Strategic Deployment: Life first

Life First is one of the Ecopetrol Group’s cultural principles, which is complemented by the other principles: Always Ethical, Passion for Excellence, We Listen with Respect and Speak Clearly, We Make the Impossible Possible, and We Are One Team.

Figure 1

Life First

The cultural principle of Life First guides employees’ behavior, enabling us to achieve our Higher Purpose: “We are Energy that Transforms Colombia.” This purpose gives meaning to everything we do and commits us to giving our best to contribute to the country’s development.

Ecopetrol’s leaders are committed to Life First, every single day, when:

• They act with humanity, fostering purposeful connections by actively listening to others, emphasizing good practices and behaviors, and identifying opportunities for improvement.
• They encourage the well-being and self-care of those in their work team.
• They lead by example and promote the importance of adhering to HSE regulations.
• They lead their team by valuing people’s lives and respect above results.
• They manage resources and promote employees’ active participation in HSE matters.

Active Care is a concept that encourages proactive living by embodying the cultural principle of Life First. It involves activities that reinforce people’s commitment to engage, the competence to actively care for all forms of life, the courage to intervene in risky situations, the ability to communicate and investigate concerning HSE incidents, and the willingness to assume responsibility, along with compassion to understand and handle human error.

Active Care is carried out through specific activities within the following action principles:

• Commitment: Ecopetrol Group’s Week for Life, Reflections for Life, and HSE Campaign Deployment
• Competence: HSE training and skills
• Courage: CRE-Ser Conversations in Life First and Leadership Management Visibility Dashboard
• Compassion: CRE-Ser Conversations in Life First

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Active Care

WEEK FOR LIFE

Each year, we organize the Week for Life, an HSE Culture initiative that showcases and reinforces safe practices. It provides leaders with tools and guidelines to actively foster conscious, responsible, and committed safety management, supporting a sustainable operation that prioritizes the protection of people, the environment, and assets.

Over five days, activities centered on physical and mental health, industrial and process safety, and environmental protection are conducted. These events demonstrate our dedication to all forms of life and reaffirm that, within the Ecopetrol Group, Life First is our guiding principle.

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Involvement

Our daily efforts are directed toward achieving Ecopetrol’s objectives, which include:

• Protect people’s lives and the environment by upholding the highest standards of occupational health and safety.
• Perform operations to maintain operational risk within acceptable limits sustainably over time.
• Promote, maintain, and improve employees’ physical, mental, and social health, thereby contributing to their quality of life.

To meet these objectives, the organization has established a series of management programs that promote ongoing improvements in worker health and safety by systematically focusing efforts and resources. These programs are reviewed annually, enabling regular updates that incorporate necessary changes based on the nature of our operations, as well as the needs and expectations of our customers and other stakeholders.

Occupational Health and Safety strategic foci

Ecopetrol S.A. focuses and prioritizes its management efforts on scenarios and activities in which a serious event could occur that might affect people’s lives and the environment.

In industrial safety, emphasis is placed on defining high-risk activities and on implementing and monitoring critical controls, with rules that save lives applied to all employees.

Effective management of industrial and process safety enhances resource availability and capacity in regions for its implementation, fostering respect for life and environmental care in local areas. It also encourages the creation of training and communication platforms on operational risks, broadening understanding and awareness of their use. Since accidents from operational or natural causes can compromise stakeholder integrity, key preventive and mitigation actions—covering both direct employees and contractors—are focused on:

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Strategic Occupational Health and Safety Foci

Comprehensive risk management

Risk management is the foundation for addressing hazards in occupational health and safety. Ecopetrol adopts the provisions of ISO 31000:2018 and applies benchmarks for managing obstacles and control measures. Risk management focuses on high-consequence, high-fatality scenarios, prioritizing the identification and assurance of critical controls. The model is based on Rules that Save Lives, scenario analysis, the definition of verifiable obstacles, and corroboration of their effectiveness in the field. It ensures that the controls that prevent serious events are defined, assigned, understood, and verified.

