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, 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 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.
A winning partnership in the Illawarra
For many years, BlueScope has supported a broad range of community programs in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, home to the Port Kembla Steelworks. During 2012, the establishment of the BlueScopeWIN Community Partners program saw two long standing members of the business community join forces to create a local community support fund.
It's all about making a real difference, and the new partnership will contribute a significant amount to projects and programs that meet needs in the community. All requests for support are assessed against funding criteria by a committee comprising representatives of both organisations, and WIN TV promotes the initiatives supported by the community partnership through its network.
Cleaning up our communities
Over 100 BlueScope Thailand employees took part in the 2012 Coastal Clean Up Day at Suan Son Beach where significant amounts of rubbish and debris harmful to marine wildlife tend to accumulate.
The event was an opportunity for employees and their families to learn about and look after the fragile marine environment, as well as support the local community. Marine and Coastal Conservation Staff were on hand to help guide the volunteers and explain some features of the marine environment.
And New Zealand Steel has again supported the annual beach clean-up at Kariaotahi Beach in the vicinity of the steelworks. Around 120 volunteers equipped with gloves and rubbish bags collected several tonnes of rubbish along a 12 kilometre stretch of the beach.
Trained First Aiders from the Kariaotahi Surf Life SavingClub talked to the volunteers about the importance of swimming between the flags and always keeping an eye on conditions. Robin Davies, Vice President - Mills, Coatings & Services, New Zealand Steel, presented the lifesaving club with a cheque to support its ongoing work to make the beach a safer place.
This event is a great example of business and the community working together to achieve a common goal.
In Darwin, BlueScope Lysaght volunteers joined over 1,000 others from 23 Northern Territory sites in the Clean Up Northern Australia campaign. The Lysaght team collected around 50kg of rubbish from the roads near the site. In total, 50.6 tonnes of rubbish was collected in the Northern Territory.
Part of the 'Clean Up Australia' program which encourages people to look after their communities, the Great Northern Clean Up is a chance for communities across the top end of Australia (north of the Tropic of Capricorn) to get together at a time more suited to the northern climate.
BlueScope gives shelter in Haiti
Houses supplied by BlueScope are helping give shelter to communities rebuilding after the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake.
After successfully manufacturing and assembling a prototype house, the team at BlueScope's Jackson, Tenn. facility manufactured and packed into crates 50 houses with all the necessary materials, tools, and safety equipment required for the houses to be assembled in the field.
The first three buildings have been used for a community building, a safe centre for women and a training facility. The building design has been well received, and there have been several requests for the structures throughout in the country, including for use in a housing program.
Working with humanity
BlueScope Lysaght has supplied the roof and accessories for five homes built by Habitat for Humanity close to communities affected by the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires.
The five houses are part of a project of up to 25 affordable new homes to help families who lost their home in the bushfires. Some of the families do not wish to - or cannot - return to the site of their former homes, and others lack the financial or physical capacity to rebuild their homes.
The homes are safe, simple, decent and affordable, professionally designed, energy efficient and sustainable. he families allocated to the homes worked with Habitat for Humanity volunteers to construct the homes as part of a "Blitz Build" campaign. A group of Lysaght volunteers helped install the rooves.
Habitat for Humanity provides shelter and other services to support communities and assists low-income households in Australia build and own their own home.
COLORBOND® steel makes a difference
BlueScope Malaysia donated funds raised at a COLORBOND® steel customer event to support the Taman Megah's Handicapped & Disabled Children's Home building fund. The Home takes in children and adults of all races and ages who are suffering from physical or mental disabilities or from broken, abused or single parent backgrounds.
Workplace giving
BlueScope employees in Australia support eight community organisations through the Company's workplace giving program. Over $20,000 donated by employees to the Surf Life Saving Foundation through the workplace giving program has been used to install two radio repeater stations on the Mornington Peninsula, in the vicinity of BlueScope's Western Port facility. The Mornington Peninsula is a popular beach holiday destination, and the new repeater stations will help make the region safer by improving the reach of emergency communications network in the area.
With access to more sophisticated communication infrastructure, the local surf life saving authorities can now increase coastline patrols and receive up to date information on weather reports and beach conditions in real time. In addition, all emergency services agencies will be able to use the repeater towers in times of need.
Supporting education
For a number of years the BlueScope Foundation in North America has donated funds for scholarships at the Jackson State Community College. The scholarships are matched by the Jackson State Community College Centre of Emphasis and help students pursue degrees in manufacturing-related fields such as industrial maintenance and engineering. Since 2009 the Jackson school has been able to assist eight students in completing their degrees.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Steel President Simon Linge has announced the three successful applicants for 2012 in the annual undergraduate scholarship program. The scholarships are part of NZ Steel's ongoing commitment to the community and to the development of young talent.
The three students from local high schools will take part in a summer holiday work experience program at New Zealand Steel, and will be supported in their tertiary studies. All three students intend to study Engineering at Auckland University.
