Hello. This is POSEOKHO, your friendly neighborhood POSCO cutie! It’s been a long time, but I really wanted to give you the news—POSCO won the Grand Award in the social media category at the 2022–2023 Mercury Awards*!

*Mercury Awards: An international award for corporate communication activities hosted by Mercomm in the US. It is one of the three awards that evaluate public bodies and corporations’ promotional activities, along with the ASTRID Awards and the Annual Reports Competition (ARC).

The Grand Award Winner prize that POSCO won is given to the best across different categories from the top prize winners in the Mercury Awards, and I was thrilled that my Instagram activities were recognized on the international stage. Above all, the take away is that a Korean company won the Grand Award for the first time ever in the social media category.

▲From the left: Video for Green Tomorrow, POSCO’s carbon-neutral digital YouTube campaign, and POSEOKHO’s appearance on Park1538’s public relations Metaverse platform Zepeto content.

I joined as a new member of the POSCO New Media Group in October of 2021. I was active on Instagram and our YouTube channel, talking to PODONGI(*our subscribers) for the past three years, communicating with the younger generations who are taking their first steps into independent adulthood, and explaining the ins and outs of POSCO’s Sustainable business in engaging, entertaining ways. I think all PODONGI know (don’t you?) that I made an appearance early last year in Green Tomorrow with film director Jang Hang-jun, and I think the broad range of my activities resonated with the judges!

When the award was announced, I was reminded of all those rewarding days I spent showcasing anecdotes from my time at POSCO! I’m especially active in communicating with the young generation, sharing empathetic memes about the workplace and social life, and sending messages to brighten your day. I’ve also thought a lot about ways to help you easily understand hydrogen reduction steelworks technology and future materials while showing POSCO’s environmentally friendly and sustainable corporate image. I’ll never forget the times spent spreading a friendly corporate image through vlogs of POSEOKHO’s everyday life, a music video about the year’s-start hiring, and outdoor ads promoting the Pohang Space Walk and the warm reaction from PODONGI for our serial, Podangtangtang POSEOKHO!

▲Vlogs of Po Seokho’s everyday life, the music video about the year’s-start hiring, and the Pohang Space Walk promotional video

Your friendly neighborhood SEOKHO is still a fresh-faced hire, but Ryan from KAKAO, the company next door, was promoted to Director just one year after joining and won first place three years in a row in surveys of Koreans’ most beloved characters. He’s also made strides into the Chinese market through a licensing venture with Alifish*, a subsidiary of Alibaba, China’s largest online commerce company. To think he’s active in China, where KAKAOTalk is banned… could I be a character beloved overseas, as well as in Korea, one day and promote POSCO wherever I go?

*Alifish: A subsidiary of Alibaba in China that oversees the IP business.

I have plans to see you more, not only on Instagram but through online and offline events and various digital campaigns. Oh! We will also create environmentally friendly goods that PODONGI will love, so please stay tuned! I’m asking for all your continued love and support for SEOKHO♡

To commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang, on July 23rd, Professor William P. Barnett and Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave lectures under the theme of the value and performance of POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. POSCO Newsroom delivers the lectures in detail!

The next site to visit is the special virtual lecture by Professor Hyun-sang Shin, a professor at Hanyang University Business School and the CEO of Impactree Search Lab, under the theme of ‘Evolution of POSCO: POSCO’s Transformation towards Corporate Citizenship’. Let’s take a look at how POSCO has changed, from the differences between its past and present perspectives on corporate philanthropy to an analysis of its management philosophy of corporate citizenship by looking back on its footprints.

l POSCO’s past, present, and future, “POSCO leaps through time!”: Professor Hyun-sang Shin

In this lecture, Professor Hyun-sang Shin analyzed POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship, by dividing it into three periods – ▲Before privatization ▲Globalization ▲After corporate citizenship declaration – and suggested the future direction.

Before talking about POSCO’s corporate citizenship, he introduced the four viewpoints on corporate philanthropy and explained the differences between the past and the present in each viewpoint. As time goes by, each viewpoint faces limitations. However, he said that corporate citizenship, the last of the four viewpoints and POSCO’s management philosophy, suggests a solution to the limitations arising from the other three viewpoints.

If a company adopts a viewpoint of corporate citizenship for corporate philanthropy, the next thing to consider is what kind of corporate citizenship it will pursue! Professor Hyun-sang Shin shows different types of corporate citizenship based on two familiar examples.

Authoritative corporate citizenship VS Imperfect but truthful and exertive corporate citizenship. Today’s corporate citizenship needs to contemplate which of the two directions it will be heading towards. If it moves towards the direction of imperfect but truthful and exertive corporate citizenship, how will it grow and develop, and how can it be evaluated and get feedback? Professor Hyun-sang Shin’s answers were in the ‘Novel Solutions to Social Problems’ by Professor James Phills of Stanford University.

The evaluation criteria for the cases of corporate citizenship presented by Professor Phills consists of three categories: Intention, Solution, and Performance. Based on this, Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave the analysis result of POSCO’s corporate citizenship by dividing it into three periods: Before privatization, Globalization, and After corporate citizenship declaration.

1. INTENTION: The analysis result of ‘Which problem of whose did you solve?’

To analyze the first criterion, Professor Hyun-sang Shin used W. Richard Scott’s Three Pillars of the Institutional Framework. This framework suggests that society consists of three pillars: Regulative (compliance with the law), Normative (embrace social needs and expectations), and Cognitive (support and appreciation from members, stockholders, and customers/clients). As an organization could collapse without getting resources and legitimacy from each pillar, the balance between the pillars has been emphasized. After corporate citizenship declaration, POSCO is gradually securing the balance between the three pillars with an increase in activities such as supply chain risk management, climate change response, and by-product recycling.

2. SOLUTION: The analysis result of ‘How did you solve the problem?’
In this category, collaboration with partners in corporate philanthropy is increasingly important. POSCO’s corporate philanthropy before privatization was more focused on simple cooperations such as independent projects or charities, and it went through the globalization period when it increased collaborations with some business partners. After the declaration of corporate citizenship, brand collaborations with clients such as INNOVILT and supplier collaborations such as ESG supply chain management and GEM fundraising increased. More collaborations with business partners imply a positive change towards the establishment of a win-win structure.

3. PERFORMANCE: The analysis result of ‘How well did you solve the problem?’

Professor Hyun-sang Shin emphasized the excellent use of the Five-Step Logic Model of Input→Activity→Output→Outcome→Impact to create a desirable change in this category. He explained the logic model by applying it to university students’ free tutoring service to underprivileged students. The input was how much resources the company invested in the university students’ volunteer system, the output was how much time the university students spent on the volunteer service under the company’s investment, and the outcome was whether the university students’ free tutoring service made much improvement in grade and satisfaction of the underprivileged students.

