Social

Performance Indicator and Description

Information

Partial/Full

Arizona Chemical hires the majority of its work force from the communities surrounding our facilities. The following table illustrates the breakdown of our workforce, by employment type, employment contract, and region. 

Similar to other areas, we are refining our social systems through our global process model. Our hire to retire business process area covers many important aspects of human resources at Arizona Chemical and specifically defines procedures for areas such as on-boarding and recruiting, performance management, compensation, and communications.

Arizona Chemical was not alone in its struggle to stay ahead of the impact the global economic downturn had on our orders and production. Closing the Port St. Joe plant and moving its orders to the company’s other refineries made the best economic sense for the overall health of the business and was not a reflection of the site’s 77 team members. Some of the hourly workforce was relocated to our nearby Panama City facility and many of the professionals were transferred to other assignments, while others were provided comprehensive severance and outplacement assistance, including working with local officials to find job opportunities where possible.

LA4
Percentage of employees covered by collective bargaining agreements.

As of March 31, 2010, approximately 54% United States employees were unionized and are covered by collective bargaining agreements. In Europe, nearly all of our employees are represented by local workers councils and/or unions. In addition, we abide by national employment laws for the countries in which we operate with about 86% of EU employees covered by agreements. 

LA6
Percentage of total workforce represented in formal joint management-worker health and safety committees that help monitor and advise on occupational health and safety programs.

2009 Sustainability Report Overview > Social Sustainability > Safety and Emergency Planning, p. 17

Over 75% of our workforce is represented by formal joint management-worker health and safety committees. Each facility has at least one formal health and safety committee with joint management-labor representation.

Arizona’s safety performance (OSHA TIR) over the past 3 years oscillated around ACC (American Chemistry Council) Responsible Care Companies’ average. Handling hot materials has been the highest risk, business specific, activity. No fatalities occurred in 2009. See table below for additional information.

Arizona’s long-term ambition is to achieve safety excellence.  Safety performance is overseen by the Director EHS, reporting directly to the President and CEO. Our vision “Nobody Gets Hurt” has been formulated and communicated by the CEO.

The five-year EHS excellence strategy has been developed to achieve this vision. The safety target is to achieve 0.3 TIR in 2014. The backbone of the strategy is the shift from reactive to proactive mode of management by process. The first year of the strategy implementation (2010) has been devoted to formulating and implementing key global processes – Risk Management, Auditing, Failure Analysis, Policy Development, Knowledge Management (Best Practice Sharing), Training and Monitoring. The system for achieving TIR performance targets is supported by process related KPIs (e.g. continuous reduction of risk rating of the organization).

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LA9
Health and safety topics covered in formal agreements with trade unions.

LA11
Programs for skills management and lifelong learning that support the continued employability of employees and assist them in managing career endings.

LA12
Percentage of employees receiving regular performance and career development reviews.

HR5
Operations identified in which the right to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining may be at significant risk, and actions taken to support these rights.

HR6
Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of child labor, and measures taken to contribute to the elimination of child labor.

HR7
Operations identified as having significant risk for incidents of forced or compulsory labor, and measures to contribute to the elimination of forced or compulsory labor.

HR9
Total number of incidents of violations involving rights of indigenous people and actions taken.

No incidents of violations involving rights of indigenous people have occurred.

SO5
Public policy positions and participation in public policy development and lobbying.

2009 Sustainability Report Overview > Social Sustainability > Safety and Emergency Planning, p. 17

We oppose legislation that distorts markets and affects our biorefining business, particularly in the energy and environmental areas. In recent years, the primary form of distortion has been energy legislation promoting renewable biomass to reduce climate change. With 80 years of biorefinery experience, our expert position is that legislation should be based on sustainability as opposed to short-sighted bioenergy views. Accordingly, we lobbied climate change legislation at multiple levels of government in both Europe and the United States.

SO6
Total value of financial and in-kind contributions to political parties, politicians, and related institutions by country.

SO8
Monetary value of significant fines and total number of non-monetary sanctions for non-compliance with laws and regulations.

PR1
Life cycle stages in which health and safety impacts of products and services are assessed for improvement, and percentage of significant products and services categories subject to such procedures.

PR2
Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning health and safety impacts of products and services during their life cycle, by type of outcomes.

In order to ensure our customers' ability to make informed purchasing decisions, we have implemented procedures that address the provision of product information and labeling. The following product and service information is provided:  

PR4
Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning product and service information and labeling, by type of outcomes.

PR5
Practices related to customer satisfaction, including results of surveys measuring customer satisfaction.

Much information about our company can be easily gained through our website which enables users to access company news bulletins, product brochures, application information, data sheets and safety information. This allows us to keep information up-to-date whilst minimizing the need for printing and mailing. 

We increasingly notify our customers of significant news and events by e-mail, using a maintained mailing list. We are present at many conferences and exhibitions in order to promote our company and products and to learn about industry and technology trends. Expectations regarding our marketing communications are set out in our Code of Business Conduct.  Several layers of approval are required prior to releasing market communications. We adhere to responsible marketing practices but do not regularly audit. Arizona Chemical does not produce products that are banned in any country. However, we have chosen not to perform necessary testing for sales in some countries due to economic considerations. Accordingly, Arizona Chemical has dozens of products which cannot be shipped to certain countries, and these listings are disclosed on our MSDS. Additionally, we have a raw material approval system which actively seeks to exclude "materials of concern" including heavy metals, allergens, certain chemicals like alkyl phenols, asbestos, dioxins, endocrine disrupters, fluorinated compounds, organo-tin compounds, toxic substances, bio-accumulative substances, pesticides, etc…

PR7
Total number of incidents of non-compliance with regulations and voluntary codes concerning marketing communications, including advertising, promotion, and sponsorship by type of outcomes.