Communications in Bussiness Social Responsibility Policy

Question: Discuss about the Communications in Bussiness for Social Responsibility Policy. Answer: Introduction Audit is an independent examination of the documents and operations of the business carried out to ascertain that the non-financial disclosures made by the company presents the true and fair value of the concern (Huniche Pedersen, 2006). BHP Billiton was founded in the year 1996and deals with exploration, development and production of natural resources such as oil, gas, silver, lead, uranium, copper, iron ore, gold and zinc (BHP Billiton, 2016). This report aims at providing corporate social responsibility audit of the BHP Billiton. The various aspects of corporate social responsibility which are investigated in this report include health, environment, human rights, safety and community (Mullerat Brennan, 2011). Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that results in the sustainable economic development by providing social, environmental and economic benefits to all its stakeholders. It includes various areas that contribute towards the economic and social development of the country such as health and safety, environment, human rights, and working conditions (Servaes Tamayo, 2013). Companies develop different policies which are embedded in different business operations in order to create positive environmental and social impact by the business. In many countries, it is not mandatory for the companies to undertake corporate social responsibility efforts to improve the society but, companies are engaged into corporate social responsibility activities for the purpose of improving the local and global communities (Korschun, Bhattacharya Swain, 2014). Implementation of different CSR activities facilitates in improving the brand image of the companies. Nowadays, companies support non- profit organizations by the way of providing monetary donations, building strong partnerships and in kind donations of products and services. This results in building and maintain strong profitable relationships with customers and other stakeholders. Besides this, companies which are engaged in CSR activities likely to attract skilled and loyal employees. Besides this, employees are also engaged in such activities and become a part of the company for a longer term (Australian Government, n.d.). In addition to this, investors are also attracted to towards those companies which are engaged in different CSR activities as the part of the money invested by the investors are also spend in social welfare activities. This has a positive economic and social impact on the overall development of the country. Companies associated with mining industry in Australia contribute towards sustainable development by fulfilling different economic and social opportunities by adopting activities that helps in protecting the environment (Mousavi, et. al., 2013). There are several challenges faced by the mineral sector such as impact on the environment caused due to extraction of ores. Ores are the non renewable resource and does not last forever due to which mineral companies focuses on converting such exhaustible mineral resources into economic and social endowments that lasts forever for the communities (Aguinis Glavas, 2012). Corporate Social Responsibility Audit of BHP Billiton The vision of BHP Billiton is to create long term shareholder value by the way of development, acquisition, marketing and discovery of natural resources. This can be achieved by embedding four values i.e. simplicity, performance, integrity, sustainability, respect and accountability. The company ensures integration of health, safety social, economic and environmental factors in decision making for the purpose of maintain sustainable development of the business. The sustainability framework of the company is supported by group level documents, public sustainability performance targets and health, safety, environment and community (HSEC) teams. HSEC teams emphasizes on fatal and catastrophic hazards management, identification and monitoring of HSEC trends and performance in order to align it with requirements of the company (BHP Billiton, 2015). The company uses benchmarking within the industry for the purpose of measuring the performance. In addition to this, the performance of HSEC teams is measured with the help of balanced scorecard as it assesses the performance in a comprehensive and objective manner. Along with this, the company has also formed a forum on corporate responsibility for the purpose of gathering information related to material issues, external shareholder views and emerging trends in the form of opinions, views and thoughts from its key stakeholders. The company has made targets related to different categories that are associated with CSR activities such as safety, human rights, environment, health and community (Bice, 2016). The company has not achieved a target of zero work related fatalities as total 5 fatalities have occurred during on-site and off-site work activities (BHP Billiton, 2015). Besides this, there is an improvement in the total recordable injury frequency as it is 4.1% in the year 2015 a 2% improvement in comparison to 2014. The company has also achieved a target related to human rights as annual reviews and improvement plans are implemented related to the alignment with voluntary principles on security and human rights. Along with this, there is a reduction of 40% in the potential occupational exposures to airborne and carcinogens contaminants in comparison to 2012. Besides this, the company has implemented land and biodiversity management plans for the purpose of offsetting the negative impact towards biodiversity and ecosystem services. Besides this, in the year 2015, there is an achievement of formal conservation status by Valdivian Coastal Reserve for the purpose of conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services (BHP Billiton, 2015). In order to improve the management of water resources for the purpose of mitigating the water related material risks, at least one project is implemented by the company. Along with this, the company has also achieved its targets associated with community by making investment of US$225 million in community programs in the year 2015 in the form of in-kind administration and support and cash. Along with this, there is an occurrence of two community incidents due to collisions on public roads in 2015. Besides this, the company has implemented local procurement plans to all assets. The company has investigated 1677 cases related to business conduct in 2015 out of which 1189 cases are confirmed, 294 are terminated and 643 are provided written warning. The company has also created its independent compliance function complied with anti corruption compliance by making policies exhibited in anti-corruption group level documents (BHP Billiton, 2015). It includes policies related to restrictions on bribery and corruption activities in different business dealings. In addition to this, training is provided to different employees and members of the organization related to anti corruption activities (Buhmann, Roseberry Morsing, 2010). Along with this, the compliance function regularly monitors the financial data and anticorruption audits are carried out in order to examine the implementation