As you can see in the graph, POSCO started to get outcome reports on corporate philanthropy from the time of globalization, and the proportion of the report increased after the declaration of corporate citizenship. Although the increase in outcome implies a fairly positive change, Professor Hyun-sang Shin said that the company is still paying less attention to the outcome compared to the global standard. He suggested POSCO focus more on the outcome for its future development and also emphasized that the outcome should be applied to a solid strategy for business improvement so that the members can truly accept it.

In addition, he said that business outcomes might lead to an unintended way in the changing society and once again highlighted the importance of the authenticity of a company in those situations. The authenticity can be achieved through securing fairness with the balance between the three pillars of Regulative, Normative, and Cognitive, establishing a win-win structure through collaboration with business partners, and expanding outcome reporting into actual strategies in earnest.

POSCO Newsroom’s virtual lecture notes that delivered a meaningful lecture by Professor Hyun-sang Shin, who analyzed POSCO’s history of corporate philanthropy based on the viewpoint of corporate citizenship, ends here! We hope you had a meaningful time learning more about POSCO’s corporate citizenship.

To commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang, on July 23rd, Professor William P. Barnett and Professor Hyun-sang Shin gave lectures under the theme of the value and performance of POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. POSCO Newsroom delivers the lectures in detail!

The first site to visit is Professor William P. Barnett’s special virtual lecture under the theme of ‘POSCO and Corporate Citizenship: An Evolutionary Perspective’ to commemorate the opening of the CHANGeUP GROUND Pohang. Let’s learn about POSCO’s corporate management from Professor William P. Barnett’s unconventional viewpoint!

l Evolution in Corporate Management, “Learning more about POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship!”

Professor William P. Barnett, together with Professor Jae-goo Kim of Myongji University and Professor Moo-weon Rhee of Yonsei University, conducted joint research on POSCO’s management philosophy, Corporate Citizenship. Professor William P. Barnett mentioned that POSCO, which took corporate citizenship as its management philosophy, can be viewed from an evolutionary perspective by comparing it to the Red Queen Hypothesis. In particular, POSCO is the first company he wants to study as it has preemptively declared corporate citizenship in response to the rapidly rising ESG trend.

The Red Queen? An evolutionary perspective? If you are not sure about the relationship between these unfamiliar words and corporate citizenship, let’s look into the core content of Professor William P. Barnett’s virtual lecture with POSCO Newsroom!

According to Professor William P. Barnett, a company’s development of something new through innovation means that the company’s performance, quality of product, production innovation, and efficiency go up together. When a company becomes powerful in the market, the competitor also increases. Therefore, the company has to continuously innovate and improve its product quality and efficiency to not fall behind the competitors. In other words, competitive companies continue to innovate to stay ahead of their rivals, thereby creating a virtuous evolutionary circle in which innovation causes another innovation.

In an anecdote from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s children’s tale Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the Red Queen tells Alice that she must keep running to survive in the competition. The Red Queen Hypothesis, taken from this anecdote, explains that competition makes every company on the market stronger.

The most innovative companies have led the virtuous circle of change, and POSCO is at the forefront of the change, leading innovation in the manufacturing and steel industry. POSCO is evolving into a more innovative company by exchanging benefits with its partners as well as competitors.

Most companies attempt innovation with their own motivation. Then, what is POSCO’s motive for innovation, that is to say, the reason for POSCO to innovate?

POSCO is taking ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) as its stepping stone for innovation and evolving towards perfect corporate citizenship.
Professor William P. Barnett says that even though many companies took corporate citizenship as their management philosophy, they are not taking concrete measures to implement it. Without practical and concrete measures to achieve corporate citizenship, a better world is just a fantasy. However, POSCO is implementing practical and concrete actions to support its goal of achieving corporate citizenship, he added.

l POSCO positioned itself as a leading ESG management company in the steel industry

POSCO recently announced its three-stage plan to pursue carbon neutrality by 2050. The plan is to reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2030, 50% by 2040, and finally achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To this end, POSCO set forth an objective to reduce the existing blast furnace facilities and commercialize the hydrogen-reduction steel facilities by 2050. In particular, it presented a policy to solidify its carbon-neutral position unparalleled in the global steel industry by accelerating the development of HyREX technology.

Many experts predict that challenges and opportunities will coexist in the upcoming era of profound change, and the importance of ESG will be even greater. Then, what is the main content of the ESG business that POSCO is promoting in preparation for the profound change?

POSCO has long been a good example of corporate development and innovation, and the members have also actively participated in its innovation. Many experts were uncertain and skeptical about POSCO’s technical prowess at the time of its establishment. Still, with the unwavering belief of becoming a leader in technological innovation, POSCO has grown into a company walking shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s greatest corporations. Consequently, the initial vision of POSCO has made what POSCO is today.

Professor William P. Barnett said that it was utterly regrettable to give a lecture virtually as he could not visit the site in person due to the pandemic. In response, POSCO CEO Jeong-woo Choi expressed his gratitude to Professor William P. Barnett for giving a lecture in the evening due to the time difference.

The lecture finished in a warm atmosphere, but is this the end of the Special Symposium on Corporate Citizenship?
Wait! In the next episode, Professor Hyun-sang Shin will be joining us. Let’s continue to look into the core content of Professor Hyun-sang Shin’s virtual lecture!

It has been 3 years since POSCO made a public declaration about its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ with the wish of being a 100-year long company in July 2018. What will be talked about here is: POSCO’s intensive effort and remarkable achievement to follow the philosophy with the Special Symposium for a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO Corporate Citizenship, which was held on July 21st.

l Setting Standards for Work-Life Integration with the Declaration of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’

POSCO desired to identify its new culture to make the growth of a 100-year long company earning respect from others while not only sticking to the philosophy ‘Contributing to the Nation with Steel Production’ with a 50-year history but also developing together with interested parties and contributing to the community.

This background drove the company’s proactive declaration of the management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship: Building a Better Future Together’ in 2018. POSCO with its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ – pursuing ‘the value of coexistence’ while growing together across the industry and countries – has reached a stage in its evolution by contributing to the community.

After the declaration, POSCO keeps moving forward with three strategies:
△ Business With POSCO, to create value with customers, suppliers, and business partners
△ Society With POSCO, to shape a better society together,
△ People With POSCO, to nurture company culture of trust and creativity.
Employees engaging in innovation work with ‘the Three Principles’:
△ Pursue quality over formality
△ Pursue action than talk
△ Pursue practical interest rather than finding a cause

In July 2019 – 1 year later – ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’ was declared as a business direction to move forward for the ‘Corporate Citizenship’.

