Importance of Sustainable Policies
You are required to Plan and develop a workplace Sustainability Policy.
BHP Billiton is an Anglo Australian Multinational mining business organization that is currently headquartered in Melbourne Australia. The company was initially founded in the year of 1885 and in the year of 2017, the organization ranked as the largest mining company in terms of generation of revenue per annum. Currently more than 65000 people works for this organization and the organization operates in more than 8 countries across the globe (Spuerk, Drobe & Lottermoser, 2017). The organization is currently dealing with some issues regarding their lack of CSR activities and workplace hazard fighting systems and therefore this paper will emphasize on amending the policies and providing recommendations to the management of the organization to fight these issues (Billiton, 2015).In this report the importance of making and implementing sustainable policies are incorporated.
The management of BHP Billiton acknowledges their responsibilities to and the challenges linked with responding to the opinions of a diverse range of internal and external stakeholders of the business organization (Salvioni & Astori, 2015). All the stakeholders of the business organization have a shared vision to be more transparent in the sustainability commitments of the business organizations to successfully continue their operations across the world. The management of the organization believes that they should consult with all the internal and external stakeholders of the business organization in order to improve their policies regarding sustainability and workplace hazards (Wright & Bice, 2017).
- The company does not compromise with their safety values, and search for ways to promote and improve the health of our workforce and the community; identify, access and manage risks to human resources, contractors, the environment and our host
- communities; uphold ethical business practices and meet or, where less stringent than the standards of the company,
- The company satisfies applicable legal and other requirements; respect, uphold and promote fundamental human rights within the company’s sphere of influence
- The management respects the traditional rights of Indigenous peoples and valuing cultural heritage; encourage a diverse workforce and provide a work environment in which everyone is treated fairly, with respect so that they can realize their full potential;
- The management takes action within their own businesses and work with governments, industry and other stakeholders to address the challenges related climate change;
- The management set and achieve targets, including energy efficiency and greenhouse gas intensity, that promote efficient use of resources and include reducing and preventing pollution;
- The management aims to enhance biodiversity protection by assessing and considering ecological values and land-use aspects in investment, operational and closure activities;
- The management engages regularly, openly and honestly with our host governments and people affected by their operations, and take their views and concerns into account in our decision-making;
- The management tries to develop partnerships that foster the sustainable development of our host communities,
- The management wants to enhance economic benefits from our operations and contribute to poverty alleviation;
- The management wants to work with those involved through the lifecycles of our products and by-products to enhance environmental and social performance along the supply chain and promote their responsible use and management;
- The management of the organization regularly reviews their performance and publicly reports their progress.
Effectiveness:
In order to successfully increase the effectiveness of the employees regarding the sustainable operations of the company, it can be said that the management of the business organization should introduce numerous programs within the workplace regarding many training and development of the general workforce. It has been observed that being a mining company, the operations of BHP Billiton causes numerous environmental impacts and therefore it can be said that the management should effectively get engaged in reducing the harmful effects caused by their operations to the Mother Nature (Nelson, 2018). The management can also effectively promote organizational communication as increased communication within the workplace can promote sharing of knowledge and experience that enhances the capability of the employees of the business organization and in this particular case it would help to negate the negative environmental impacts that get generated by the operations of the company.
Cost:
In order to continue productions in a sustainable manner, it would be difficult for the business organization to reduce extra cost (Lodhia & Martin, 2014). Therefore, the management of the business organization should effectively introduce latest technologies in their operations in order to negate the harmful environmental impacts. It can also be said that the management of the organization will have to deploy a dedicated team for identifying the areas where the cost of the company is getting increased. Apart from that the management will have to check on the daily expenses of the company and will have to comply to all the regulations set by the federal governments of their markets of operation in order to avoid any legal notices and further expenses as a form of fine (Fonseca, McAllister & Fitzpatrick, 2014).
Training and Development Programs
Timeframe:
In order to produce or extract more minerals and metals in a shorter time span, the management of the business organization will be needing to depend on the latest technologies and skilled labor force. In this context, it is worthwhile to mention that the management will have to depend on extensive training and developmental programs along with utilizing latest techniques and technologies to make the production more swift and fast (Erkayao?lu & Demirel, 2016).
