Sasol Integrated Report 2023 - Book - Page 23
INTRODUCTION
ABOUT SASOL
STRATEGIC OVERVIEW
CREATING VALUE
PERFORMANCE
GOVERNANCE AND REWARDS
ADMINISTRATION
PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S STATEMENT CONTINUED
FOCUS STORY // ETHICS
QUESTION:
QUESTION:
What key interventions are you driving
to improve safety?
Is the ‘full potential’ programme at your
mining operations starting to deliver results?
Our goal is Zero Harm, and there are a few
key areas to highlight in our journey.
We have made good progress in embedding our
safety principles across operations, but we all
recognise the critical need for ongoing, diligent
focus on our HSI programme.
Two key imperatives being
ingrained as part of
operational discipline:
we always strive to carry
out each task the right way
every time; and
we always adhere to standards
and procedures.
Our people know these imperatives are vital to
ensuring a safe workplace, and in doing so, we
continue to promote humanising safety. We have
for some time already shifted from leading safety
through compliance, to leading safety with care.
Demonstrating care is something we should all
display, more especially our leaders. This is where
it starts.
The ultimate aim with our humanising safety
approach is for us to look beyond the statistics
and focus on the person, his or her working
environment, as well as the surrounding
circumstances. This is being reinforced by a
fair and accountable safety culture where
consequences for transgressions are applied
equitably, appropriately, and consistently across
teams and the organisation.
Coal quality and productivity are
among the key challenges we face in
our South African value chain, and our
‘full potential’ programme has been
designed to provide a sustainable
improvement across all the collieries.
Focus areas to improve productivity include
prioritised training initiatives, improving
the cutting time for each shift, and reducing
equipment breakdown times. This will be assisted
by onboarding peripheral support teams to make
our efforts well-coordinated.
This programme is being rolled out in a phased
approach at our Secunda collieries, with the
roll-out at the first colliery nearing completion.
The next roll-out will be at the Shondoni and
Thubelisha collieries in the first half of FY24,
where learnings from the previous roll-out will
be implemented.
We have seen incremental improvements in
productivity rates since the implementation of the
programme, with a slight improvement between
the third and fourth quarters of FY23. Our FY23
productivity was 3% lower than the prior year due
to unplanned safety stoppages and operational
challenges experienced in the earlier part of the
year, but notable improvements have been seen
in the second half of the year, which is in line with
expectations.
Across the world, ethical standards are slipping,
people in positions of power openly and
unapologetically behave in ways that infringe
the rights of others or condone unethical or corrupt
practices. This means that we as individuals are all
likely to face – on a daily basis – unethical
behaviour by others; conflicts of interest; questions
around the appropriateness of extravagant gifts
or entertainment; and tough ethical dilemmas.
In a world where many have lost their
moral compass, Sasol endeavours to
ensure that we are an ethical company;
that we not only do things right, but
we do the right things.
How then does one ensure that Team Sasol lives
up to its intention of always doing the right thing?
Sasol’s Code of Conduct clearly sets out the Values
to which we expect our employees to live. It is
action-based, ensuring that in this complex world
employees know what is expected of them on-site
at our facilities and offices, as well as at home.
The Code of Conduct provides details of
how employees and other stakeholders can seek
assistance with their day-to-day concerns,
including where and how to register an ethics
call to report behaviour that they consider to
be unethical. This is complemented by annual
awareness and training initiatives that further
equip our employees to do what is right.
Our Board of Directors sets the tone from the top:
Sasol’s leadership is committed to nurturing an
ethical culture, one of inclusivity and support,
where employees and stakeholders feel free to
speak up without fear of victimisation
or retaliation.
Supported by our external coal purchasing
programme, we have also successfully maintained
the coal stockpile within targeted levels, ensuring
a stable supply of feedstock to the Secunda
facility, while also improving coal quality through
optimal blending.
Our ethical culture informs the way we conduct
ourselves both at an individual and Group level:
how we treat each other, our customers and
stakeholders; how we manage our impact on
society; and how we manage our impact on the
environment. It steers our Purpose of ‘Innovating
for a better world’.
We have commissioned an independent ethics
risk and opportunity assessment across the
Sasol Group. Currently underway, this is
evaluating the maturity of our ethics programme
as well as identifying opportunities to close any
gaps. Through constantly improving our ethical
processes, driving an ethical culture, and living
the Sasol Values, we strive to ensure Sasol’s
success, as well as supporting a regeneration
of ethics in the communities in which we work.
I personally commit to abiding by the Sasol
Code of Conduct and to holding myself
accountable in terms of it. In their personal
capacity, each member of the executive team
and all Sasol employees also commits to the
Code of Conduct, as we individually and
collectively take responsibility for the impact
of our actions globally.
We are actively embedding fit-for-purpose
leading indicator monitoring and reporting,
to further enhance our safety measures.
WWW
SR
For more detail refer to our Sustainability
Report available on our website, www.sasol.com
For the ethics line, see www.sasol.com/sustainability/
ethics/sasol-ethics
Safety also remains a key component of our
short-term incentives where financial penalties
apply for missed targets.
SASOL INTEGRATED REPORT 2023
22