▲ On July 25th 2019, the Charter of Corporate Citizenship was declared in the convention room of Pohang Head Office. The CEO of POSCO Group, Jeong-woo Choi, and the employee representatives are holding hands with each other after the declaration.

The charter concluded by the discussions with advice from internal or external panels and opinions from employees includes practical principles to achieve the POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship. In order to allow the principles to work in every business activity, it sets details for the principle:
△ to create a healthy industrial ecosystem with business partners,
△ to be a leader dealing with social problems and enhancing society,
△ to foster a company culture on trust and creativity to create a place ensuring employees feel valued and happy.

In July 2020, POSCO issued the Corporate Citizenship Management Standards (CCMS) to provide detailed guidelines to call for actions.

▲‘The Corporate Citizenship Management Standards (CCMS)’ were announced on July 28th 2020 as a keymap to keep being on track and reach the ‘Corporate Citizenship’

The Charter of Corporate Citizenship provides the concepts and direction of its management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ that the employees should adopt while CCMS suggests a standard on actions and decision making, which helps employees practice and achieve practically for work and life.

l Establishing a new department for the Corporate Citizenship, holding meetings for advisory and strategies

POSCO’s new organization and conference groups established to implement its management philosophy, are leading POSCO in the right direction, playing their roles with responsibility.

In 2019, the internal governance set up a department for the Corporate Citizenship to control action and spread the philosophy more widely. In 2020, it also founded the Environment, Society, Governance Group (ESG) under the Corporate Citizenship department and established a firm foothold. In 2021, the ESG committee was established under the Board of Directors.

As an external advisory organization, the Corporate Citizenship Committee which directly advises the CEO began on March 15th 2019 welcoming its initial members: three external experts from the economic, management, humanities and social science, and law industry, and also seven other directors from inside and outside the company.

▲ The Corporate Citizenship Committee’s first meeting being held on April 8th 2019. Members shared opinions on revising ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’ to inform employees about the importance of Corporate Citizenship to encourage their actions.

A Corporate Citizenship Committee’s meeting is held quarterly to discuss POSCO’s direction, management strategy advice, and suggestions especially regarding Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) trend changes, and lastly, they review the results from achievement in social value following the plan.

The advisory organization, the Corporate Citizenship Advisory Conference, that began this year, gives direct advice to the CEO. It also consists of three additional experts in safety, environment, and organizational culture to provide more ESG related advice. The organization takes suggestions about industrial safety, health, and ESG business management strategies over its current assignment.

▲ The first half of the strategy meeting of the Corporate Citizenship held on April 16th, POSCO’s directors, the presidential boards, the heads of overseas corporations are attending online and in-person to talk about the company’s advancements, adaptation to social changes, and how to maintain competitiveness and continue to create a 100-year long legacy.

Moreover, POSCO analyzes its actions carried out by the philosophy for the entire groups, attending the Corporate Citizenship Strategy Meetings annually since July 2019 to share the best practices and reshape the strategy with 20 presidential board members in every first and second half of the year. On April 16th, the meeting for the first half of 2021 was held to discuss for the solution to be more distinctively competitive and to create a strategy to further maintain its reputation for 100 years.

l The birth of ‘the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ to shape a better society

Same as other content from ‘the Charter of Corporate Citizenship’, POSCO has carried out various projects at the corporate level and understood its role within the society as a member by suggesting solutions for social problems to create a better society. In 2019, the ‘Representative Six Projects’ were selected and subsequently announced publicly to further help people’s understanding of these activities while publicizing the meaning of Corporate Citizenship.

On the other hand, the project reorganization was required as followed by the company’s reaction to climate change, the need for communications on the environment and safety. Its separated projects and achievements by each different group helped expand the role of the management philosophy, ‘Corporate Citizenship’. Finally, the ‘Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ were launched for the purpose of having more diverse projects in March 2021.

The brands are divided into five categories: the signature brand, ‘Green With POSCO’ to lead the hydrogen industry in an action of ‘Carbon Reduction’ and achieve it by 2050’, ‘Together With POSCO’ to create developments together with suppliers and customers, ‘Challenge With POSCO’ to revitalize the venture ecosystem and foster new growth within the industry, ‘Life With POSCO’ to actively resolve social challenges such as a low birth rate and the increase in unemployment rates while ensuring its employees’ safety and happiness. ‘Community With POSCO’ aims to suggest development models for both the community and company to maintain sustainability and coexist together.

More details of the brand projects are shared in ‘An Easy-to-understand Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’

l Having the moment to share the achievements of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ projects and researches

POSCO holds an annual event to showcase best practices and achievements. In the annual event in 2019, Tae-won Chey, the Chairman of SK Inc., and Ki-moon Ban, former Secretary-General of the United Nations was invited as special guests to hold lectures in order to further enhance the quality of the event.

The first commemorative performance event around the theme “Corporate, Becoming a Citizen” was held on the 3rd of December 2019, shortly before the COVID19 pandemic occurred. It drew a wide audience with its diverse selection of prepared programs from the commitment to action for the six representative projects, panel discussions, and conferences. Also, visitors had chances to have on-site experience of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ – touring a public information hall, sharing achievement, visiting booths for the venture platform, charity flea market, and enjoying busking performances, which were all well received by those in attendance.

▲ On December 3rd 2019, the achievement was shared first in Atrium on the 1st floor of the POSCO center. More than 1,000 people including employees, officers from national organizations, experts, and citizens joined and created an atmosphere of joy.

Additionally, the best practices were shared in each category, Sang-young Lee, a leader from POSCO International for Business Section, Yo-han Lee, a leader from POSCO Chemical for People section, Jong-chul Lee, a team leader from POSCO Community Serving Volunteer Group for Society section. Their truthful and humorous stories moved the audience.

On December 8th 2020, the Corporate Citizenship Culture Day was held with the theme of ‘a Path to the Future Management with the Corporate Citizenship’. During the event, Ki-moon Ban, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, gave a special lecture about ‘Sustainable future for the corporate and directions for POSCO with the ‘Corporate Citizenship’ in front of about 10,000 employees.

Moreover, the book with a summary of corporate accomplishments from activities and research on numerous areas including management, economy, and sociology, was released and swiftly had a discussion meeting with the authors and professors.

l Special symposium to celebrate 3 years of the ‘Corporate Citizenship’:
a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship

It has been three years since the declaration and on 21st July 2021, a special symposium was held to talk about ‘a Path to the Future Management with 3 Years of POSCO’s Corporate Citizenship’. For the event held both online and in-person, important members of the company and academic panels: Jeong-woo Choi, the CEO of POSCO Group, Soo-keun Kwak of the ‘Corporate Citizenship Forum’, an honorary professor of Seoul National University (also a leader of the Corporate Citizenship Advisory Conference), Ho-keun Song , a chair-professor of POSTECH (also a director on Society department of the Corporate Citizenship), Hyeong-goo Mun, an honorary professor of Korea University (also a department director of the Corporate Citizenship–People).

