Managing Our Social Performance
As a global company, our impact on society is far reaching. We interpret social responsibility as conscientious cooperation with our communities, our employees and all other stakeholders. This includes providing a safe and healthy work environment, respecting local culture, and working together to achieve mutual benefits for our business and for the communities where we operate. Our goal is to be a "company of choice", no matter what stakeholder group is involved.

Strategy that impacts social performance is developed at many levels of Alcan. Substantial opportunities for input exist, including the EH&S Committee of the Board of Directors, the EH&S Council, Human Resources and Corporate Affairs Councils, joint company-union and workplace Health and Safety Committees, and community working groups. These efforts have resulted in a broad-based approach that includes the development of governance instruments such as the policies, standards and guidelines discussed throughout this report.

Alcan annually contributes to a Brazilian agency caring for special needs children through initiatives such as Project Smiles, where free dental care is provided to over 3,500 children in the community of Ouro Preto.

Despite our ongoing efforts to continually improve safety performance and our many achievements in occupational health and safety, there were eight fatalities at our facilities in 2001. Of these, five were employees and three were on-site contract workers. This is Alcan's worst year, by far, in over a decade.

In response, Alcan has instituted a full review of all fatal events occurring over the last ten years. This review has identified important opportunities for improvement. A key component is raising safety awareness, including initiating a comprehensive company-wide dialogue from the shop floor to the boardroom, for all Alcan and non-Alcan employees on our sites.

Fatalities
Employees and Contractors

Our overall workplace-related injury and illness trend, however, shows a reduction in both the recordable and lost time injury/illness case rates over the last ten years. Working with our employees and their representatives, we must now build upon our earlier efforts to ensure a healthy and safe working environment through new processes, procedures and personal protection. In 2002 and beyond, we will heighten awareness of Alcan's health and safety policies, practices and guidelines as we continue to aim for zero work-related injuries and illnesses.

Various other methods are also used at Alcan to improve health and safety. These include health assessments, ongoing measures of potentially adverse exposures such as noise, industrial hygiene activities to eliminate or control workplace risks, and health promotion activities that target prevention and early detection of the most common diseases.

Many of our operating groups have implemented Behaviour Based Safety or equivalent programs and have introduced guidelines for on-site contractors. We have also developed specific safety procedures for mobile equipment, cranes and lifting devices.

Other examples of on-site safety systems include procedures for confined space entry, control of hazardous energy and ergonomic programs. But our approach is not limited to the workplace, as evidenced by employees at the former Isle-Maligne smelter who developed programs to assist others in their community - in this case, on boating safety.

Lost Time Injury/ Illness - LTII
(Away-from-work) Case Rate*

*Data from former algroup included as of 2000

Recordable Cases - RC
Recordable Case Rate*

*Data from former algroup included as of 2000

	The Alcan Injury/Illness Recordkeeping System (AIRS+) was designed to facilitate accurate and consistent recording and reporting of occupational injuries and illnesses at all Alcan locations. AIRS+ is modelled after the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards for occupational injury and illness recordkeeping. In some cases, AIRS+ differs from ANSI criteria.

President's Safety and Environmental Award (PSEA) In our North American rolling facilities, we have incorporated an award process since 1993 to drive continual improvement in occupational safety and health. The President's Safety and Environmental Award (PSEA) sets standards, identifies quantifiable measurements, assesses performance, and recognizes achievements related to safety and health management. Environmental issues were integrated into the process in 2001. Over the nine-year history of this program, overall scores on the PSEA audit have risen, while accident rates have shown a favourable trend. The success of the PSEA process within our North American rolling facilities has prompted the introduction of similar initiatives in other Alcan businesses. In Brazil, where we implemented a PSEA process in 1997, we have also witnessed a good correlation between improvements in the PSEA audit process and reduced recordable injury rates. A similar process was also recently introduced into our Southeast Asia and Korean operations and we are already seeing an increased level of safety awareness and improved conditions and practices on the shop floor. Similar programs were introduced in Europe in 1998 and have contributed positively to overall improvement. President's Safety and Environmental Award Drives Improvement

HEALTH, SAFETY AND COMMUNITY ISSUES

Click here for an animated version of this graphic (22 KB).
You need Macromedia® Flash Player to view this animation.

Click here for a PDF version of this graphic (51 KB).
You need Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® to view this graphic.