Having a clear corporate responsibility strategy is fundamental in an industry that can potentially cause adverse effects to the environment and local communities
Corporate responsibility is central to our business strategy.
Our reputation for responsible and ethical business practice is vital to our ability to operate successfully in the different countries and cultures in which we work, in developing countries across four continents and the established markets of Europe and North America.
Everything we do has to reflect and respect those local circumstances. That said, it is important to have a strong global framework, so that what we do is consistent and builds our overall reputation.
Our corporate responsibility strategy focuses on four areas: investing in our people; making steel more sustainable; enriching our communities and – a value that underpins the first three areas – transparent governance.
Investing in our people
Our first priority is the health and safety of those who work for us. Our ‘Journey to Zero’ campaign aims to reduce the number of workplace accidents. We have also implemented occupational health standards covering hazards such as substance abuse, burns, heat stress and respiratory and hearing protection. Employee training and development are also crucial to our success: in 2010 the ArcelorMittal University introduced 18 additional programmes and increased the number of training hours by 28%.
Making steel more sustainable
While steel makes a vital contribution to renewable technology – one in three wind turbines in the world uses ArcelorMittal steel – we need to ensure that our industrial processes and products are as environmentally sensitive as possible. We are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our operations through cutting-edge research into new technologies and working with the wider steel industry to promote best practice.
Enriching our communities
Many of our mining sites are located in emerging markets such as
Kazakhstan
or Liberia. Our community engagement brings business benefits, both directly and indirectly. In 2010, in partnership with others, we set up the Corporate Responsibility Forum Liberia which is designed to encourage responsible investment, good corporate citizenship and collective action for sustainable development in the region.
Ensuring transparent governance
We go far beyond formal requirements to foster greater stakeholder engagement and in promoting anti-corruption. The independence of our board of directors and the standards of behaviour we ask of all our people, at every level, is formalised through our code of business conduct, which applies to all our employees. Another important tool in achieving our corporate responsibility objectives is our code for responsible sourcing
Our substantial supply chain footprint provides unique opportunities for promoting sustainable business practices in the extended supply chain, and our responsible sourcing programme incorporates health and safety, human rights and ethical and environmental principles into ArcelorMittal’s procurement approach.