PTT Group Human Rights Management Framework as they see appropriate through the process of PTT Group Way of Conduct. To this end, companies in the Group must disclose their risk assessment as well as their mitigation plans according to the PTT Sustainability Management Structure every quarter. They shall report their progress to PTT to present to the Board accordingly.

At the present, PTT has systematically integrated the human rights management with the sustainability management through the process of Human Rights Due Diligence of which the aspect of human right impacts is considered in the material topics assessment process on sustainability. Each material topics is developed to form a tangible practice through PTT Sustainability Management Master Plan for Social and Environmental Responsibility 2021-2025. Both annual and long-term targets of 2030 are set to prevent the human rights violation of which PTT is found guilty must be equal to zero (Zero Human Rights Violation.) Strategies and action plans are established and deployed as performance indicators according to the SE-AM, and the KPIs at the corporate and business unit levels. Progress and performance results are reported to the committees under the sustainability structure every quarter.


Performance Assessment on Human Rights ManagementGRI2-23

Human Rights Due DiligenceGRI 407-1, GRI 408-1, GRI 409-1, GRI 412-1, GRI 413-2, GRI 414-1, GRI 414-2

PTT includes human rights risk identification and assessment in various risk assessments of some significant business processes such as M&A due diligence, or environmental impact assessment (EIA) in the development of large construction projects of the company. Through this practice, the opportunities for the affected stakeholders are provided so that they can participate in assessing the effectiveness of the healing measures, the health and safety risk, as well as environmental aspects of all operation sites are assessed according to the ISO standards. Also, the risk assessment process and internal control of all the units in the company will be managed and set as measures. Mitigation plans are also set as deem appropriate. The progress will be reported to the responsible executives on a regular basis.

Besides, to cover all risks and impacts in every process of business operations and to align with the international practices, PTT has adopted the human rights assessment guideline of UNGPs to assess residual risks remained in the overall operation of the PTT Group. To ascertain that the risks are assessed in all aspects covering throughout the business value chain of the Group. Residual risks will be assessed every two year or when there are incidents that might alter the risks/impacts covering the identification of risks/impacts on human rights of all stakeholders which are employees, contractors, communities, including vulnerable groups, which are women, indigenous people, migrant workers, transgender, underprivileged, handicaps, and children. Furthermore, the likelihood of the impacts from the activities of the company in the operation sites, or the products and services of the company, in the countries where the business are located, especially the conflicted areas, are also assessed.

1. Define the scope of business activities

2. Define the human rights context

3. Identify/ assess human rights issues at the operational level and at individual level

4. Assess the risks

5. Identify mitigation and controls measures

6. Assess the residual risks

7. Monitor and review 


Criteria on human rights risk assessment is based on two aspects: impacts and likelihood.

Risk measurement level: Impact

Impacts on human rights can be considered based upon various factors such as geography, society, economy, as well as size, scope, and irremediability of the company.

Level of impactsDetails of impacts
  Critical
  • Human rights impact covers a wide scope of area or population, extending beyond the area of operations.
  • The company cannot control or mitigate human rights impacts to remediate the affected victims and return them their deserved rights.
  • The impact/ incident related to human rights requires the support of an independent, trusted third party to mediate the issue. 
  Major
  • The company is complicit in assisting or supporting an activity that resulted in human rights violation (legal complicity).
  • The human rights impact is caused by the activities of the company or the activities in the company’s supply chain and created impacts on stakeholders in the scope of operations.
  • The company has human rights conflict with vulnerable groups.
  Moderate
  • The company benefited from activities conducted by external parties that resulted in human rights violation (non-legal complicity).
  • The company cannot respond to the human rights concerns of internal or external stakeholders.
  Minor
  • Potential human rights impacts and concerns raised by internal or external stakeholders are prevented and resolved through the company’s effective grievance mechanisms.

Risk measurement level: Likelihood

Level of impactsImpact likelihood
   Likely (>25%)
  • Incident that can occur within the area of operations several times per year (>25%)
   Possible (10-25%)
  • Incident that can occur within the area of operations occasionally (10-25%)
   Unlikely (1-10%)
  • Incident that rarely occurs within the area of operations, but there is possibility to happen. (1-10%) 
   Rare (<1%)
  • Incident that has occurred with industry peers but there is little possibility to happen with the company (<1%)
PTT has conducted human rights due diligence since 2015 covering businesses operated by the company itself namely gas business and international trading business. In 2019, the company enlarged the scope of human rights due diligence to the businesses that the company had invested through other companies in the PTT Group. This was in line with the PTT Group way of Conduct including PTT, and other 16 companies in the Group, or a total of 17 companies, covering 50 operation sites, in 21 countries, consisting of petroleum exploration and production, petrochemicals and refining, oil & retail, coal, power generation and distribution, and new business and infrastructure, accounting for 100% of all operation sites that PTT operates by itself, or 100% of all operation sites of companies in the PTT Group.


