Safety, Health & Environment
We make a conscious choice to always keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.
At Alba, this is the mindset that we have nurtured over decades and invested lots of time and effort to ensure that Safety is embedded in the mindset of every employee and contractor’s personnel, both inside and outside the Company.
Our goal to meet the highest Safety standards across all our operations through our Sustainability Framework: SHE Responsibility, Governance and Management, Social and Community Impact has reaped us many rewards. It is a matter of great pride that Alba became the first Aluminium smelter in the Region to set a historic record in Safety by topping 30 Million Safe Working Hours without Lost Time Injury (LTI) on 01 September 2022. This new Safety milestone is an industry best till date that reflects Alba’s strong Safety culture and Values.
While Safety is driven by the Executive Management through clear leadership and vision, Alba firmly believes that Safety campaigns are key to nurture its core Safety principles. Safety campaigns - held all year long - are aligned with the Company’s Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) goals.
The CEO Ali Al Baqali rolled out the Company’s ESG Roadmap which is aligned with Bahrain’s objectives for ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2060’ and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The Roadmap, which is developed in collaboration with a well-known ESG consulting firm, highlighted six strategic priorities: (1) Decarbonisation, (2) Green Energy & Aluminium, (3) Circular Economy & Secondary Aluminium, (4) Employee Welfare, (5) Collaboration & Partnerships and (6) Transparency, Communications & Due Diligence.
Unveiled in April 2022, the ESG Roadmap presented initiatives to address the various global challenges whilst bringing sustainable value to the Company’s shareholders and stakeholders alike. Further, a special ESG Taskforce Committee was also created to evaluate the ESG-linked initiatives for each of the 6 priorities and monitor the Company’s achievements. The ESG Roadmap was also further cascaded to all departments through a plant-wide campaign. The ‘Responsible at all times’ Ramadan Safety campaign was held in April 2022 with the aim to fostering employees and contractors’ awareness on staying safe, healthy and productive during the Holy Month. As part of this Campaign, new topics such as Boosting Health & Focus, Eliminating Food Waste and Safe Socialising were discussed every week during the daytime and post-Iftar shopfloor visits by Executive Management, Directors and Managers. In addition, virtual lectures were held by external specialists to boost our people’s Health and Safety awareness during this Month.
Alba’s plant wide ESG campaign ‘A Journey, Not A Destination’ held in June 2022 aimed to reinforce Alba’s ESG Roadmap objectives as well as highlight Summer Safety. With this campaign, Alba joined other smelters in the GCC to mark a week full of Safety and ESG activities under the umbrella of the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC). The Campaign urged everyone to collectively make the Right Choice for a better future for Alba, Bahrain, and the planet. The CXOs and Directors’ groups also held this campaign for their employees and contractors’ personnel within their respective areas.
Alba concluded the year with the ‘Back to Core Basics’ Campaign in December to emphasise on the importance of operating by Alba’s Core Safety Principles -- (1) Ownership of Safety and Environment is everyone’s responsibility, (2) Working Safely as One Team is a condition of employment, and (3) All work related injuries and illnesses are preventable. The campaign also focused on the role of contractor workers in Alba’s Safety journey.
To improve and reduce its overall emissions, Alba is in the process to start the Online Emission Monitoring system (by 2023) that covers the roofs as well as the treatment centres’ stack emissions in Reduction Lines 4 & 5. This system will allow the operations team to immediately identify any exceedance then take corrective measures.
In addition to source emission monitoring, Alba upgraded its ambient air quality monitoring capabilities to have wider area coverage and include more pollutants -- to ensure that its operations don’t impact the health and wellbeing of employees and surrounding neighbours. In addition to the 4 air samplers located in and outside the smelter and the available 3 ambient air quality monitoring (AAQM) stations to measure PM10, Alba acquired 5 additional AAQM stations, which were distributed in the areas of Calciner and Marine Plant as well as the Spent Pot Lining Treatment Plant. Two standard continuous ambient air monitoring stations were also commissioned to cover a wide variety of air pollutants such as fluoride, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, etc
Alba progressed on many fronts to integrate ESG fully in its operations:
Alba’s achievements in the Safety and ESG fronts have been recognised by renowned entities globally. Alba won numerous awards – ‘Gold’ Green World Award and Green World Leader for 2022, from the Green Organisation; EcoVadis Award (Silver); British Safety Council (2022 International Safety Award) – Merit; RoSPA 2022 Health and Safety Achievement Award (Gold Medal); 6 Awards from the National Safety Council (NSC) Award namely 2022 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award, 2022 Safety Leadership Award, 2022 Millstone Award, 2022 Perfect Record Award, 2022 Million Work Hours Award App, 2022 Significant Improvement Award and 2022 Industry Leader Award (announced in July 2022); Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC)’s Health & Safety Award for 2022; and was recognised as the top Company in Bahrain on the ESG ratings list by ESG Invest.
Alba’s CEO Ali Al Baqali was the only Arab in the NSC’s ‘CEOs Who Get It’ list for 2023, in recognition of his commitment to protect and elevate the Safety culture for Alba employees and Contractors’ workers across the Company.
Alba has adopted various international standards and best practices that have helped it garner top certifications such as ISO 9001:2015, Quality Management Systems ISO 14001:2015, Environmental Management Systems ISO 45001:2018, ASI Performance Certification, etc. which attest Alba’s actions to produce aluminium responsibly and sustainably through compliance to the strictest quality assurance systems and processes.
ESG matters are fronting everything we do in Alba. As we look to the future, the focus is to have sustainable production through technology and knowledge sharing while maintaining the highest levels of Safety. Working together with a focus on a comprehensive sustainability roadmap will cement our position globally as ‘responsible aluminium producers’ and do what is necessary for the generations to come.
