MANILA, Philippines — Aboitiz Construction is turning workplace safety from a rulebook requirement into a company-wide behavior—and its latest recognition suggests the strategy is gaining traction far beyond individual construction sites.
The company received an Award of Excellence at the 22nd Philippine Quill Awards on August 27, 2026, at Solaire Resort Entertainment City for its “SHES First. Excellence Always.” campaign, a behavior-driven safety communication program deployed across 22 project sites nationwide.
The winning entry was recognized under the Safety Communication category and centered on Aboitiz Construction’s 2025 Safety, Health, Environment and Security, or SHES, Month initiative.
But the award may be only part of the bigger story.
From safety posters to changing behavior
Rather than relying solely on traditional reminders, compliance checks and toolbox meetings, the 2025 campaign combined interactive safety programs, employee wellness activities, environmental initiatives, leadership involvement and digital engagement.
The goal was to make employees active participants in workplace safety—not simply workers following instructions.
Aboitiz said the campaign was designed to reinforce proactive behavior, personal accountability and employee well-being while integrating SHES practices into everyday operations across its sites.
That matters in an industry where safety performance can depend as much on thousands of routine decisions made by workers and supervisors as it does on formal procedures.
Aboitiz Construction Executive Director Antonio Peñalver said the Quill recognition highlighted the role strategic communication can play in developing a stronger safety culture throughout the organization.
The 35-million-hour milestone behind the story
Aboitiz Construction’s safety push also comes against a broader operational record.
In September 2025, the company reported reaching 35,657,764 safe man-hours without a Lost Time Incident as of August 31, 2025, spanning 1,024 consecutive days.
That milestone covered a wider operating footprint than the 22 sites involved in the award-winning campaign: 15 construction projects, 19 maintenance projects and two corporate offices in Taguig and Cebu, according to reports at the time.
Four projects—Biz Hub, Tier 1 Phase 2 and the Big E food-processing plant at LIMA Estate in Batangas, as well as TARI Estate in Tarlac—had also individually passed the one-million-safe-man-hour mark without an LTI.
The distinction is important: the SHES communication campaign was one element of Aboitiz Construction’s broader safety system rather than the sole explanation for the company-wide safe-man-hour record.
Aboitiz has also cited its Incident Prevention Program, employee training, monitoring, audits and expanded tracking of workplace cases as parts of its safety framework.
This wasn’t SHES Month’s first award
The Quill victory is also not the first recognition for the program.
Aboitiz Construction launched its first SHES Month in June 2024 with 16 activities covering employee wellness, environmental sustainability and community involvement.
That inaugural campaign later received a Silver Anvil Award at the 60th Anvil Awards in January 2025 under the Sustainability Communications category. Activities included wellness challenges, tree planting, mental-health awareness and sustainability programs.
The initiative continued in 2025 and has since become an annual program.
By June 2026, Aboitiz Construction was already holding its third SHES Month, showing that the program had moved beyond a one-off corporate campaign.
As part of the 2026 observance, the company launched another round of Project TERRA tree-planting activities in Laguna, Albay and Surigao del Norte. Around 85 volunteers planted nearly 1,000 seedlings in cooperation with partner organizations.
Safety recognition extends beyond communications awards
Aboitiz Construction has also received recognition specifically for occupational safety performance.
At the 2026 Safety Organization of the Philippines Inc. Construction Safety Awards, its Construction business unit received an Award of Excellence after recording 21.85 million safe man-hours without an LTI from January 2024 through February 2026.
The Big E food-processing plant project in Batangas separately received a Perfect Safety Record Award after surpassing 1.21 million safe man-hours without an LTI.
The company said it was also investing in internal work-environment monitoring, industrial hygiene capabilities, safety trainers and monitoring equipment as part of efforts to strengthen incident prevention.
Why the Quill award matters
For Aboitiz Construction, the Philippine Quill Award represents something different from a conventional construction safety trophy.
It recognizes the communication strategy behind safety—how management gets workers to understand, participate in and ultimately own the standards designed to protect them.
The Philippine Quill Awards, organized by the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines, evaluates communications programs against IABC standards that include strategy, execution and measurable results.
For a construction company operating across infrastructure, industrial projects and maintenance work, that behavioral element could be increasingly important as operations expand.
Policies can mandate helmets, harnesses, inspections and procedures.
The harder challenge is building a workforce where following those rules becomes automatic—even when nobody is watching.
Aboitiz Construction’s 22-site campaign suggests the company believes communication is one way to get there.
The Quill Award recognizes that approach.
Keeping the safety record intact as projects, workers and operations continue to expand will be the much bigger test.
WWC ONE MEDIA MJE
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