Operations under PTTs management control

Percentage of operations assessed in the last 3 years (2020-2022)

Percentage of operations where high human rights risks have been identified

Percentage of risks with mitigation plans and processes

Risk mitigation plans for
operations identified with risks

Operations under PTTs management control
  • Labour Rights
  • Community Rights
  • Supplier Practices
  • Environmental Impacts
  • Security and Safety
  • Customer and Consumer Rights
100 0 100
  • Maintain compliance with PTT Human Rights Management System.
  • Improve supplier practices regarding sustainability and human rights.
  • Organize training and build awareness of business and human rights.
  • Review the human rights policy and establish measures to prevent
Contractors and Tier 1 Suppliers
  • Labour Rights
  • Community Rights
  • Supplier Practices
  • Environmental Impacts
  • Security and Safety
  • Customer and Consumer Rights
100 0 100
  • Closely monitoring on risk and environmental management during the operation
  • Monitor and maintain stakeholders' engagement, including local communities and government parties
  • Maintain dependable safety practices
  • Improvement of supplier audit dimension
Joint ventures where PTT has invested through PTT Group subsidiaries
  • Community Rights
  • Supplier Practices
  • Environmental Impacts
100 0 100


The results of the due diligence showed that there were 11 operation sites in four countries, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, and Algeria, had level of impact at moderate to major. All of which the risk mitigation plans were completed and managed, such as, safety, security, occupational health, environment, environmental impact monitoring and mitigating, and stakeholders’ issue management. To this end, no residual risk remained at major level in any operation sites. The progress and performance results were reported to relevant executives and to the management in the PTT Sustainability Management Structure as well as relevant committees (such as The Corporate Governance and Sustainability Committee), quarterly or as deem appropriate.


Human Rights Material Topics Relevant to PTT Group

Labor Rights

Community

Security

Environment

Customer and Consumer

Corporate governance

  • Working conditions
  • Freedom of association and collective bargaining
  • Forced and compulsory labor
  • Child labor
  • Safe and healthy working conditions
  • Discrimination
  • Sexual harassment
  • Human trafficking
  • Standard of Living and Quality of Life
  • Community Health and Safety
  • Community Engagement
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Minorities Including Indigenous Peoples
  • Resettlement
  • Security Management
  • Security relating to human rights training     
  • Impact on climate change
  • Water resource
  • Impact of Pollution
  • Waste and Hazardous Materials Management
  • Impacts on biodiversity
  • Accessibility to energy
  • Consumer Health and Safety
  • Customer Data Privacy
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Law monitoring
  • Human Rights Laws and Regulations

Material topics on human rights of PTT Group are safety, security, occupational health of employees and contractors, labor rights, supplier working conditions, community living standards, and rights of indigenous people, which the company has set mitigation plans as follows:

Human rights material topics

Sub-topics

Activities/site or companies of which the issues found

Mitigation plans

2022 Progress

Safety, security, occupational health of employees and contractors Safety of workplaces in the conflicted areas Petroleum exploration and production in the territories/countries that have political conflicts
  • Strict compliance with laws and regulations of the relevant territories/countries and with international human rights principles
  • Setting strict measures on safety and security
  • Situation monitoring and risk assessing to report to the executives continuously
  • Employees, suppliers, contractors, were informed about related laws and regulations of the concerning territories/countries, as well as the human rights continuously
  • Crisis management plan and emergency drill were set
  • The BOD meetings were held to be updated on the progress and to give advice on a business continuity management
Security and occupational health Road transport for products
  • Safety driving training for drivers, and setting routes, and rest areas, together by the drivers and experts
  • Drivers were trained according to planned schedule
  • Transportation routes during long holidays were set 
Labor rights Unfair treatment Inappropriate year-end performance appraisal
  • Compliance with labor laws
  • Clear communication about human resources policy
  • Continued two-way communication with employees to get their opinions and feedbacks on welfare improvement
  • Meeting between the labor union, employee committee, and welfare committee was held every two months.
  • Grievance mechanism for employees was set when it was found that there were violations by team leads/heads/company. Complain was investigated within 14 days while confidentiality of the complaint was kept. Punishment, healing, and compensation process was completed.
Human rights in the business value chain Outsourcing process of the contractors Annual maintenance
  • Supplier selection process according to laws and regulations
  • Work monitoring to be done according to the term of reference as stated in the agreement
  • Supplier and contractors’ training about human rights
  • Suppliers were selected according to the set procurement process of the company
  • Content relating to Human rights in SSCoC (PTT Supplier Sustainable Code of Conduct) was reviewed to comply with international standard.
  • The company held annual supplier meeting to get their feedbacks on various topics for work process improvement.
Community living standard