POSCO Group CEO Choi announced ongoing achievements and said, “after the declaration of ‘the Corporate Citizenship’, POSCO reinforces competitiveness in particular business areas such as electric vehicles, environmentally friendly materials, and hydrogen energy business while also building a global collaboration system for expanded use of a by-product of steel production, the virtuous circle system to re-use waste resources and to further the development of hydrogen-based steelmaking. Lastly, the corporate’s accomplishment is to enable people to enhance the safety management policy, and reinforcing facilities, while developing and implementing smart safety technology.”

Not only, Professor William P. Barnett of Stanford University, Professor Jae-goo Kim of Myongji University, Professor Moo-weon Rhee of Yonsei University, Professor Hyeon-sang Shin of Hanyang University and Seong-jin Park, the head of POSCO Industry-Academy-Research Cooperation Office were all invited to give special lectures about the value and achievement of the philosophy.

▲ On the 21st of July, Choi, the CEO of POSCO Group is conducting an online Q&A session with William Barnett, the professor of Stanford University as well as the speaker of the event, marking the three-year anniversary of the declaration.

Professor Barnett explained that “in the times of ESG management, POSCO is actively leading the industry by introducing the management philosophy, ‘the Corporate Citizenship’. The value and standards on others should be suggested too.”

In the following session, a total of 12 corporate case studies were presented and linked the achievements of the POSCO Group with corporate citizenship in collaboration with the five major brands based on research from scholars in the major Korean universities. The results were shown by each of the brand’s case study professors, and executive employees from the corresponding case studies with their results. The presented materials have been published in an E-book format and are available for download on POSCO’s website. (POSCO’s Website – Home)

The POSCO’s Symposium was held to declare corporate citizenship as its management philosophy and everyone involved shared their accomplishments. Corporate Citizenship will be truly achieved only after the Charter of Corporate Citizenship and CCMS cultivates the philosophy to every employee to follow and act accordingly.

In upcoming September, POSCO sessions will be held at the World Knowledge Forum (WKF) arranged by Maekyung Media Group to discuss new possible company roles and shape the future based on the achievement created within the 3 years of Corporate Citizenship. Moreover, at the end of November, the Corporate Citizenship Brand Day will be held for its employees to present and discuss their best practices produced by their experiences and actions with Corporate Citizenship. These events will allow everyone to take a close look at the changes that have been implemented through these times and aid us in becoming a 100-year-old company earning respects by customers, business partners, and suppliers alike.

POSCO marked three years with the declaration of ‘Corporate Citizenship’ in July 2018. POSCO has fiercely worked to accomplish the Corporate Citizenship. Respectively, the Corporate Citizenship has now established itself as a management philosophy to provide the way of future management. Nevertheless, POSCO will still put its effort into shaping a better society, creating higher company value through practicing the Corporate Citizenship with sincerity.

Let’s talk more about Life With POSCO today!

POSCO’s suggestion of the company’s role being maternity friendly and its support of various programs and infrastructures encourages Pohang and Gwangyang to be “family-friendly cities.” Also, series of high-quality programs allow the next generation to fulfill their dream and form a social consensus with its continued job offer for youth.

Let’s have close look for what is the program from Life With POSCO and what it has achieved!

l Activities as a role model company dealing with a declining birth rate

The total fertility rate tells the average number of children one female can deliver. The analysis confirmed that the population in Korea can stand at least 2.07 of the total fertility rates, but the number fell to almost 0 in 3 consecutive years; it began to drop to 0.98 in 2018, 0.92 in 2019, and eventually became 0.84 in 2020. As a result, society faced a “dead cross” in 2019 when the number of dead is more than the birth. The situation alerted companies like POSCO to consider the matter more seriously. While fewer babies lead shrinking population, declining labor forces halt the possibility of growth for the company in economic situations.

In need of action, POSCO’s representative brand, Life With POSCO, was selected to be a role model to resolve the issue. For this year, with the experiences, the company has started more practical activities three core promotions for building social consensus, encouraging maternity-friendly culture, and lastly, improves perception for the future generation.

▲ On the 3rd of June 2021, Jung-woo Choi, the CEO of POSCO, suggested a role model at the corporate level to deal with the low birth rate on behalf of Korean companies in the opening of the 2021 INTERNATIONAL CARE POLICY CONFERENCE (left) and panels watching it (right).

As a part of the action to build social consensus for the low birth rate,「2020 low birth rate symposium」 was hosted by The Population Association of Korea in support of POSCO and Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy (Korea’s Presidential Committee) inside of POSCO center in 2020. The event was such a meaningful moment to have the same public voice and broaden social discussion among academic circles, government and companies.

In the following event, Jung-woo Choi, the Chief Executive Officer of POSCO, as a representative of Korean companies, delivered a congratulatory speech in「2021 INTERNATIONAL CARE POLICY CONFERENCE」supported by The Center for Transnational Migration and Social Inclusion of Seoul National University. His introduction speech about POSCO’s internal policy for maternity friendly in a role model company and alternative solution received enthusiastic responses from attendees.

Also, its collaborated research project with the academy will give more practical options to initiate the policies such as 「Solution for female immigrants to promises working status legitimately by providing jobs like babysitters」, 「Solution for outstanding foreign technicians to invite and settle in Korea」Additionally, the effort to seek solutions with Yeong-tae Cho, the director of the Population Research Center in Seoul National University, also a demographer as well as an active lecturer, a panel of a TV show and a writer, who became famous from the show “Differential Class from JTBC”, in the subject of 「Solution for companies to deal with labor market change caused by declining young population in Pohang and Gwanyang regions」

On basis of Cho’s solution for the crisis, the research will help to monitor the population shifting in Pohang and Gwangyang and plan for future responses. Not only that, the company introduced many policies to consider employee’s life cycle following childbirth and baby care phase in terms of internal improvement of a maternity-friendly culture. In 2019, employees loved the policy such as additional leaves and expenses for those who had been treated for infertility, scholarship amount increase for families with many children. Last year, it became the first company in Korea which adopt a policy for ‘Work at Home for mothers caring for infant babies’ which supports mothers to keep on their career path and take care of their babies. In this year, various maternity-friendly policies will be analyzed professionally to select the Best Practices, which will make it the best company for the matter and everyone want to follow.