• Safe standards and practices
• Management of existing and future technological risks
• Natural Hazards-Triggered Technological Accidents (Natech) risk management
• As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) decision-making
• Comprehensive and dynamic risk management
• Comprehensive emergency management

Risk awareness

All employees must be able to perceive, understand, anticipate, and act in the face of the dangers and risks of the areas and processes where they carry out their activities:

• Identify and understand risks
• Establish and implement effective measures to control risks
• Act to take care of themselves and others
• Maintain a sense of risk vulnerability

All individuals must demonstrate occupational safety and health behaviors and competencies that foster trust, solidarity, and productive dialogue. Through purpose-driven leadership, they unlock their team’s potential and drive strategy by effectively managing risks to protect life in all its aspects, upholding the highest safety and health standards.

The Company seeks to ensure that employees, leaders, and contractors identify critical hazards before acting, to assess potential severity, and to make safe decisions in real time. This requires reinforcing technical criteria, interpreting field conditions, and granting authority to stop work in the event of deviations. Risk awareness is integrated into planning, execution, and supervision, with a priority focus on high-risk activities where exposure and consequences are greater. The action lines are:

• Implementation of the Life First cultural principle
• Life-saving rules and process safety fundamentals
• HSE competencies
• HSE visibility

HSE Management System

Ecopetrol integrates the Life First cultural principle into its commitments and policies, emphasizing the protection of all forms of life. Consequently, it employs the HSE Management System to provide the necessary elements to ensure effective occupational health risk management, safeguard individuals’ well-being, and promote environmental stewardship.

This system integrates international standards such as ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018, both certified by ICONTEC, guaranteeing Ecopetrol’s adherence to national safety, health, and environmental laws.

Additionally, Ecopetrol S.A.’s Comprehensive Policy reflects its commitment through the cultural principles of Commitment to Life and Operational Excellence.

The oversight of Ecopetrol S.A.’s Comprehensive Policy implementation is carried out by the Territorial Transformation and HSE Committee of the Board of Directors, in accordance with the guidelines set out in Article 10 of the committee’s Internal Regulations, under the following:

• Number 8: Assess and present recommendations for the Board of Directors to consider and decide on measures impacting the performance of Ecopetrol Group companies in matters of territorial transformation, occupational health, industrial and process safety, and environmental management.
• Number 9: Review and monitor the different plans related to territorial transformation, occupational health, industrial safety, and environmental process management established for the Ecopetrol Group.
• Number 10: Review and monitor the HSE management model of Ecopetrol and the Ecopetrol Group.

The internal regulations of the Territorial Transformation and HSE Committee of the Board of Directors are available here.

The HSE Management System applies to all employees and contractors, encompassing exploration and production of oil and gas, refining, petrochemicals, hydrocarbon commercialization, and support processes. It aims to foster leadership and commitment by setting objectives, adopting best practices, and establishing monitoring and improvement initiatives. Opportunities for enhancement are prioritized, and action plans are executed to reach targeted outcomes.

The HSE Management System defines, implements, and maintains processes that promote employee consultation and participation at all levels and across all areas of the Company’s operations, facilitated by employee representatives. Additionally, HSE (Health, Industrial Safety, Process Safety, and Environment) requirements and obligations are defined at every stage of the Supply Management process to ensure contractors carry out their activities properly and consistently.

The strategic objectives and indicators for industrial safety, process safety, and occupational health, aligned with the 2040 strategy, are as follows:

1. Zero fatalities from accidents or occupational diseases
2. Total Recordable Injury Frequency (TRIF) of 0.3 to 2040 in the Ecopetrol Group
3. Tier 1 Process Safety Event Frequency Index (PSE T1) at 0.07 in the Ecopetrol Group

To meet these objectives, in alignment with the HSE Management System, the organization has established a series of Management Programs. These programs facilitate effective employee health and safety management by organizing and systematically allocating efforts and resources. They are reviewed annually to ensure they remain current and are updated as needed to reflect changes in our operations, customer requirements, and stakeholder expectations.