Traffic in the community area

Road transport of the product Managing route and timetable together with the communities around operation sites. Transportation plan was set, and community feedback was surveyed.

Damages of community’s assets or belongings

Construction and business expansion
  • Communicated with community leaders continuously.
  • Compensation process to reduce impacts on communities’ assets and belongings was set.


Rights Holders and Vulnerable Group

PTT considers the rights of the rights holders and vulnerable group along the process of human rights due diligence. Those who belong to rights holders’ group are employees, suppliers, outsources, contractors, business partners, local communities, customers/consumers; and vulnerable group are migrant workers, women, indigenous people, LGBTQIA+, public, disability, underprivileged, and children. PTT has communicated its determination to do business in adherence to human rights while creating awareness with the focus groups through some important activities, which are:

  • Employee training, since their first days at PTT, as SSHE course, as well as fundamental human rights course. There is also internal communication through corporate e-mails, and videos.
  • Seminars of the business partners such as annual supplier seminars (both corporate and business unit levels) and other groups such as networks, institutes, associations, or government agencies.

Integration of Human Rights Impact/Risk into the Strategic Management of the Company

In 2022, PTT has improved an approach to assessing material sustainability topics of the organization by applying the principles of Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) based on the UN Guiding Principles (UNGP), aligning it with the GRI standards of 2021, which covers comprehensive human rights impacts and risks. The three material sustainability topics with the highest human rights impacts and risks are climate change management, occupational health and safety, and corporate citizenship. All of these issues have been incorporated into the strategic direction setting, risk management, and key performance indicators of the company.

Sustainability /human rights material topicsStrategic managementMore information can be found in the following
Climate change management
  • Factor incorporated into scenario analysis to setting strategic directions and long-term objectives to transform the business towards a low-carbon society
  • Factor incorporated in business planning and new energy business and new business model beyond energy
  • Integration into the enterprise risk management process as one of the risks with a comprehensive risk management plan
  • Defined as SE-AM KPI, Corporate KPI, and communicated as Functional KPI
  • Defined as one of the material issues in the company's sustainability management framework

56-1 One Report, Part 1 Business Operations and Performance, under the topic Driving Business towards Sustainability

Occupational health and safety
  • Defined as Corporate KPI and communicated as Functional KPI
  • Defined as one of the material issues in the company's sustainability management framework
Corporate citizenship
  • Develop social enterprise business model by establishing Sarn Palung Social Enterprise Company Ltd.
  • Defined as SE-AM KPI and communicated as Functional KPI
  • Defined as one of the material issues in the company's sustainability management framework

Mitigation Plans

Complaint Management and Remedy ProceduresGRI407-1, GRI408-1, GRI409-1

Complaint ManagementGRI411-1

PTT has developed complaint receiving channels for internal and external stakeholders and added more compliant categories and channels for stakeholders to always access easily and conveniently, equipped with Thai and English version. Also, complainants can file their complaint or suggestions and concerns with companies in PTT Group located aboard through their websites or social media channels available in their regions and the languages used in those countries.

StakeholdersComplaint receiving channelsExample of Complaint Topics
Employees
  • State Enterprise Employee Union of PTT Public Company Limited
  • Human Resource Administration Department of each business unit
  • Labour Relations Division through labour relations complaint channel which is online or on phone.
  • Relations Affairs Committee through the employee representative
  • Joint Consultation Committee: JCC
  • Electronics channels such as pttvoice@pttplc.com, and labour relations complaint channel
  • Labor rights
  • Discrimination
  • Sexual and non-sexual harassment
Suppliers, Customers, and External Stakeholders
  • PTT Customer Relations Call Center (1365)
  • Complaints can be mailed directly to PTT’s President & CEO, Audit Committee, EVP, Office of Corporate Audit, EVP, Corporate Human Resources, or EVP, Company Secretary and Corporate Relation, and the Investor Relations Department.
  • A variety of online channels, such as www.pttplc.com, www.pttbluecard.com, the PTT News Facebook page, We Love PTT, PTT Blue Society, or the PTT Blue Card mobile phone application
  • Supplier meetings
  • Consumer rights
  • FREE, PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT: FPIC)
  • Labour rights
  • Discrimination
  • Sexual and non-sexual harassment
  • Environmental pollutions, and disturbances
  • Safety and working conditions
  • Security forces
Communities living around PTT’s area of operations
  • Each operational area has set plans for community visits by PTT community relations team staff who will listen to the complaints, concerns, and expectations of stakeholders, and record any impacts caused to stakeholders. Mitigation measures are established and developed. Grievance mechanisms and communications channels are set for each location.

