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At BHP Billiton, we take a long-term view of our business. A key aspect of our strategic framework is our health, safety, environment and community (HSEC) performance - because we value our people, we respect our host communities and we believe that excellence in HSEC is good for our business.
I am very pleased to advise that we have made steady progress against many of the targets in our HSEC scorecard. However, we also recognise that there is much work to be done, and this report outlines a number of our key work programs.
While pleased about our achievements, I am deeply saddened to report that three people lost their lives in our controlled operations during the year. These people lost their lives in the course of earning a living and helping our operations achieve their objectives. But none of our achievements is worth the loss of a life, and we will continue to seek opportunities to improve our safety performance and eliminate fatalities from the workplace.
Environmental performance across the Company continued to be sound, reflecting our systematic approach to managing environmental risk. Management plans focusing upon driving eco-efficiency gains have been developed in the areas of energy usage, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste.
In line with our HSEC Policy, efforts have continued towards improving our engagement with our host communities. Our community contributions, supporting community programs and capacity building, this year amounted to US$42 million, or 1.4 per cent of our pre-tax profit, which once again exceeded the target of 1 percent. In addition, US$12.5 billion was contributed to regional economies from expenditure associated with sustaining our operations.
During the year, we have been active in the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) work program, contributing to the formulation of the Sustainable Development Framework, a guiding set of principles now endorsed by all member companies. We have also committed to implement the World Bank Guidelines on Involuntary Resettlement and the US-UK Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.
We have been pleased over the past year to receive external recognition of our performance in the areas of community partnerships, sustainable development and public reporting. Internally, our HSEC Employee Awards program has been highly successful in recognising excellence in HSEC performance and transferring those improvement ideas across the organisation.
The full HSEC Report on our website has been prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative 2002 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines and represents a balanced and reasonable presentation of our organisation's economic, environmental and social performance.
The leadership team at BHP Billiton is committed to our journey towards sustainable development and Zero Harm. We understand that our leadership efforts are fundamental for success, and we will support and drive this relentlessly. This journey, however, is not ours alone. It is all about partnerships with our stakeholders - our employees, contractors, shareholders, business partners, suppliers, customers, government and non-government organisations and host communities.
Together, we have the will, the resources and the skills to be successful.
Chip Goodyear
Chief Executive Officer
