| 2007 DIRECTOR'S REPORT BUSINESS REVIEW (Theese pages are under development:) |
Marketplace | Performance | Financial Matters | CSR
Business Review
Corporate Social Responsibility
As BBA Aviation strives to meet the ever-increasing expectations of our stakeholders, we are mindful of balancing our efforts to meet those expectations with our commitment to the fundamentals of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Satisfying the highest ethical standards, compliance with the law, exercising appropriate sensitivity to the needs of our employees, the communities in which we work, and the environment must be integrated with our business goals in a complementary manner. This balance cannot be achieved unless all of our employees are engaged in this effort. Responsibility to the Board for relationships with all our stakeholders lies with the Group Chief Executive.
Shareholders
We are fully committed to increasing the value of the business to our shareholders and
therefore to communicating with our shareholders to reassure them of our focus
on enhancing the value of the business. In addition to publishing our CSR reports
on the Group's website and requesting feedback, we regularly discuss CSR issues with
them. These discussions and the feedback we have received via other channels offer
valuable insights into those areas that we can expand upon in our future reports to
better meet the needs of our shareholders.
Our people
It is our obligation as a company to ensure that, regardless of where they work or
what job they are performing, our employees have a safe, secure, and fulfilling
work environment that allows them to reach their full potential.
In order to be competitive in the marketplace and to ensure that we are positively impacting the communities in which we do business, we must first invest in the health of our employees. Protecting our employees' health and safety is therefore our number one priority.
We value the talent that each individual brings to BBA Aviation. Helping all our employees play to their strengths and improve their skills, in both their job functions and their interactions with customers, is a key area of investment for BBA Aviation. It is our belief that by so doing, we can continuously improve the calibre of our people, enhance the success of our business, and positively impact the world around us.
Fair Treatment, Diversity, and Business Ethics
Our people form the foundation of each BBA Aviation business. To sustain a committed,
progressive workforce, it is critical that we treat our employees equitably.
A large part of this investment in our employees involves ensuring that we operate
fairly at all times and do not permit discrimination against any employee or applicant
for employment on the basis of race, religion or creed, colour, gender, disability,
national origin, age, military status, veteran status, sexual orientation or marital
status. This includes giving full and fair consideration to suitable applications
from disabled persons for employment and making appropriate adjustments so that if
existing employees become disabled they can continue to be employed, wherever
practicable, in the same job or, if this is not practicable, making every effort
to find suitable alternative employment and to provide relevant training.
Not just a management philosophy, we believe in instilling this commitment to fairness in our entire staff, and require that all our employees abide by the highest standards of ethical conduct, as reflected in the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility and Code of Business Ethics Policy.
Reporting
In July 2006 we issued our fifth annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report.
The text of the Report can be found on the Company's website. We encourage you to
examine the Report and to comment on our performance as well as on the scope and
content of the Report. In the past our Reports emphasised health, safety and
environmental performance. While these are critical elements of any measure of our
CSR competence, we recognise that other elements such as workplace diversity,
community, and supply chain management deserves equal emphasis to ensure a balanced
and complete CSR programme. During 2006 our CSR Steering Committee turned its
attention to these factors, exploring new initiatives to bring those factors to
greater prominence within our corporate culture.
We have continued to gauge the progress of our CSR programme by participation in the annual Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index. Our index score for 2005 showed continued year-to-year improvement. In November 2006 we again completed the Index survey and look forward to receiving Business in the Community's results and business rankings in 2007.
Health and Safety
Health and Safety risks are assessed through a dedicated team of health and
safety professionals operating at various levels throughout our organisation.
This includes three senior level managers and numerous site-based managers who
employ web-based audit and training tools and who regularly evaluate site
performance. Performance statistics such as recordable incident data, accident
severity, lost work days and workers compensation claims are compiled on a
continuous basis and reported to the Board, Executive Committee and senior line
management. Improvement plans are formulated and performance targets are set
for all our business units on an annual basis.
During 2006 we enjoyed considerable progress toward improving the safety performance of our member companies. Two significant landmarks are worthy of note. At year-end we recorded a Company-wide Recordable Incident Rate of 6.6; meeting the target we set at the commencement of 2006 and representing the lowest annual rate for the current portfolio of our aviation businesses since we first started to compile such statistics some five years ago. In addition, our Company-wide accident Severity Index was 44.5, markedly better than during 2005 (64.4), exceeding like calculations in any prior year. While these are encouraging results, we realise that much work lies ahead. Our goal is to achieve an industry leadership role in safety practices and performance. As the safety improvement programmes that are now embedded in our aviation service businesses continue to mature, we anticipate further improvement in the months and years to come.
The Environment
Evaluating environmental risks associated with the operation of our businesses
and managing those risks continues to receive senior management level focus within
BBA Aviation. The same audit and training tools employed to manage health and safety
risk are utilised to identify issues of environmental compliance and risk on a
regular basis. Through annual self-assessments and site audits, our personnel
develop site improvement plans, which are scrutinised by senior management. In
addition, we engage external consultants to conduct a semi-annual "Environmental
Index" of all business sites in order to gauge their impacts on the environment.
Finally, through our annual participation in the Business in the Environment
Survey, we take stock of our environmental performance under the scrutiny of
external evaluators.
BBA Aviation requires each of our businesses to work towards reducing our environmental footprint. For a number of years, the Group has focused on identifying and improving performance on its key areas of environmental impact, which include waste creation, energy and water consumption.
In addition to focusing our attention on these three key impacts, we continue to encourage our businesses to become certificated to ISO 14001: Environmental Management Systems. During 2006, a number of sites received re-certification visits and retained their certification status.
Supporting our local communities and improving our surrounding environment remains a priority for BBA Aviation companies. We continue to demonstrate our commitment to the environment through many activities and initiatives, including Dallas Airmotives' projects to develop environmentally-friendly coatings, H+S Aviation's work with the Carbon Trust to reduce energy consumption, and Signature Flight Support's sustainable design requirements for the development of a new terminal at London Luton Airport.
Suppliers
Centralised procurement is one method that BBA Aviation uses to promote our CSR
principles through the supply chain. We encourage each of our businesses to
centralise their procurement processes when feasible, and source materials and
services locally when centralised procurement is impractical.
We continue to actively work with suppliers and customers to design and develop products that do not adversely impact the environment, health, or safety of our broader communities.
Local Communities and Charities
Supporting the local communities in which we work and improving our surrounding
environment is of paramount importance to BBA companies around the world. We
recognise that we form part of the broader global community. It is our responsibility,
as a good neighbour, to contribute to those locations where we are resident. In
addition to providing support to our surrounding communities through our practices
of local employment, local training and, where appropriate, the purchase of local
goods and services, we are proud to play an active role in a variety of local activities
and charities.
A Board Priority
We remain committed to CSR and it is a priority for the Board to make further progress
during 2007. We will report on our progress during the year.