PTT has supported its suppliers to set grievance mechanism to receive complaints from internal and external stakeholders and therefore supported the suppliers to show their expectation towards their own business partners to set grievance mechanism so that all groups of stakeholders throughout the business value chain could access to the compensation and remedy process.

PTT has realized the importance of the complainant and human rights watch group protection by setting the protection system to keep them safe and measures to provide justice to the complainants or the cooperators who give traces or information related to the issues. The company also set an effective timeframe of complaint management process of which employee compliant should be handled within 30 days while the complaints from external stakeholders must be checked, solved, and feedbacked to the complainants within seven working days. To this, in 2022, there was no complaints relating to human rights violation or the incompliant practices violating human rights law.


PTT Group Complaint Channels

Remediation

PTT has prioritized the prevention and healing process to protect those who might be impacted from its operation in particularly on human rights. Channels for grievances and appeals process are provided especially for the emergency and crisis situations in each operation area. Access to remedy is also set in terms of financial, compensation and supports, and non-financial, complaint filing points to provide first assistance and healing, or suggestions by the experts. Systematic process to receive suggestions and to file complaints of the stakeholders is set as follows:

  • PTT suppliers: Provision of suggestions and recommendations to improve complaint filing process in the annual supplier seminar. Some of the suggestions are used to develop personal data protection system, and the channels for grievances and appeals on website.
  • Employees: Sample groups are invited by responsible units to share their opinions in improving internal complaint filing process and participating in testing complaint filing system.

Complainants who might be impacted from the operation of the company can file their complaints to the complaint filing center of each project or to the PTT Customer Relations Call Center. Consequently, PTT will analyse the causes, resolve, and prevent the recurrence of the incident accordingly. In case that the prevention and healing process fail to provide initial solutions. PTT will deploy a tripartite team, consisting of representative from the impacted stakeholder, such as, representatives from local authorities, community leaders, and related government agencies, to handle the process for utmost effectiveness and satisfaction of all related parties.


The Numbers of Complaints Relating to Human Rights, KPIs

Details of all the complaint can be found at PTT website under the topic Fair Operating Practices.


Communication and TrainingGRI404, GRI410-1

PTT has declared PTT Human Rights Statement as well as communicated about the management approach, issues/impacts on sustainability, human rights, remedy measures, and complaints handing and appeals process for its stakeholders to acknowledge and understand. The communication is done through various channels such as community relation activities, stages for public hearing for the communities, websites, and PR news for society and public. Stakeholders at the corporate level such as investors or suppliers will be informed the updates through annual supplier seminar. More information can be found at 56-1 One report, under the topic Driving Business towards Sustainability, sub-topic Building Stakeholders Relationship.

For the company’s internal stakeholders, PTT has emphasized to create awareness among all the employee to realize the importance of human rights in the daily operation by communicating with them through various channels such as articles, magazines, e-mail, internal PR-news, covering the content about the statement, policy, principle, guideline, and the management approach, as well as case studies from various other businesses. Moreover, PTT set training courses such as sustainability management, fundamental knowledge on basic human rights to train employees at every level in classroom and video formats. These courses include the knowledge about the human rights conduct for business sector, best practices on human rights in business operation. At the present, basic human rights topic is set as a training topic in the SSHE1 course for new employees’ training courses which 64 batches have been trained so far. Besides, in 2021, online training courses were developed to provide knowledge about the corporate governance according to laws, rules, and regulations, of PTT Public Company Limited, to embed in the employees the knowledge about the operational ethics, anti-corruption, and human rights, in every aspect of the operations of the company. These courses are required for all the employees at all levels and are set as KPIs for the division heads and vice presidents and above.

