Altech Annual Report 2005

A safe and healthy working environment is a constitutional right of every person and the management of all the Altron group companies recognise that the long-term future of their operations depends upon the health, safety and security of all employees as one of their most valuable assets. The responsible use and management of our natural resources forms part of this management commitment. The necessary policy and systems are in place to ensure that our product manufacturing and production facilities are undertaken in an environmentally friendly way without any negative impact in terms of waste disposal or pollution.

The implementation of a formal environmental management reporting system throughout the group was commenced and was developed to comply with the reporting requirements of the JSE Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Index for which both Altron and Altech have qualiﬁed annually since its inception.

Regular audits are conducted by Altron’s Internal Audit Department as well as by an accredited external consultant and these audit reports are submitted for review to the various sub-committees and/or boards, including that of Altron, on a quarterly basis. Some of the issues reported on include: water usage and discharge; land usage; solid and hazardous waste output and disposal; gaseous emissions; biodiversity; major environmental violations; safety and security; prosecutions and ﬁnes; accidents and incidents.

During the period under review, no prosecutions were brought against any company of the group for the contravention of any environmental laws.

Safety, health and environmental

Through its various business Risk Management Committees the group has, during the year under review, placed signiﬁcant focus on safety, health and environmental (SHE) issues as these form an integral part of our key business objectives. In this regard Altron is committed to legal compliance as well as cost-effective improvements in SHE performance in order to achieve a high level of SHE performance at both a corporate and operational level.

Safety regulations are adhered to stringently on all sites within the group in order to maintain the highest level of safety and, in this regard, compliance in terms of the Occupational Health and Safety Act is used as the benchmark and is reported on quarterly at board meetings throughout the group.

A Risk and Safety Policy is in place at operational level throughout the group covering health and safety representatives; occupational injury; disease and accidents; ﬁrst aid; ﬁre procedures; and record keeping and training.

An external, independent consultant is retained by the group to monitor, measure and report on SHE issues and compliance throughout the group.

ISO Certiﬁcation

Group operations, particularly those within Powertech, have ISO 14001 certiﬁcation which requires that an Environmental Management System be implemented and maintained, together with clearly deﬁned roles and responsibilities including but not limited to: procedures for monitoring and measuring; procedures for training, guidelines and awareness; emergency plans; objectives and targets; audit and review; and corrective and preventive actions.

Internally, the operations maintain aspects and impact registers as well as monthly audits which are reviewed by external auditors.

NamITech, an Altech company, has been awarded ISO 9001 certiﬁcations and has also conformed to Visa, MasterCard and VeriSign speciﬁcations and standards. UEC Multi-Media (UEC), another company in the Altech stable, complies with the requirements of ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems. The environmental issues for UEC include factory processes, waste management and product design.

The Aberdare Cables Standford Road plant in Port Elizabeth received its ISO 14001 certiﬁcation on 26 April 2005 while Aberdare Cables, Markman, received its ISO 14001 certiﬁcation in 2004. Moreover, all Aberdare sites (Standford Road, Markman, Lambda, Pietermaritzburg, Raytech, Edenvale, Gauteng, Aberdare Cables Jet Park, Alcon Marepha) are ISO 9001 listed and the Gauteng and Standford Road plants are also BASEC/ISO 9001 compliant, and registered. In terms of the Aberdare Cables programme for ISO 14001 implementation it should be noted that the Aberdare Cables, Pietermaritzburg site is currently engaged in compiling the necessary procedures for certiﬁcation and should be ready for the initial assessment by SABS in June 2005.

ABB Powertech Transformers is ISO 14001, 18001, and 9001 certiﬁed. In the Industrial Group, Crabtree is an ISO 9001 accredited company and is currently incorporating 14000 and 18000 into their system. Whiteleys is in the process of implementing ISO 9001, which is expected to be completed and awarded by July or August 2005. DPM is also ISO 9001 compliant and working towards ISO 14000 compliance.

Strike, another Powertech company, is ISO 9001 registered through DEKRA, an internationally recognised authority, based in Germany. Tridonic SA has ISO 9001 certiﬁcation as well as the European ENEC mark, which includes the VDE and CE marks. In the Battery Group, the Port Elizabeth Willard site is ISO 14000 accredited, Industrial is ISO 9001 rated, and Automotive received the ISO-TS 16949; Q1 (Ford); QS 9000 (General Motors) and VDA 6 (VW and BMW) accreditation.

Operator and staff training are ongoing requirements of the above certiﬁcations. New and existing employees are consistently undergoing speciﬁc training in terms of their work-related skills.

Waste management

Waste management projects on the manufacturing and operational level in the group include the separate disposal of hazardous waste; the transport, storage or trading of this waste; the recycling and reclamation of waste materials, and the auditing of the legal compliance of contracted waste disposal companies.

For those operating companies that handle hazardous chemical substances (hazchem), the highest level of housekeeping standards is required which standards must prevent ﬁre, spillage, ingestion and contamination. In terms of hazchem monitoring, daily checks take place and waste disposal happens offsite and is conducted through reputable waste disposal contractors whose certiﬁcation is veriﬁed.

During the period under review, a factory in the Battery Group in Port Elizabeth underwent considerable modiﬁcation to address emissions of pollutants being discharged into the atmosphere. These pollutants included acid vapour and lead dust. Liquid acid efﬂuent is the subject of considerable attention and considerable capex has been spent on ensuring these emissions are neutralised and managed within legal requirements.

NamITech's manufacturing process is toxin free. Waste material that cannot be recycled is disposed of using specialist waste disposal companies which all comply with environmental best practices. Water is no longer used in any part of the manufacturing process and an electricity-saving project is being implemented.

The process that has the largest environmental impact at UEC is the soldering process, which results in lead waste. The waste is disposed of according to strict regulations and disposal is conducted by contractors who have supplied UEC with proof of their compliance with water and waste by-laws and the National Environmental Management Act of 1998 (as amended). In order to comply with EC requirements, UEC has implemented a programme according to which lead will be removed from the soldering process by 2006. All other waste material generated during the manufacture of UEC's decoders is recycled.

UEC require that, in terms of its product design, only recyclable packaging material be used and have also, during the year under review, installed a modern water-based paint plant to eliminate usage of harmful solvents in traditional oil-based paints.

For the remainder of Altron's non-manufacturing operations, the environmental effects are managed as far as possible. The electricity that is consumed is limited to use for lights and computers and other ofﬁce equipment. Water consumption is for drinking purposes and toilet facilities. Both these resources are monitored. No ground water is drawn for any of Altron's operations. The operational activities in the Altron group do not impact on biodiversity, protected or sensitive areas, heritage sites, fresh water resources or related ecosystems.

GRI Content Index

A table detailing the references in the annual report to each element of the GRI Content, by section and indicator, appears on GRI content index.