Sustainable Community Development and Closure of Operations
Refer to the following sections for details on our key sustainability challenge of sustainable community development and closure:
Our Challenge
To maximise the benefits to communities during the operational phase of a site so that a positive lasting legacy exists after closure.
Our Drivers
As stated in the BHP Billiton Charter, one of the indicators of success is that 'the communities in which we operate value our citizenship'. Sustainable community development ensures communities benefit throughout all phases of the life of an operation – through development, operation and closure.
A stable, healthy and supportive society enables businesses to operate effectively. By contributing to the social development of the communities where we operate, we are also creating an environment in which the Company can grow.
With many new projects located in developing countries, it is increasingly important for us to be able to demonstrate to key stakeholders, including governments, that we have a good track record in making a sustainable contribution to the environment and community, as well as providing economic benefits.
An increasingly important aspect for consideration by prospective employees is the social responsibility credentials of a company. To attract and retain the best employees, we need to be able to engage employees in our community efforts and provide opportunities for them to be proud of their Company.
Our Approach
Our approach to addressing the challenge of sustainable community development and closure is based on:
- sharing the Company’s financial success with the communities in which it operates. Since 2002, the Company has met its target to spend one per cent of pre-tax profits (on a rolling three-year average) on voluntary community programs.
- sustainability. Initiatives that will be sustainable beyond the life of the project are preferred, and we are careful to avoid creating dependency on our support.
- community participation and engagement. It is critical that the selection and delivery of community programs is a participative process as the people best placed to respond to local needs and concerns, and hence manage community development, are those living in the host communities.
- long-term relationships. Any good working relationship takes time, so rather than becoming involved in one-off commitments the Company generally looks to develop longer-term relationships with not-for-profit organisations. This enables a rapport to be established between the organisations and provides an opportunity to explore creative opportunities for the organisations to assist each other, such as through the sharing of skills and knowledge.
- employee involvement. Wherever possible, Company employees are involved in the delivery of community programs as it enables them to gain a better understanding of the contribution the Company is making to the community, giving them a sense of pride. A Company initiative which supports our employees who actively contribute to their communities is the BHP Billiton Matched Giving Program. This program matches an employee's donation, volunteering activity or fundraising efforts with a cash contribution and, in doing so, directs some of the Company's community funding towards organisations that are personally supported by employees.
- A consistent approach to community development. While the Company operates its community development programs at a regional and local level, it facilitates a consistent approach to community development via Company-wide guidelines.
- Mandated compliance with the Company’s Closure Standard, which was officially adopted in July 2005. This standard applies to all investment opportunities and controlled operations and strives to leave a legacy that outlasts the operation itself and to ensure a positive future for host communities. Closure planning is required throughout the life cycle of the operation, starting with exploration and development and continuing as long as necessary.
Read more:
Our 2006 Priorities
In 2006, the scope of this sustainability challenge was broadened to place greater focus on social and environmental impact assessment to support licences and approvals and on integrating closure planning with mine planning and budgeting. The priorities for the 2005/06 reporting year were:
- continuing to share the Company’s financial success with the communities in which it operates by spending one per cent of pre-tax profits (on a rolling three-year average) on voluntary community programs
- all sites preparing and maintaining a community relations plan
- increasing the extent to which community development and closure knowledge is shared throughout the Company
- trialling different methods of evaluating community development programs
- all sites conducting a review of their closure plans to ensure alignment with the Company’s Closure Standard
- integrating closure planning into all business planning processes throughout the organisation, including financial planning, mine planning and community consultation to better understand expectations for final land use.
Read more:
- Community>Our Performance for a full description of Community performance in 2005/06
- Environment>Our Performance>Remediation, Rehabilitation and Closure for a full description of Closure Planning performance in 2005/06.
Our 2006 Performance
Targets |
2005/06 Performance Against Target |
|
|---|---|---|
No transgressions within the Group's activities of the principles embodied within the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
 |
None identified (FY05: none) |
Legal Compliance |
 |
Seven fines greater than US$1,000. Total fines paid US$479,809 (FY05: US$20,836)2 |
Risk Management All sites to undertake annual self-assessments against the BHP Billiton HSEC Management Standards3 and have plans to achieve conformance with the Standards by 30 June 2008 |
 |
94 per cent of required self-assessments were completed at operating sites |
 |
An overall conformance of 3.9 out of 5 has been achieved, compared to our conformance target of greater than 4 (FY05: 3.9 out of 5) |
|
Risk registers to be in place and maintained at all sites4 and within BHP Billiton businesses and Corporate offices |
 |
Risk registers are in place at 99 per cent of required sites, businesses and Corporate offices |
Land Management All sites5 to have and maintain land management plans to protect and enhance agreed beneficial uses |
|
Land management plans in place at 97 per cent of required sites and at 17 sites that were not required to meet this target (FY05: 98%; 21 sites) |
Community All sites5 to prepare public HSEC reports at a local level (including incidents, community complaints and relevant site-specific emissions) on an annual basis |
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HSEC reports were prepared by 95 per cent of required sites or businesses |
All sites5 to have and maintain a community relations plan |
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Community relations plans in place at 98 per cent of required sites and at 11 sites that were not required to meet this target |
Aggregate contribution to community programs, including in-kind support, of a target of 1 per cent of pre-tax profits, calculated on a three-year rolling average |
 |
Expenditure totalled US$81.3 million, equivalent to 1.45 per cent of pre-tax profits on a three-year rolling average |
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Performance change since last reporting period:
Overall performance against target:
Target exceeded or ahead of schedule 
Performance tracking steadily Target achieved (≥ 95%) or on track 
Performance has improved 
Target behind schedule 
Performance has declined Target not achieved
1. Fines reported may relate to incidents that occurred in previous years.
2. Prosecutions included are those that have been determined during the year and resulted in fines. They may relate to incidents that occurred in previous years. The only exception is a safety fine, which was received in the 2005 reporting period but was not reported last year as it was being held in trust pending appeal. The fine became payable in the 2006 reporting period.
3. Issue 3 of the BHP Billiton HSEC Management Standards was introduced in September 2005.
4. Includes 59 sites in total, excludes exploration and development projects, sites being divested, closed sites, and offices. Also excludes recent acquisitions e.g. WMC, which have two years to achieve compliance with target.
5. Excludes petroleum platforms, exploration and development projects, closed sites, and offices with no significant community or land management issues. Also excludes recent acquisitions, e.g. WMC, which have a year to achieve compliance with the target.
Read more: Targets Scorecard for a review of performance against all Company sustainability targets.
Our Goals
- All controlled sites (i.e. those that are owned and operated by BHP Billiton or managed by the Company in a joint venture) to fully comply with the BHP Billiton Closure Standard by June 2007
- Continue our active network of closure and rehabilitation practitioners to share knowledge and leading practice (2007)
- Further improve the integration of closure requirements into business systems these are embedded into the resource development and mine planning process
- All sites to undertake a human rights self-assessment and implement a risk-based human rights management plan by 30 June 2007
- All sites to have a formal community engagement program in place by 30 June 2007.
