Taiheiyo Cement Philippines Inc (TCPI) has earned the distinction as the first cement plant in Cebu to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) that has been upgraded and certified as having met the standards set in the new 2004 version of ISO 14001.

Certification International Philippines, a Bureau of Product Standards accredited certification body and a subsidiary of British firm Certification International UK Ltd, issued TCPI the award recently, disclosed engineer Nilo R Yap, environment and safety manager of TCPI.

CIP had earlier issued TCPI a certification that the safety and health management system it has been using at its plant in San Fernando meets the standards set under Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series 18001:1999, he added.

CIP managing director Renato Navarette personally handed both the ISO 14001:2004 and the OSHAS 18001 certificates to TCPI chief executive officer and president Toshio Komatsu. Navarette’s regional marketing officer Barbie Doctor assisted him in handing the award, as Yap stood by his boss.

While the ISO 14001:1996 certification that TCPI earned in 2001 was proof of its commitment to comply with government regulations, the 2004 version tells that its manufacturing facility in San Fernando is not only compliant but exceeds the standards set by regulations, Yap explained.

“We had actually been compliant with government regulations even before ISO 14001:2004 came into being and even years before we got the certification under the 1996 version,” Yap declared in a statement.