▲ Ki-soo Eun, a professor of Seoul National University who delivers a presentation of a research plan in POSRI Corporate Citizenship colloquium (left) and interviews to select Best Practices for POSCO’s maternity friendly policy (right).

Furthermore, it initiated an awareness improvement project for future generations who requires building values of life about marriage, childbirth, family. The pilot program of population education was developed in collaboration with the Korea National University of Education and study materials were provided for 980 students in 10 schools, besides, the project will highly focus on ‘initiation of population education for the future generation’, this year. To do that, the company signed an ‘MOU to working together in population education for the future generation’ on the date of celebrating the Population Day on 9th July, and it is going to offer a hand to ‘a contest for lecturing population education for teachers’ for 3 years from now which held by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The national department has held yearly competitions as well since 2017 to develop national teacher’s professionality on population education and explore the best cases to apply publicly in schools. And the department has the plan to change the name of the contest to ‘the exhibition sharing best classes on population education in a range of Korean kindergarten to high schools’. Because of participation with POSCO, it is eventually turned into a private-public collaboration project managed by the Institute for Research & Industry Cooperation of Pai Chai University.

l POSCO YOUTH DREAM (A program of Job Search Academy, Youth Al BigData Academy, startup incubation schools)

‘POSCO YOUTH DREAM’, a program that offers a Job Search Academy, Youth Al BigData Academy, a startup incubation schools, celebrates its 3 years birthday which has started in 2019 to give practical support to youth who are looking for a job. The 1,142 graduates out of 2,601 have succussed in getting a job or starting a business by 1st half of this year, which proves its educational benefits. With the achievement from the program, POSCO has actively involved the issues by providing effective education to those who are in need.

A. Job Search Academy
It is a program to educate 800 students who graduated university or expected graduation within 6 months, welcoming 66 to 72 students per session, operating in Pohang and Songdo during 3 weeks of training including 1 week of online and 2 weeks in camp.

It gives them practical help to get a job with various subjects for improvement of basic competence like job search strategy, analysis on companies and roles, how to introduce themselves, interview practices. Also, it gives team tasks to adopt the method of Design Thinking and Working Backward so that they can resolve regional challenges.

▲ Students who are in a task that requires Design Thinking.

Students will get full financial support, and renew program welcomes more future students in 2021.

B. Youth AI• BigData Academy
In purpose of nurture professionals who will stand in front of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the practical education to build competency – logic, utilization, and problem-solving tasks of AI•Big Data – will be provided. The practical education is mainly focused on graduates of universities who want to start a business or get hired in the IT area.

▲ Students in Youth AI•BigData Academy.

The 3-month education will be given to university graduates or future graduates, a total of 200 people yearly, 50 people each by 4 sessions. The education will follow curriculums including basics of machine learning, how to analyze Big Data and use of AI technology, with principles of AI•Big Data and its use method, one problem-solving task which can happen in their future workplace.

It has a training of 2 weeks online, 10 weeks in Camp. Not only trainers will be not charged for every expense like education and accommodation, but also be paid for training. Every graduate of the academy will be certified by name of the COE of POSCO Group University, and the president of POSTECH. The best students will be lucky to have a chance of 2 months of research internship or employment for the POSCO group.

C. Startup incubation schools
The company’s qualified education invites youth who dream of their venture, also generates more job opportunities, which eventually takes a great role in boosting regional and national economic growth.

▲ Students in startup incubation schools.

The program of on-the-job-training to start venture company helps 100 future owners who are in their 20 to 40, during 4 weeks- 2 weeks via online, 2 weeks in Songdo camp of POSCO Group Education, with the practical subject in strengthening business plan, validating the business model and writing of the business plan.

The training module is to educate how to realize the business plan, verifying business, and finally get to know other business experiences and knowledge. The Design Thinking method with customer’s needs and feedback will shape their business plan. In the use of Planning the Entrepreneurial Venture architected by Kauffman FastTrac Foundation, the biggest Entrepreneurship Center in the U.S, students will verify their business and learn about the business experience and knowledge in the subject of intellectual property, venture company-related Act, marketing strategies, how to write business plans, and national policies for Support for the small and medium enterprise.

Not only training, but later, graduates will also get One-on-One coaching sessions for their business plan to prepare government support programs that promote their business. Another benefit is the company’s accelerating session by POSCO’s IMP venture team to introduce professionals, VC investment. Also, POSCO’s talk concert about related to ventures will build a relationship between graduates, so graduates can share information to encourage each other for their goals.

POSCO has already introduced cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, smart wearable devices, and automated robots, and is trying to fulfill its social responsibilities by implementing safe steel mills based on ESG management. POSCO, you’ve got a plan!

POSCO, which recently declared safety first management, is implementing six major safety management measures including △shifting the process from production priority to safety priority, △thoroughly implementing work stoppage rights, △establishing a Safety e-Report, △expanding safety smart infrastructure, △strengthening safety management support for partners △substantializing safety training for employees.

POSCO judged that there is a limit to disaster prevention just by supplementing existing safety facilities or strengthening institutional strategies for safety compliance. Therefore, it is focusing on preventing safety accidents by applying Smart technology to existing safety activities such as ‘mechanization and automation of dangerous work’, ‘application of Smart Technology for danger prediction’, and ‘smartification of safety management’.

▲Safety activities incorporating smart technology that POSCO aims for

Now, let’s take a closer look at POSCO Smart Safety from A to Z.

l Mechanization and automation of dangerous work

First, POSCO is pushing for the development of automated devices incorporating smart technologies to replace manual work with a high risk of safety accidents and the ‘mechanization and automation of dangerous work’ by applying robots.

POSCO will also apply drones and expand its usage to inspect facilities at high places with high safety danger for workers, such as a chimney, pipe, and fuel & material inventory measurements. In addition, in the case of steelmaking processes that deal with molten metal at 1,500℃ or higher, the process of removing impurities and putting them into transport containers) was automated through image recognition and IoT.

Other continuous casting operations including refractory tube connecting operation (connecting molten metal to intermediate containers called Tundish before pouring it into molds), putting thermal insulation materials work, temperature measurement and sampling operation are also in the development of robots, and the operation of unloading iron ore and coal at 40m above ground is also being studied for automation.

l Danger Prediction Smart Technology

Smart solutions such as Smart Safety Ball, Smart Watch, Smart CCTV, and Smart Safety Vest are also in the process of application. They are all ‘Danger Prediction Smart Technology’ that can early detect workers’ insecure behaviors and dangerous situations and prevent disasters through prompt sharing.

Smart Safety Ball is the world’s first technology developed by POSCO, and it is a detector that indicates the presence of harmful gas by throwing the ball into the workspace before workers enter the enclosed workspace.

