Our approach

Our Group policies support the delivery of our Values and Code of Conduct, which together detail the behaviour and performance expectations for all our offices and industrial assets where we have operational control.  

Through our HSEC&HR standards, procedures, and guidelines, we aim to establish ethical and consistent business practices and standards for our industrial assets. Our industrial assets tailor their implementation of Group standards to reflect local cultures and challenges. These support our commitment to be a responsible and ethical operator.

Our Group HSEC&HR strategy outlines our goals, priorities and objectives for our industrial assets, and to the extent applicable, the marketing business, over the next five years.  It aligns to our Purpose and our Values and considers our external stakeholder expectations. Each year, we review our strategy for material updates to consider whether it continues to fulfil the needs of our business and our stakeholders.

In 2024, we launched our 2024-2028 HSEC&HR Strategy. It incorporates the work undertaken by the business since the previous HSEC&HR Strategy was launched in 2019. It reflects the increasingly integrated nature of our business activities and the cross-functional interaction that takes place for many topics.  Through internal and external key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets, it allows us to measure and demonstrate performance.  

The HSEC&HR Strategy acknowledges that our industrial assets are at various stages of maturity, and that their priorities need to reflect their risk profiles. Each of our industrial commodity departments is required to develop and document its own HSEC&HR strategies and associated annual plans in line with the requirements and expectations set out in the Group HSEC&HR Strategy.

In 2023, as part of the work to develop the 2024-2028 HSEC&HR Strategy, we took a long-term view that attempted to anticipate the changes that may occur between 2024 and 2028. Going forward, our annual reviews of the HSEC&HR Strategy will consider changes to the external and internal context due to various factors such as geopolitical events and changes in trends, perceptions, and expectations.

Group Internal Audit and Assurance (GIAA) provides independent and objective assurance to help strengthen governance and controls. The Board’s Audit Committee reviews and approves the risk-based GIAA audit plan and the HSEC Committee reviews and endorses relevant components of the plan. For HSEC&HR related risks, GIAA provides assurance over a broad range of sustainability topics as well as the systematic management of our catastrophic hazards and their controls. Internal and external senior subject matter experts participate in this assurance programme. Multi-disciplinary assessments allow us to audit complex issues from a range of viewpoints for a more robust appraisal. We use these assessments to review diverse operations and activities with different risk factors, such as tailings storage facilities (TSFs), underground operations, open pit mines and metal processing plants. The Board’s HSEC Committee reviews the results of these audits, together with their key findings, and the corrective actions agreed to by the industrial assets to strengthen their management of the identified risks.

We work in accordance with a number of specific international frameworks, including the:

• Core Conventions of the International Labour Organization 
• UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs)
• United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)
• Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights
• International Council on Mining & Metals (ICMM)
• Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
• Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

In 2014, we signed up to the UNGC, and have sought to align our strategies and operations with the UNGPs, which cover human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption. The UNGC also encourages participants to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on collaboration and innovation.

In the same year, we joined the ICMM and endorsed its sustainable development framework principles.

In March 2015, we became a corporate participant in the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights Initiative. 

We are a member of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative. Members collaborate on collective action and share leading practice in organisational compliance. The initiative has a commitment of zero tolerance on bribery and the requirement to implement practical and effective anti-corruption programmes. We are also an associate member of the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network.