Response to ERM 2005

Here is our response to the recommendations made by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) in 2005. They are categorised according to the particular recommendation to which we were responding:

To provide additional guidance to businesses and operations on the expectations of full implementation, in particular with regard to Occupational Health, Closure and Community standards, supported by additional corporate level internal verification.

Communities

We have instituted a requirement for businesses to implement site managed assessments and to measure actual performance against claimed achievement.
Community plans are to be prepared and reviewed in the context of the business plans used by the respective business unit. This will ensure management endorsement and sign off, and the allocation of appropriate resources.
Site visits by corporate community relation advisers to support business units in developing and sustaining consultation procedures with our communities, from exploration to closure.
New structure with regional advisers and shared resources provides a more coherent basis for the coordination of community relations including external stakeholder engagement, government engagement, and partnerships.

Closure and land access

Reviews of closure management plans against the closure standard are being carried out for all operations and the findings from each review are reported back.
Closure plan workshops have been held with operations and mechanisms established to facilitate the transfer of closure good practice.
A closure diagnostic tool has been developed to assist operations in managing the closure process, notably in identifying areas of long term risk.

Occupational illness

Business units and sites which have not as yet fully implemented the Occupational Health Standards have been identified and implementation support has been better defined.
Improved focus on occupational health issues has been included in our new audit procedures and protocols, with specific data quality requirements.
Industrial hygiene, occupational health and allied health expertise (for example, a physiotherapist) has been identified throughout the Group in order to ensure an adequate pool of 'health specialist' auditors is available.

To focus on change management and succession planning across those parts of the Group where high staff turnover is prevalent in order to ensure compliance with The way we work.

Communities

There has been expanded recruitment in 2006 of community practitioners across our Group.

Employment

Key programmes have been put in place to address succession planning across all parts of our Group. These activities will focus on areas of high staff turnover. Specialist support groups have been established with particular emphasis on talent management, sourcing, capability development, international mobility and pensions.
The Strategic Leadership Programme (SLP) and Business Leadership Development Programme (BLDP) continue to develop our internal capability and future leaders for the Group. In addition, the Operational Leadership Development Programme (OLDP) was introduced in early 2006 to focus specifically on supervisory and early career professionals as part of their ongoing development within our Group.

To provide more technical support to operations to deliver their local contributions to Group greenhouse gas reduction targets.

Extensive dialogue took place with operations to determine underlying performance trends and factors that influenced the ability of businesses to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Opportunities for energy efficiency improvement are identified through energy management reviews. In 2006, a total of 19 energy reviews were undertaken.
In 2006, three regional climate change workshops were conducted to share knowledge amongst operations regarding climate change and greenhouse gas emissions issues.
US$1.5 million has been provided for direct technical support to help sites implement energy savings/greenhouse gas reductions.

To drive practical implementation of recently developed sustainable development decision making criteria across the Group. And to provide case studies within future reviews illustrating how these criteria have been used in the creation of business value.

Two sustainable development training tools were launched in 2006.
Embedding sustainable development into our culture is part of our integration strategy for 2006-2010.
The Sustainable Development Leadership Panel has developed a 'strategy on a page' tool to assist the integration of sustainable development into business plans. Presentations and workshops have been held focusing on this tool. Four business units have started implementation.