Environment Meeting Challenges
At BlueScope Steel, we live by Our Bond. We choose to do what is right by our customers, ourselves as employees, our shareholders and our communities.
Our communities are our homes
Our success relies on communities supporting our business and products. In turn, we care for the environment, create wealth, respect local values and encourage involvement. Our strength is in choosing to do what is right.
At BlueScope Steel, we live by Our Bond. We choose to do what is right by our customers, ourselves as employees, our shareholders and our communities. Across our Company, our employees have found a variety of ways to combine their own efforts with the resources of BlueScope Steel to help make our communities the best they can be.
These stories are just some of the programs we engaged in during the year, with a focus on shelter, safety, arts and culture, education and disaster relief.
Helping others in flood and earthquake affected areas
BlueScope people in both New Zealand and Australia had friends and family who were directly affected by the Christchurch earthquake and floods in Queensland. Employees’ generous donations to relief appeals were matched by the Company, and individual sites coordinated their own fundraising efforts and volunteered to assist the recovery.
New Zealand Steel committed $500,000 in steel products and building solutions to recovery efforts, and the Company donated $150,000 towards a Ranbuild® building for a community facility in the Lockyer Valley, Queensland, one of the areas most devastated by the floods.
The Gatton Donations Building, a Ranbuild® shed donated by BlueScope Steel to support the recovery after the devastating Queensland floods earlier this year, has been officially opened by the Lockyer Valley Regional Council Mayor.
Donations to Alabama tornado victims
BlueScope Buildings Rainsville, Alabama, facility was affected by severe weather and tornadoes in April, with three employees losing their homes and some suffering injuries. The BlueScope Foundation pledged an immediate donation to the America Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Employees also generously donated clothing, water, food, personal goods, and their volunteer time to assist with the recovery efforts. The Foundation will match employee donations to the Red Cross.
Thailand flood assistance
Meanwhile in Thailand, BlueScope Steel (Thailand) Limited and Loxley Public Company Limited donated two ‘Knock Down’ home units to support residents whose homes were destroyed by the recent floods.
Three Ranbuild® buildings - a library, reading room and house gardening room – were also donated to Klongtoey Nai Temple School in Bangkok. When visiting the ASEAN region in May, BlueScope’s Board of Directors officially ‘handed over’ the new buildings to the school at a ceremony attended by BlueScope Board and management, Loxley representatives, and members of the school and local community.
Marysville Australia opens new centre
The Marysville Community Centre, the centrepiece of BlueScope Steel’s $1 million support package to help rebuild communities following the devastating 2009 bushfires in Victoria, Australia, was officially opened in November 2011.
BlueScope Indonesia teaches road safety to schools
BlueScope Steel Indonesia donated writing books to elementary students at local schools. The Company gave 10 books to each of the 616 students at two schools in West Jakarta. BlueScope Indonesia SmartRoads ambassadors also conducted road safety sessions for the schools. Under the SmartRoads – road safety for our communities – program, employees are trained as SmartRoads ambassadors to educate young people in the community about safer practices on the roads.
Lysaght Lyndhurst gives to Newstart
BlueScope Lysaght’s Lyndhurst site donated overalls and boots to the local branch of Operation Newstart, an organisation that helps ‘at risk’ students re-engage with the education system and the local community. Newstart brings together representatives of the Victorian Police and the education department who take groups of young people through a four part, seven week program that includes adventure activities, community projects and involvement, vocational orientation and personal development courses.
Port Kembla helps budding sports stars
BlueScope Steel Port Kembla has been a significant sponsor of the Illawarra Academy of Sport since 1989. The Company’s sponsorship is directed to some of the participants in the Individual Elite Sports Development Program and the Cricket Program. The Illawarra Academy of Sport was the first regional Academy outside of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, and is regarded as the benchmark for Regional Academies of Sport throughout Australia.