The size of the Safety Ball is similar to a tennis ball (60mm in diameter and 100g in weight), and the concentration of three gases including oxygen, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide can be determined. The measurements can be checked in real-time in a dedicated application on a smartphone or tablet, and the message is delivered to colleagues and managers at the risk level.

POSCO is demonstrating the device to the choking hazard site of the steel mill and plans to distribute the entire steel mill site and expand it to local industries and communities after legal certification is completed by June.

▲Real-time data transfer schematic and key functions of Smart Safety Ball

▲POSCO employees are working on real-time harmful gas measurements through smart safety balls and linked apps at the site.

In the case of Smart Watch, it has been distributed since last year to the steel mill and partner employees, as well as staff members who need health care. Its key function is to secure golden time by immediately sending rescue signals to colleagues around by detecting falls, heart problems, and falls in real-time. Through this, it is possible to supplement the system that used to periodically contact wirelessly or check safety through CCTV video during the fieldwork.

▲Danger detection and SOS sending process of Smart Watch

In addition, CCTVs are being installed in all repair operations in the steel mill, and Smart CCTVs equipped with AI image recognition models are developed to detect workers’ safeguards, entry into dangerous areas, and workers’ insecure Not wearing safeguards, intrusion into dangerous areas, abnormal behavior detection, behavior in real-time.

▲Smart CCTV Key Functions

It is also promoting to introduce Smart safety vests to remove workers’ safety blind spots during the field inspection. The Smart safety vest consists of a front-back camera, lantern, and LTE radio, and shares images in the cab in real-time through front back cameras. In case of emergency, the SOS sending function can be activated immediately, and in the future, the company plans to develop and install functions that allow drivers and workers to mutually recognize mobile (cranes, forklifts, etc) access situations.

l Smartification of safety management

Lastly, POSCO is promoting the establishment of an integrated safety management system and the smartification of safe work permits.

As the policy on industrial safety is strengthened, the target of safety management is expanded to suppliers (cooperation, service, and construction), and the asymmetry of information will be resolved by sharing and utilizing safety-related information horizontally.

In response, POSCO is establishing a Smart Safety Management Integrated System that can be shared by everyone who enters and leaves the steel mill. This system, which will be operated in earnest around next year, is connected to all safety-related in-house systems and is being developed to immediately recognize abnormal situations transmitted from gas detectors and wearable devices.

▲Smart Safety Management Integrated System Concept

It is also developing tool mechanization and automation for the safety of employees at actual work sites. To this end, it is pushing for 1,500 improvements such as forming a cooperative win-win support group to discover risk factors all at once and improving safety facilities, as well as designing and manufacturing jig & fixtures for heavyweight transportation and manual work assistance.

Also, it discovers QSS(Quick Six Sigma) improvement tasks to raise safety awareness and enhance safety improvement capabilities of partners and it supports total solutions to materialization, design, manufacture, and field application of ideas using *Design Thinking technique.
^*Design Thinking: A problem-solving process that creates solutions from a consumer perspective

In addition, FINEX 3 plant, which has potential risk factors such as high temperature, high pressure, and gas, has been selected as a smart safety model plant and is pushing for the completion of construction by the end of this year. Applied technologies include a gas leakage monitoring system using gas detectors and thermal imaging cameras, connecting various wearable devices such as Safety Ball and Smart safety vest and monitoring systems in the cab, workers’ access control and flow in dangerous areas, and digital safety work procedures. POSCO plans to build a safe working environment by spreading it to all the steel mill plants through supplementation of technology once the FINEX 3 model plant is established.

POSCO plans to introduce Smart Safety with the belief that all of our safe work sites will soon lead to POSCO people’s happiness. Smart Safety technology that to be applied in the future is gradually spreading to domestic industries and local governments.

POSCO continues its efforts to lead to “a workplace where safety is a top priority becomes the driving force of a happy life.”

I POSCO, we want to deliver a sincere message.

Recently, advertisements by Swedish carmaker Volvo have become a hot issue online. Volvo, famous for proving the robustness of the product through destructive safety tests, once again produced an advertisement titled ‘The Ultimate Safety Test’. The appearance of a polar region with a glacier in the intro raises the expectation that safety tests in dangerous situations will be carried out. However, with the scene of the glacier collapsing, the twist begins. Then the message says “Climate change is the ultimate safety test. That’s why we’re changing to all-electric”, clearly revealing Volvo’s future direction.

Volvo Cars is actually operating a carbon emission reduction action plan and is actively participating in a joint project to cope with climate change. “We are part of the problem of climate change, but we can also be part of the solution. We have a responsibility to act,” said Hanna Fager, Head of Corporate Functions at Volvo Cars. This is an example of the sincerity of the values and social responsibilities pursued by companies.

In addition, not long ago, a campaign video of a chair brand gained popularity on YouTube with more than 5.9 million cumulative views. The Fursys Group’s ‘Lean on’ campaign is a video showing the contents of social contribution activities that produce and send customized chairs to those in need, such as grandmothers of Hangeul University and street busking musicians. This campaign received enthusiastic responses and won the “2020 Consumers’ Choice Outstanding Ad” online category.

Philip Kotler, a professor emeritus at Northwestern University who is called the master of management, defines the phenomenon that the company’s brand itself has become an active act on social responsibility as ‘brand activism’. This is because the company that the public wants to work with is ‘a company that steadily delivers a genuine message through the brand’.

POSCO has also been steadily practicing since the declaration of its management philosophy as a “Corporate Citizenship” in 2018 and the announcement of its five major projects. If so, let’s take a closer look at what the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands are.

I The background of the birth of the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands

As the preamble of the Corporate Citizenship Charter states, ‘As a member of the social community, POSCO is seeking and practicing corporate-level roles to engage in addressing social issues and to create a better society’.

And after the declaration of management philosophy, in 2019, the six major projects were selected to make these activities easier for more people to understand and empathize with.

However, with the recent emphasis on ESG management, it has become more important to respond to climate change and communicate with stakeholders on the environment and safety. In addition, the scope of activities as corporate citizenship has been further expanded, such as promoting major projects suitable for the characteristics of POSCO as well as group companies and also generating results.

In this way, in March 2021, the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands were finally born.

I Intensive exploratory! the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands

In last December, as POSCO declared to achieve ‘2050 carbon neutrality’, Green With POSCO (a company you protect the environment with) was set as its signature brand, and Together With POSCO (a company you want to work with), Challenge With POSCO (a company you want to grow together with), Life With POSCO (a company you build a future together with), and Community With POSCO (a company you engage with for the local community) were designated as five major brands.

First, let’s take a look at Together With POSCO, ‘a company you want to work with’. POSCO shows its willingness to create a stronger supply chain and industrial ecosystem based on its experience of presenting a new paradigm for shared growth with business partners. The brand includes activities that pursue cooperation and win-win value with various stakeholders.