For the executives of the company, some of them have expressed their leadership roles who emphasize the importance of the human rights in the daily operation of the company through networks and alliances and various communication channels. In 2021, SEVP, Office of General Counsel gave lecture and shared PTT’s guiding principles on human rights approach in the focus group seminar “Human Rights for Business Sector in the Thai Stock Market (Phase 1), held by The Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand, and in the course “Good Governance and Gender Equality for Executives”, held  by Department of Women’ Affairs and Family Development, to enhance the human rights knowledge and to encourage for practices for the benefits of all stakeholders. She was also interviewed by the Standard Podcast channel, the Secret Sauce, under the topic “Transparency, Monopoly, Human Rights, Laws that Every Company Must Know.” In 2022, PTT President & CEO along with other executives joined an event to express their determination to support the Ten Principles, SDGs, in the GCNT Forum 2022. SEVP, Corporate Strategy and Sustainability lectured at the Human Rights and Business Week 2022, together with the working team sharing their knowledge on PTT human rights management at the same event.

PTT has also set training drills for its security guards by demanding security companies must train the security guards important knowledge, including the human rights, necessary for their duties which is done according to the term of reference. These drills also cover the safety and security which is fundamental rights, avoidance to use violence even to those who commit the crime. Security guards have no right to capture anyone except for those who commit crime on scene in PTT, however, every person accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. Every year, PTT and PTT Group train the security guards to handle situations such as siege of the operation sites by the community or the protesters. PTT has worked with the community member to improve and prevent the violence might caused from the operation of the company (especially in the conflicted areas) as well as the process to handle threatening, intimidation, and violence to women. In 2022, no human rights complaints relating to security guards of PTT.

Human Rights Network of Collaboration

PTT has joined the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and Global Compact Network Thailand (GCNT) to support the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact & Sustainable Development Goals. PTT has also joined the government activity to provide the feedback to continuously support the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights (NAP) and the 4th National Human Rights Plan.

Suppliers and Business Partners

PTT has supported its business partners throughout the business value chain to operate with the human rights respect and principles in minds. Starting with the process of supplier selection either from the existing vendor list or it is a new vendor, the awarded vendor must comply with the Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, apart from their performance and financial qualifications. Vendors who fail to meet the standard criteria will not be listed in the PTT Approved Vendor List (PTT AVL.)

In addition, the Sustainable Supplier Code of Conduct consisting of four main principles relating to human rights has been set covering the business ethics, social responsibility, environment responsibility, and safety. This code is applied with the suppliers whose contracts worth more than two million baht and/or the works that might have impacts on safety or environment. The progress and performance of the suppliers have been tracked and monitored continuously since 2016 especially with the supplier group with high risk. If the violation on the supplier guiding principles on sustainability is found, there must be a submission of mitigation plan. To this, PTT can cancel their contracts if the violation continues. 

The Support for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion

PTT promotes the acceptance of the diversity and equal co-existence and put in principal guidelines that all its stakeholders are treated with fairness. Those principles involve the processes of recruitment, human resources administration, training, and human resource development. (Detail of diversity of PTT employees in terms of ratios between of male and female employees, the salary, or religion, are shown in the PTT website, under the topic Human Resource Management.) There is no discrimination of differences in age, disability, gender, marriage status, pregnancy and maternity leave, political opinion, races/origins, religion and beliefs, sexual orientation, economic and social background, membership of the labor union, working style, married or single, and other issues that are not work related.

PTT has set rules of disciplines and punishment for inappropriate deeds and announced for all employees’ acknowledgement. If any violation found, supervisors must file warnings and, for serious cases, punish according to the level of seriousness and case by case basis.

Any act which is discrimination, deprivation, sexual and non-sexual harassment or limit any benefits either directly or indirectly without righteousness because the person is male or female or has expressions different from the sex of birth or because of differences in origin, race, religion, language, age, handicap, health, or physical condition (Item 3.8 HR regulations, Chapter 20, Standards on Conduct and Disciplinary Offences,) is considered violation of disciplines. Any person who commits such act will be punished more severely according to the nature of the offense as appropriate to the case (Item 3 of the HR regulations, Chapter 20 Standards on Conduct and Disciplinary Offences) in accordance with PTT's disciplinary action guidelines. The above acts are considered moderate offenses and the penalty is not increasing salary in the following year for not more than 6 months (item 2 of the attached table Guidelines for accelerating disciplinary action and punishment reduction considerations.)

