Overview
The gas and power activities include:
- the production and distribution of industrial, medical and specialty gases by Coregas in eastern Australia and Air Liquide WA (ALWA) (40% interest) operating in Western Australia and the Northern Territory;
- production, import and export of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and production of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by Wesfarmers LPG (WLPG); and distribution and marketing of both LPG and LNG by Kleenheat Gas; and
- power generation for remote towns and mines by enGen.
With more than 900 permanent employees, 86 direct operating facilities and more than 700 business partners, we aim to develop our customer relationships and work towards operating sustainable businesses. This includes a strong focus on safety, health, the environment and the communities in which we operate.
We continue to evaluate and develop more effective products that offer sustainable environmental benefits for our customers across our division.
Key Sustainability Indicators
Year in Review
During the year we focused on developing our people and improving the safety of our operations.
We launched a targeted development framework designed to equip our employees with the core capabilities necessary to grow the businesses. To date 16 programs from the framework have been rolled out to 560 employees.
We had a significant reduction in our LTIFR from 6.3 to 2.2 with ALWA, enGen, and WLPG maintaining zero LTIFR.
Another major initiative was the commissioning of a 175 tonne per day LNG plant at Kwinana in September 2008. The project includes gas processing, storage, loading facilities and distribution of LNG. As an alternative to diesel, LNG is used to fuel more than 130 heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) and two remote power stations in Western Australia. Branded as EVOL LNG and marketed by Kleenheat Gas, an additional 60 HDVs run on LNG sourced from a third party in eastern Australia.
The remote power stations were converted from operating on diesel to LNG, which resulted in a saving of over 12,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
The project was impacted, along with other parts of our business, by the Varanus Island incident which reduced gas supplies in Western Australia during the year.
Year in Review Graph
2010 Priorities
- Continue to integrate lead indicators into the measurement of safety and health.
- Conduct our operations ensuring a high level of safety, product quality and customer service.
- Positively contribute to and engage with our stakeholders and the communities in which we operate.
- Continue to explore energy efficiency opportunities.
- Continue to develop the capability of our people.
What this Report Covers
Timing
Coverage is for the financial year ended 30 June 2009. In a few cases where there have been developments subsequent to the end of the reporting period, but prior to the printing deadline, we have included and identified this information to make the report more time-relevant.
The structure
To improve the collection and reporting of meaningful and accurate data across a variety of different operations, this year each business has supplied information across 13 common core indicators, which all contribute to the five principles: greenhouse gas emissions; energy use; water consumption; solid waste; liquid waste; environmental non-compliance; ethical sourcing; the National Pollutant Inventory; environmental expenditure; contamination; employee data, health and safety; and community contribution and support (in some cases data has been difficult to collect and these situations are described in the report). These indicators and their measurement were developed with the assurance providers for this report, Net Balance Management Group (Net Balance).
The assurance statement appears at the end of the Wesfarmers report, available at www.wesfarmers.com.au. The external assurance process, to the standards specified in the statement, is an important part of Wesfarmers’ commitment to transparent reporting of our activities.
The data collection and reporting of our community contribution and support has, for the first time this year, been conducted primarily using the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) methodology.
The LBG is an international framework to record and measure an organisation’s community investment beyond its financial contribution. The LBG model recognises community contribution in four main categories: cash; time; in-kind contributions; and leveraged contributions where the organisation assists others to achieve objectives. These contributions must be made primarily for the benefit of the community, usually through community groups and charities. The LBG methodology was used for all businesses except Home Improvement and Office Supplies – in these cases the community contributions were verified by Net Balance as part of
its broader assurance processes for this report.
A report summarising the activities of all Wesfarmers business units is available at
www.wesfarmers.com.au
Safety data
Readers will notice in the safety performance graphs a reference to statistics being for the year to 30 June but ‘as at 30 September 2009’. This is because we adjust the numbers to take into account workers’ compensation claims lodged or lost time that has been reported up to30 September relating to injuries sustained in the financial year under review, thus allowing for delayed impacts. It can mean that the numbers reported for a particular year have to be changed in subsequent reports, and also that they could be different to those in the 2009 Wesfarmers Annual Report which is prepared at an earlier date.
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTI FR – please refer to the glossary) numbers now include contractors unless otherwise specified in the reports of the individual businesses. Where it is possible to calculate a LTI FR for contractors
– that is, where there is regular engagement and hours worked are available – the business is required to include this information.
Greenhouse emissions
Greenhouse emissions information contained in this report is generally based on the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (Measurement) Determination 2008 (NGERs – as applied in 2008/09), although for indirect emissions (such as Scope 3 electricity emissions, waste and air travel not included in the NGER Act) calculations done in accordance with the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) Factors and Methods Workbook November 2008 version have been used. Readers should note that some of the AGO’s (and now NGERs) emissions factors have changed from time to time and, accordingly, year-to-year changes in emissions data may in part be due to this rather than a change in the performance of a business unit in relation to greenhouse emissions.
Further information is available at