POSCO is carrying out a new level of shared growth activities to meet higher social expectations and flexibly cope with changes in the management environment. The major projects are Benefit Sharing (a system that shares the performance of POSCO and its partners), Open sourcing (suppliers can promote their products without visiting in person), and Steel Win-Win Fund (worth KRW 100 billion funds to overcome the COVID-19 crisis, providing liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises). Especially, 897 company members signed up in the e-Catalog system which is an open sourcing business, 5,257 products were introduced, and 1,529 products were contracted for purchasing (July 2019 to present).

Next is Challenge With POSCO, ‘a company you want to grow together with’! It is a brand that shows its willingness to become a ‘company that wants to grow together with’ by discovering and nurturing promising venture companies. It aims to achieve change and innovation in society and industry as a driving force for POSCO Group’s innovation and sustainable growth.

POSCO has established startup incubation spaces and is providing places for startups, including ‘Seoul Change Up Ground’, a public–private partnership incubation center (Ministry of SMEs and Startups). It also incubated and accelerated 60 startups through venture platforms in 2020. It continues to build a virtuous circle venture platform by discovering promising venture companies twice a year and supporting the entire process of business from the idea stage to the business model establishment, investment, and follow-up management. POSCO utilizes POSCO Group’s business capabilities and resources in line with the Sustainable and low-carbon trends while working with partners with ideas to pursue “environment, sustainable city, production, and consumption.”

The signature brand, Green With POSCO, contains POSCO’s strong will to create ‘a company that protects the environment together’.

To achieve the target of ‘2050 Carbon Neutrality’, POSCO sets out a mid-to long-term target of 20% carbon reduction in 2030 and 50% in 2040. For now, it plans to optimize low carbon solutions that reduce carbon emissions that are already in use and apply low carbon technology step by step in the future. The first step is to improve energy efficiency and replace economically low carbon fuel materials, the second step is to upgrade scrap utilization and apply Carbon Capture Storage & Utilization (CCUS), and the third step is to develop existing FINEX-based hydrogen reduction and renewable energy-based low-carbon steel process.

POSCO not only develops technologies to realize Carbon Reduction but also carries out continuous communication and partnership activities with stakeholders. In addition, as a corporate citizen, it also actively participates in ‘My Little Challenge’, which can reduce carbon in his work and daily life.

Life with POSCO, ‘a company that makes the future together’, protects valuable values for employees such as safety, health, welfare, and education. POSCO strives to make Pohang and Gwangyang good cities to give birth to and raise children, and to provide various educational opportunities to develop the dreams of future generations.

‘1% Sharing Art School’, which helps to build dreams in culture and art, ‘Do Dream’, a program that supports teenagers in child welfare facilities to stand on their feet, and ‘Science Beyond Imagination’, an experience-based creativity lecture project that visits local schools in person are the major projects. Also, believing that ‘the future of young people is the future of a country’, POSCO aims to strengthen the employment capabilities of young people by operating ‘POSCO YOUTH DREAM’. It supports young people through academies to foster AI/Big Data-related talent and enter the industry, startup incubation schools for prospective startups, and Youth Sharing h, a job-linked program for small and medium-sized companies.

Community With POSCO, ‘a company you engage with for the local community’. POSCO perceived growing up with local communities as a corporate social responsibility from the beginning of its foundation. It plans to continue to present a model of coexistence and development around the hub area where POSCO Group’s business sites are located.

Currently, POSCO employees operate a total of 80 talent volunteer groups in Pohang, Gwangyang, and Seoul, participate in regional differentiated social contribution programs, practice sharing, and build trust with the local community by using work characteristics and specialties. It also operates free meal service centers in Pohang and Gwangyang and established a university student volunteer group ‘Beyond’ since 2007 to help regenerate farming and fishing villages and serve as a bridge between cities and villages.

In addition, it provides cultural contents of various genres that enhance the self-esteem of residents through classical music, musicals, and expert lectures such as POSCO Culture Concert, Kids Concert, and Year-End Concert. It also installed sculptures made with POSCO’s steel materials in Hwanho Park in Pohang and also installed sculptures that represent the local community in villages near Gwangyang Steel Works and strengthen solidarity with the local community.

I The power of a respected 100-year company comes from POSCO Corporate Citizenship!

Now, I think we should discover and promote activities that many people can sympathize with by utilizing the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands. As soon as the value of the five major brands that we practice and realize in person becomes POSCO’s corporate culture, won’t the public exclaim, ‘As expected, POSCO Corporate Citizenship!’ POSCO will continue to strive to help more people to participate and empathize with the five major brand activities of corporate citizenship. Concluding the story of the birth of the five major brands, we look forward to your continued interest and encouragement in “An easy-to-understand the Five POSCO Corporate Citizenship Brands’ story” that will be serialized in the future.

POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi emphasized once again that “safety” is prioritized over production, and that “safety” is the top priority in all business activities this year.

CEO Jeong-Woo Choi devoted most of his statements at the recent group management meeting to emphasize “safety”. He said, “Workers can request to cease operation if they are having difficulties securing safety or because of other physical or emotional factors. It should be guaranteed as the right of the employees.” He also urged this implementation to be guided to all employees and instructed to be executed thoroughly.

He added, “If production capacity is short because of the safety measures, employees should not be held responsible, but rather rewarded.”

Choi went on, “We need to improve the system so that relevant departments can take immediate actions in case someone reports on safety issues. We must also make sure that safety-related investments should be prioritized and executed promptly through fast track.”

At the beginning of 2021, CEO Choi had emphasized the importance of safety by making safety a top priority and making the workplace a better place for a satisfactory life through the New Year’s speech and a visit to the steelworks.

Putting “safety” as a top priority in management policy, POSCO has declared to carry out 6 Major safety measures — 1) establishing a safety-first process instead of production-first, 2) implementing the right to reject operation, 3) setting up a safety report system, 4) expanding safety smart infrastructure, 5) improving safety management support for business partners, and 6) strengthening safety education for employees

Accordingly, POSCO reaffirmed the policy of prohibiting all maintenance and repair work during facility operation, except in unavoidable cases, to put safety as the priority of steelworks production operation. In order to ensure the safety of workers, POSCO actively guided the right to stop work and allowed them to resume work after obtaining the consent of the workers.

A new safety report system was also introduced so that all workers within the steelworks, including employees of partner companies, can make reports in real-time through an application if they are requested to work in unsafe environments or find elements that threaten their safety.

Also, POSCO decided to further secure safety-related smart infrastructure. The company vowed to create sites without any safety blind spots with the supply of detachable “portable CCTV” and “Body Cam”. POSCO will also introduce “Safety Ball,” an item, which can identify the inside of a confined area before any operation.