The Operations of PTT Group in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

Adhering to the human right principles has been fundamental practices of PTT, therefore, it has been a great concern of the company about the situation in Myanmar after the coup d’état took place in 2021. PTT has supported that crisis shall be solved with peace, according to the laws, and in compliance with international way of conduct, at any operation sites. The company has monitored the situation closely to timely adjust any decisions made or business conduct to ascertain that the company’s investment in Myanmar support a sustainable development goal while enhancing an equal right to energy accessibility. PTT has hoped that the situation in Myanmar would resolve and return to normal situation soon. 

PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited or PTTEP has been investing in the natural gas field development in Myanmar. After the 2021 coup in Myanmar, PTT has monitored and evaluated the situation to consider the impacts on various aspects on the company and on the stakeholders and to set measures/mitigation plans for an immediate governance and management as follows:

  • The executives under the upstream petroleum and gas business group considered all aspect of the impacts might occur including business, social, safeness of workers, surrounding communities, energy security impacting on the people’s quality of lives, as well as the human rights violation that had happened. With these impacts, the risks were re-assessed, and the results were reported to the PTT Board to set direction and mitigation plan that most suitable with the situation.

    The executives under the upstream petroleum and gas business group considered all aspect of the impacts might occur including business, social, safeness of workers, surrounding communities, energy security impacting on the people’s quality of lives, as well as the human rights violation that had happened. With these impacts, the risks were re-assessed, and the results were reported to the PTT Board to set direction and mitigation plan that most suitable with the situation.

  • PTT, as PTTEP’s major shareholder, has set roles and responsibility to govern companies in the Group and set mitigation plan and preventive measures as follows:
    • PTT has appointed PTT President & CEO, and COO, Upstream Petroleum & Gas Business Group, to be directors of PTTEP’s Board of Directors, to monitor the situation closely and to provide opinions and suggestions or even commands directly.
    • PTT has raised the standard of its rules and regulations on investment criteria and capex management of PTT and companies in PTT Group and set the guidelines for investment management of the companies that PTT holds shares. The objective is to help them to screen, make decision, monitor, and control the investment of the company and the companies in the Group. Strategic Investment Management (SIM) has been set along with the committee consisting of executives whose expertise covering various aspects having been responsible for screening the investment projects before presenting to the PTTMC for agreement and then to the PTT Board for approval respectively. For the high-value investment project or the project with high-risk, significantly relating to the sustainability issues, must be presented to the Risk Management Committee for their consideration and provision of opinions or suggestion for the PTT Board to consider before approving the project. After being approved, the project performance must be monitored to report the progress to the SIM committee, to the PTT MC, and to the PTT Board, respectively, on a quarterly basis.
    • With the development and the complexity of the situation in Myanmar, PTT and company in PTT Group was considered to fail to comply with the human rights principles and other policies previously declared. PTT has, therefore, raised the standard of its internal control and had the policy owner unit to closely monitor and analyze the impact of the situation that may cause effects on the company. The unit is assigned to identify and assess risk of the company operation and of other related parties throughout the value chain that might cause incompliance with the set policies. If the likelihood of the risk is foreseen the systematic prevention and mitigation measures must be set.

      Regarding the situation in Myanmar, to control, prevent and reduce risks that may occur to health, life and property of employees and contractors in the area, PTTEP has upgraded its safety management system, security, occupational health and environment and human rights management in operating areas located in Myanmar more intensely.

    • The company has informed and explained about the situation and important information to the stakeholders to be updated in time and thoroughly. PTTEP has regularly released their updates on its decision making and the movement to the stakeholders such as the explanation letter to the SET, or the press released through its website.
    • In addition, PTTEP has continued to carry out social activities to help the communities in the areas which it operates to have a better quality of life. And with the current situation, PTTEP is concerned about the welfare and safety of all Myanmar people and hope that the incident will be resolved soon for Myanmar to return to peace again. 

PTT Group’s Mediation on Under Class Action with the Montara Seaweed Farmers in Indonesia

PTT adheres to the human rights as its fundamental principle of environmental protection in every operation site. For this case, PTT Group, on behalf of PTTEP AAA, has joined the mediation process with the seaweed farmer group, abiding by the order of the Federal Court of Australia. This is a normal procedure under Australian law and has reached an agreement in principle. PTTEP AAA will pay AUD 192.5 million (or the equivalent of approximately US$129 million) to settle all class action proceedings (including appeals) to seaweed farmers in Indonesia. However, the agreement in principle to settle class actions does not constitute PTTEP AAA's liability. Details cannot be disclosed at this time as the agreement in principle is pending in the Federal Court of Australia.