of controls related to anti-corruption for the purpose of identification of the transactions which are not consistent with the policies, programs and standards of the company. In order to reduce the carbon emissions at low cost, BHP Billiton has signed the World Banks putting a price on carbon statement presented in a United Nations Climate Summit in New York in the year 2014 and subsequently become a member of the carbon pricing leadership coalition (BHP Billiton, 2015). Along with this, the company has also made climate change policy submission as a response to discussion papers of Australia Government in 2015. The company has also took initiatives to bring people from cross sectoral business groups for the purpose of discussing different ways in which the government and business can work together to address the issue of climate change. There is also an improvement in the CDP score of the company which measures the actions executed by it for the management of carbon in the climate. It has also implemented the carbon price protocol which tracks the progress of reduction in the carbon emissions at the national level for the purpose of improving the climate change throughout the world. In the year 2015, there is a reduction of 6% in the CHG emissions to 38.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (BHP Billiton, 2015). BHP Billiton has also integrated REDD+ strategy in its various projects as it facilitates in access of carbon credits and reduction in CHG emissions for the purpose of providing multiple benefits to the communities and environment. From the year 2007, the company has made investments of approximately US $ 400 million on low-emissions technologies for the purpose of meeting the challenge of climate change. The West VAMP project of the company has utilized 20% of the mine ventilation air for the production of the electricity in the year 2001 which results in the reduction in the CHG emissions due to removal of methane from the mine ventilation air. BHP Billiton has also made a partnership of A$7 million with Great Barrier Reef Foundation for the rehabilitation of Raine Island (BHP Billiton, 2015). The company has implemented safety risk controls in designing and construction of equipments, facilities and operations. The company has also build and implemented desalination plant for the purpose of reducing its dependency on ground level water. This has resulted in preserving the ground water resources (Tsutsui Lim, 2015). Approximately 8500 employees have participated in the matched giving program. In the year 2014, Creo Antofagasta initiative has developed by Escondida Copper Asset for the purpose of improving the quality of life in the city by developing different public spaces by making an investment of US$1.2 billion in the period of 20 years. The company has also entered into partnership with Reconciliation Australia for the purpose of providing different resources and tools to different schools for the purpose of creating understanding about different cultures. This also helps in providing professional learning to teachers and educators (BHP Billiton, 2015). Along with this, there is a positive impact of the corporate social responsibility policy of BHP Billiton on the society as well as on its overall performance. The company has created various foundations for uplifting various local communities such as Minera Escondida Foundation in Chile, Montelibano Educational Foundation in Colombia and BHP Billiton SEWA Society (Idowu, Filho, 2009). In addition to this, there is also a reduction in the green house gas emissions in the environment which has a positive impact on the environment and proper response to climate change (BHP Billiton, 2015). There is also a presence of discrepancies between the communicated intention and corporate practice. The company is unable to achieve zero work related fatalities in the year 2015. Along with this, the company also failed to eliminate occurrence of community incidents in the year 2015. Along with this, the company also required to take steps to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions below the level existed in the year 2006. In addition to this, there is also a requirement of taking several steps in the conservation and management of biodiversity and ecosystem that are important at national and international level. Besides this, there is also a requirement of reduction in the air borne diseases caused to employees (BHP Billiton, 2010). Recommendations It is suggested that the company should adopt and implement proper exhaust ventilation system at the workplace in order to eliminate airborne contaminants. It is requisite that there is a sufficient airflow in the appropriate direction which helps in reduction in the presence of air borne contaminants (Horrigan, 2010). This helps in elimination of the occurrence of the air borne occupational diseases. Besides this, proper training should be provided to the workers regarding the skills used for operating the equipments in a proper manner so as to prevent the occurrence of the accidents and work related injuries to workers. This results in increasing the productivity and efficiency of the workers (Idowu Filho, 2008). There is a need of use of personal protective equipments which results in reduction in the occurrence of work related fatalities and occupational exposure to airborne contaminants. In addition to this, water is used for various mining operations which might result in reducing the ground water level due to which it is recommended that the company should adopt different procedures to recycle the water in order to preserve the ground water sources (Idowu, 2015). The mining activities results in the production of the green house gases in the environment. This can be prevented by reducing the consumption of the energy in the companies which results in the extension of the life of fossil fuels and reducing the operating cost of the company. This can be achieved by generating electricity by use of solar energy, wind turbines and transportation of different ores (Mullerat, 2010). Conclusion It can be concluded that it is essential for the companies to carry out CSR audit as it facilitates in gaining information regarding the efficiency of the companies to carry out its CSR activities in order to have a positive impact on the society as well as business operations. It can also be summarized that the CSR activities of BHP Billiton is aligned with its vision and mission. Along with this, the company has entered into different partnerships for the purpose of increasing the standard of living of local communities. Besides this, the company has also reduced the CHG emissions in the air in order to respond towards climate change. It has also made investments in LET technologies to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems. In this manner, the CSR policy has a positive impact on the company as well as the society. Besides this, there is also a presence of discrepancy in the corporate practice and standards set for CSR policy. The company failed to achieve zero work related fatalities and reduction in the occurrence of air borne occupational diseases to a specified level. References BHP Billiton. (2010). BHP Billiton petroleum supply corporate social responsibility policy. 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