Community  Continued

Background

Community Performance

Community Management

Community performance

Please refer to the following sections for details on our community performance during this reporting period.

Human rights

During 2003, a Human Rights Self-Assessment Toolkit was developed and distributed to all Company sites to assist them in appraising their potential exposure to human rights issues. Use of the toolkit is consistent with the Company’s target of ensuring there are no transgressions of the principles contained within the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The toolkit enables sites to assess their level of impact on or exposure to human rights (encompassing child labour and forced labour) in nine aspects relevant to our operations: country, community, land acquisition, indigenous and minority groups, environment, security, employees, contractors and suppliers, and systems. Since its implementation, 44 per cent of sites have completed the self-assessment.

Human Rights Guides for managers and employees and a presentation for employees have also been developed and are available to our sites to assist them in educating our people about their roles and responsibilities. During 2003, 18 sites undertook human rights training with their employees and contractors.

In instances where resettlement is unavoidable, we require our sites to abide by the World Bank’s Operational Directive on Involuntary Resettlement. Resettlement cases occurred at four of our sites during 2003. At our Tintaya mine in Peru, there are four ongoing cases of resettlement. The solutions to these cases have been identified in the Dialogue Table process and are in progress. The resettlement of families to new lands with farming potential is an agreement developed with input from the Dialogue Table and the surrounding communities that were affected by the expropriation processes during the 1980s when the Peruvian Government was the owner of Tintaya. At Cerro Matoso in Colombia, there were 26 families resettled due to exploration activities. At Middelburg mine in South Africa, two families of former farm workers, who are currently residing on mine property following purchase of the land from the farm owner, are being relocated to more suitable land. During the pipeline construction phase of the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum asset, two families were temporarily relocated. An agreement was signed between the Company and the families for a period of one year, initially.

For further details on the progress of issues that have been raised at two of our operations, refer to our case studies: Process of resolving Tabaco land acquisition issues continues and Dialogue Table meetings provide a forum for resolving community issues at Tintaya.

Return to top

Community relations

In line with our HSEC target, 98 per cent of the sites required to have community relations plans in place now have operational plans or were covered by a regional development plan developed by the business group.

A total of 77 of our sites have a formal stakeholder consultation process in place. These processes range from site visits and open public meetings to the involvement of representatives on advisory groups.

The range of topics discussed during these stakeholder consultation processes covers all areas of sustainable development – health, safety, environment and community related issues as shown in the graph below.

Topics discussed during stakeholder consultations 2003/04 Topics discussed during stakeholder consultations 2003/04

During the year, 26 operations undertook stakeholder perception surveys to better understand their performance from their stakeholders’ perspective.

A number of these stakeholder perception surveys were also reviewed to determine whether there were any consistent or emerging themes that could be applied across the organisation. An analysis of the surveys identified the following commonalities:

External reporting

This year, 98 per cent of sites required to prepare public HSEC reports have produced them or they are included in business level reports, which meets our target. These reports are available on our website at www.bhpbilliton.com/bb/sustainable Development/operationsHSECReports.jsp.

Community complaints

All sites are required to have community complaints registers in place to record and track the management of community concerns. During the year, 45 (or 52 per cent) of our sites received a total of 511 complaints. This is a significant increase from 2003 (361 complaints) and is a result of some sites ramping up production. For example, in Australia at the Dendrobium mine, the rail line has become operational in the past six months; and at Hunter Valley Energy Coal, production has increased from 3 million tonnes of coal to 11 million tonnes of coal and the mining area is much closer to residential areas. In these instances, we are working to address stakeholders’ concerns and limit the impact we have on their lives. In Port Hedland, Western Australia, the increase is due to the introduction of a new ‘Alert’ phone service. Community members and employees are encouraged to use this service to advise the operation of any changes they notice in our facilities in Port Hedland. The categories of complaints are shown in the graph below.

Community complaints by category 2003/04 Community complaints by category 2003/04

Return to top

Community contributions

The Company supports community initiatives in the locations where it operates. During 2004, our voluntary contributions to community programs totalled US$46.5 million, comprising cash, in-kind support and management time. This amount equates to 1.3 per cent of pre-tax profit (three-year rolling average), which exceeds our target of 1 per cent.

The amount includes our contribution to community programs at joint venture operations but does not include payments to communities that form part of mandatory licensing agreements. The distribution of our funding by category and by geographic region is presented in the graphs below.

Community contributions by program category 2003/04 Community contributions by program category 2003/04

Community contributions by geographic region 2003/04 Community contributions by geographic region 2003/04

Return to top