On February 1, the Cooperative Safety Support Section was also established to provide dedicated support for the safety management of partner companies. The Section is in charge of various tasks that include relieving risk factors of partner companies, supporting safety operations, and providing safety information.

Safety training for POSCO employees will be further strengthened as well. The idea is to expand the use of safety UCC so that employees can easily understand safety rules on sites, conduct systematic training by external safety instructors, and foster risk management experts specializing in the steelworks process. POSCO will also establish a safety technology academy to support education programs that aim to improve safety capabilities.

Meanwhile, since 2018, POSCO has invested 1.315 trillion KRW to improve steelworks facilities, such as replacing aged facilities and supplementing closed facilities, establishing a safety organization and recruiting safety experts, strengthening support activities for the safe operation of business partners, and reinforcing inspections for hazardous facilities. Last December, the company had announced special measures for safety management and to invest an additional 1 trillion KRW over the next three years from 2021.

▲ POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited the steelworks on January 7 and 8 to encourage employees and emphasized that safety is of top priority to create a workplace for a happy life

▲ POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited the steelworks on January 7 and 8 to encourage employees and emphasized that safety is of top priority to create a workplace for a happy life

▲ POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited the steelworks as the first step of the new year and looked around the facilities while emphasizing safety

POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi emphasized “safety” as of paramount importance at his first visits to the steelworks this year.

CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited the Pohang Works on January 7 and the Gwangyang Works on January 8.

On arriving at Pohang Works, CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited the offices of the POSCO Labor Union and the Labor-Management Council first to meet with the Union Chairman and other personnel. At the meeting, Choi stated that employees and management must work together to establish a safe and healthy workplace.

Choi visited the hydrogen plant, the continuous casting plant, and the electrical steel plant no.2. The hydrogen plant is a facility that extracts hydrogen from natural gas (LNG) while the continuous casting plant produces slabs with molten iron from the blast furnace. The electrical steel plant no.2 is in charge of the production of electrical steel that is used as core materials for future eco-friendly infrastructure, such as electric vehicles (EV), hydrogen vehicles, and wind power generators.

At the site, CEO Jeong-Woo Choi once more stressed that by setting safety of paramount importance, the workplace should be established as a place where employees are satisfied.

Through the New Year’s message, POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi had pointed out safety as the most important value that POSCO employees should focus on this year. He had also said that old safety facilities and unsafe work environments should be actively discovered, improved immediately, and equipped with smart safety devices, with the belief that I will protect the safety of me and my colleagues.

Choi also urged employees to concentrate all their capabilities to secure an initiative for the hydrogen business, which is considered as POSCO’s new growth engine in the future.

On January 8, CEO Jeong-Woo Choi visited Gwangyang Works and met with the POSCO Labor Union’s Gwangyang Branch and the Labor-Management Council. He also inspected the automotive steel plant and the lithium production plant in turns.

At the meeting, CEO Choi stated that for the steel business, such as automotive steel, the gap in competitiveness with competitors must be widened. As for the secondary battery material business, the value chain, that stretches from raw materials, like lithium, to cathode and anode materials, must be strengthened so that POSCO can leap to the Top Tier globally.

The answer to this question is revealed at the bottom!

The above quiz was one of the questions at the POSCO ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge’ held in Pohang last year. Those who find it hard to answer could perhaps take this opportunity to learn about it today. Why? It’s because the more you know, the safer you become. Safety is POSCO’s core value.

l POSCO Holds the Safety Golden Bell

Around 30,000 employees of POSCO and partner companies participated in the preliminary rounds of the Golden Bell Challenge, and 400 of them qualified for the main game. The main game was held in Pohang on October 25 2019 and was attended by a total of 1,000 people, including POSCO CEO Jeong-Woo Choi and 600 others who came to cheer.

Various questions regarding the company’s safety regulations and the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Act were covered at the ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge.’ At the event, several performances demonstrating POSCO’s safety message were carried out, along with some bonus quizzes for the audience. All participants could enjoy the events while acquiring safety education at the same time.

POSCO’s ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge’ is not about winning or the competition itself. Of course, some questions aren’t easy, like the quiz above. But the real purpose of the challenge is this: creating a ‘safety community’ where all employees, including at partner companies, protect each other — with a little entertainment along the way.

POSCO has expanded its budget for the safety sector and has put in a lot of effort in securing the safety of employees, like investing 1.105 trillion KRW for three years from 2018 and establishing a safety control tower company-wide.

In addition, POSCO has expanded various Smart Safety devices, including Intelligent CCTV, robots, and recently gave away Smart Watches that can send rescue signals in case of hazardous accidents to 1,200 working at the steelworks to secure the safety of its employees. However, these devices cannot be all when it comes to safety. The many safety capital and infrastructure investments should be met with the employees’ self-recognition of the importance of safety and encourage each other to change. This is the reason why POSCO planned the ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge’.

l A Recognized Safety Program Participated by 30,000 Employees Including Partner Companies

POSCO’s ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge,’ which was participated by around 30,000 employees of POSCO and partner companies, drew the attention of worldsteel. And with this program, POSCO was selected for excellence in the ‘safety culture and leadership’ area by worldsteel this year.

▲ Safety Culture Leadership Excellent Company Certificate by worldsteel

POSCO was recognized for putting safety as the core value of employees and providing a space where employees can connect and upgrade the safety competence of individuals voluntarily while promoting the vitalization of safety activities.

POSCO acquired high regard from the evaluation carried out in the following four sectors: management support, impact on metrics, leadership maturity, and broad and deep participation.

In particular, POSCO received high praise in terms of encouragement from top executives, including the CEO, and initiative and motivation of management supervisors. The safety program yielded noticeable positive effects, such as an increase in finding potential risk & participation in safety activities and a decrease in unsafe behavior.

▲ Comparison of six months after the ‘Safety Golden Bell Challenge’

Worldsteel has designated April 28 as Steel Safety Day to raise awareness of safety through extensive on-site safety inspections of its member companies (amounting to about 170 companies). This year, however, the event was postponed to October 21 and was held online due to the influence of COVID-19.

The awardees of the Safety & Health Excellence Recognition were supposed to give a presentation session of related activities at the worldsteel’s regular meeting. However, with the meeting canceled this year due to the COVID-19, a webinar (online seminar) is to be held on November 11 instead, where POSCO will be giving a presentation on the Safety Golden Bell Challenge with a question and answer session.

* Answer: ③ Flash Over: A phenomenon in the early stages of a fire, where combustible gas gathers near the ceiling and explodes as a whole.