Orica - Sustainability

Overview

We are committed to valuing people and the environment, and in particular, achieving our goal of No Injuries to Anyone, ever.
Our SH&E Policy states that we will:

strive to ensure our facilities operate to the highest standards to protect our employees, contractors, neighbours and the environment;
sell only those products that can be produced, transported, stored, used and disposed of safely;
provide appropriate information and/or training on the safe use and disposal of our products to our customers and consumers; and
encourage employee initiatives that contribute to a safer and improved environment at work, at home and in the community.

Our commitment to Health and Safety is an integral part of our Sustainability Strategy. Key elements include:

line management responsibility and employee accountability for health and safety performance;
effective implementation of our SH&E Management System and Basis of Safety Program;
setting and achieving health and safety key performance indicators;
effective reporting and follow up on health and safety incidents; and
recognition of efforts to improve our health and safety performance.

Contractors

Our contractors are an integral part of our workforce. Our SH&E Model Procedures state that ‘Contractors shall be given all relevant information regarding the company's materials, products and activities which may impact on the safety, occupational health and environmental impact of the work to be performed’. Our contracted employees receive appropriate induction training prior to commencement of work.

Hazardous Processes

Our SH&E Model Procedures aim to provide guidance to the management requirements of hazardous processes. Given the critical nature of safety risks in our businesses, Expert Panels and Significant Risk Working Groups have also been established to detail the “Basis of Safety” on which the processes should be designed and operated.
Read more about how our Expert Panels provide the detailed requirements for the design and control of specified major hazard processes at Risk Management.

Our Performance in 2008

Overall performance against target:

o Target exceeded or ahead of schedule

o Target achieved or on track

o Target behind schedule

Objective	2010 Target	2008 Performance
Safety and Health
No worker fatalities	All worker fatalities: 0		No fatalities reported during 2008
Reduce the recordable injury and illness case rate by >40%	All worker recordable injury and illness case rate: < 0.40 (per 200,000 hours)		Our overall recordable case rate increased to 0.72 in 2008, compared to 0.60 last year
Sustained compliance with our health assessment and occupational hygiene programs	Health assessments completed against plan: >99%		98.2% of health assessments were completed in 2008, compared to 97.4% last year.
	Hygiene tests completed against plan: >99%		95.4% of hygiene tests were completed in 2008, compared to 97.4% last year.
	Hygiene tests below the Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL): >99%		98.1% of hygiene tests were below OEL in 2008, compared to 96.2% last year.

2008 was the first time in seven years that the company recorded no fatalities to either employees or contractors. Our All Worker Recordable Case Rate was 0.72 compared to 0.60 last year and a target of 0.58. There were seven fatalities to members of the public as a result of distribution incidents; however in none of these cases was the Orica contracted haulier or Orica driver at fault. Substantial progress continued in reducing Orica’s environmental footprint; in particular there was an absolute reduction in the company’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The integration of the recently acquired Minova Excel business proceeded to plan. Health monitoring and general awareness of health issues continued to develop proactively.

Strong leadership, clear standards and thorough training are the foundation of achieving good safety performance. Application of these principles in a culturally sensitive manner is also vital for long-term improvement. Orica Mining Services (OMS) has introduced the “Take 5” program globally to embed these principles. Its success can only be measured over a period of years but it is an excellent step to underpin personal safety across the organisation.

The All Worker Recordable Case Rate in Orica Consumer Products (OCP) has moved sharply upwards, with a frequency rate of 2.57 compared to 1.67 last year. A thorough “back to basics” strategy is now in place to help our organisation more effectively read the safety warning signals and act. The initiatives, some of which have been completed in 2008, include:

Developing a comprehensive Personal Safety Improvement Strategy focusing on nine key areas to give systemic, sustainable improvement;
Cross-site audit program of common OCP critical model procedures;
Behavioural Safety leadership and Root Cause Analysis training for operations managers and supervisors;
Appointment of additional SH&E resources; and
Site safety days for all employees at key operational sites (similar to OMS’ Stop and Think) with an external speaker and group activity to develop site safety “Golden Rules”.

There was significant progress during 2008 in the management and reporting of company health and hygiene programs. For the first time 100% compliance was reported in health and/or hygiene programs in a number of businesses. Particularly pleasing has been the progress made in a number of the company's operations where the establishment, maintenance and reporting of these programs required significant logistical difficulties to be over come. Given the continuing expansion of the Company's operations into remote areas with limited resources, continuing focus on implementation and reporting of health and hygiene programs will be required.