ISO 14001:2004 explains the requirements for the environmental management system in order to enable an organization to successfully develop and implement policies that complies with the legal requirements to which the business organization subscribes regarding the environmental aspects (Baum et al., 2016). ISO 14001:2004 is applicable to any types of business concerns that share an aim to establish implement and sustain an environmental management system in order to make sure they conform with the set regulations. The business organizations an demonstrate conformity with ISO 14001:2004 by
- making a self-determination and self-declaration, or
- seeking confirmation of its conformance by parties having an interest in the organization, such as customers
- seeking confirmation of its self-declaration by a party external to the organization, or
- Seeking certification/registration of its environmental management system by an external organization.
Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Act 1999
Coal Mining Safety and Health Act 1999
Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017
Mineral Act 50 of 1991
Australia Acts (Request) Act 1985 No 109
These are the relevant legislations for mining industry which are to be followed by the management of BHP Billiton to effectively increase their productivity along with the profitability while managing the aspects of the sustainable production and extraction in their operational market (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014).
The management of the business organization should hold frequent meetings to raise the awareness among the employees of the company so that the management is able to comply with all the rules and regulations set by the governments of the nations where they operate (O’Callaghan & Graetz, 2017). In this regard, it can be said that the management of the organization can also depend on introducing various training and developmental programs to increase awareness among the workers of the organization.
The management of the business organization should depend on holding frequent meetings and telephonic conversations along with sending letters to let all the stakeholders of the organization to know how the management is trying to establish an operational system that can effectively negate the harms to the environment due to the operations of the business organization (Bair & Palpacuer, 2015). It can be said that it would be important to establish these facts among all the internal stakeholders along with the external stakeholders of the company as to run a business successfully complying with all the rules and regulations, it would be important to share the vision with all the individuals who are associated with the business organization (Garcia et al., 2017).
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that in today’s world due to rapid industrialization the mother nature is getting affected and therefore the administrators of the business sectors should emphasize on improving their operations to effectively reduce the environmental impacts. As BHP Billiton operates in the mining industry, naturally it can be said that the operations of the company affects the environment in a significant manner and the management needs to work on negating those issues as a part of their responsibility.
References
Bair, J., & Palpacuer, F. (2015). CSR beyond the corporation: contested governance in global value chains. Global Networks, 15(s1).
Baum, F. E., Sanders, D. M., Fisher, M., Anaf, J., Freudenberg, N., Friel, S., … & Sen, A. (2016). Assessing the health impact of transnational corporations: its importance and a framework. Globalization and health, 12(1), 27.
Billiton, B. H. P. (2015). BHP Billiton Annual Report 2012.
Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. R. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Erkayao?lu, M., & Demirel, N. (2016). A comparative life cycle assessment of material handling systems for sustainable mining. Journal of environmental management, 174, 1-6.
Fonseca, A., McAllister, M. L., & Fitzpatrick, P. (2014). Sustainability reporting among mining corporations: a constructive critique of the GRI approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 84, 70-83.
Garcia, L. C., Ribeiro, D. B., Oliveira Roque, F., Ochoa?Quintero, J. M., & Laurance, W. F. (2017). Brazil’s worst mining disaster: corporations must be compelled to pay the actual environmental costs. Ecological applications, 27(1), 5-9.
Lodhia, S., & Martin, N. (2014). Corporate sustainability indicators: an Australian mining case study. Journal of cleaner production, 84, 107-115.
Nelson, R. L. (2018). Regulating Cumulative Impacts in Groundwater Systems: Global Lessons from the Australian Experience. Reforming Water Law and Governance: From Stagnation to Innovation in Australia, 237.
O’Callaghan, T., & Graetz, G. (2017). Introduction. In Mining in the Asia-Pacific (pp. 1-15). Springer, Cham.
Salvioni, D., & Astori, R. (2015). Sustainable development and global responsibility in corporate governance.
Spuerk, S., Drobe, M., & Lottermoser, B. G. (2017). Evaluating resource efficiency at major copper mines. Minerals Engineering, 107, 27-33.
Wright, S., & Bice, S. (2017). Beyond social capital: A strategic action fields approach to social licence to operate. Resources Policy, 52, 284-295.