Edition 1 2014 PORT WARATAH COAL SERVICES
COMMUNITY NEWS
WELCOME TO THE PORT WARATAH COAL SERVICES COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER Welcome to Port Waratah’s first community newsletter for 2014. Three months into the year and a range of challenges and events have already combined to make time fly. With the completion of the Kooragang Expansion Project late last year, our focus as a business is on consolidation and improvement in the face of continuing economic challenges for our industry. We are actively working to reduce costs and improve the way we work: delivering better services to customers and increasing the efficiency of our operations; building capacity in our employees and teams; and upgrading our infrastructure and systems to improve our environmental performance. The same applies to our community relationships: now in the second year of a new direction in our community engagement programme we are aiming to further improve how we communicate and work in partnership with our stakeholders and the communities around us. The success of some recent programmes provides a strong foundation to build on.
Between 2011 and 2013, Port Waratah formally engaged in a number of threeyear funding partnerships with various community organisations including Newcastle Surf Life Saving Club, First Chance, Soul Café, Hunter Prostate Cancer Alliance, Harry’s House and BCS Life Care Services at Mayfield. Collectively these partnerships amounted to over $920,000 in investment over three years. In this edition we celebrate the great outcomes of one of these, our partnership with Supporters of Cancer and the Calvary Mater Hospital. This unique three way partnership between a private company, a community charity and a health care provider has meant that a new way of approaching cancer care could be trialled over a three year period and after great success, a permanent change made. The trial reduced waiting times for first treatment from 7 to 8 weeks to 2 to 3 weeks – a great outcome for the Newcastle community. Two other things of note: at the time of printing we are still awaiting confirmation of the dates for the Terminal 4 Planning Assessment Commission public hearings. We are working directly with the Department of Planning and Infrastructure to ensure this next step in the community
consultation on the project can occur as soon as possible. We are also progressing well with the multi-million dollar upgrade of our water management systems at Carrington and Kooragang.These upgrades will improve our capacity to manage surface water on our sites, increase our ability to recycle water for operational and dust suppression activities, and enable us to control the quality of water that leaves our sites under a wider range of conditions. We recognise the importance of communication with you, our community stakeholders, and value all opportunities to engage and interact – through these newsletters, our public community terminal meetings, the community enquiries process or our community investment programme. Whether you want to give us feedback on these newsletters, our operations or propose an idea, project or programme for community investment funding, I encourage you to contact us through the contact details on the back page of this newsletter.
– Hennie du Plooy, CEO
DID YOU KNOW? Port Waratah works to proactively manage dust 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Port Waratah has worked over many years with specialist consultants to develop a complex system which assesses how much water needs to be sprayed onto the coal while it is on our site depending on the temperature, humidity, wind and the type of the coal. All of this is calculated ahead of time so that we can be proactive in modifying our dust management and operational activities to suit the conditions.
COMMUNITY ENQUIRIES What is a community enquiry? Port Waratah defines a community enquiry as a communication initiated by a member of the community, in regards to a real or perceived environmental issue. It can be done through the community enquiries hotline, via email or post. Why is it important to make enquiries? We have standards and conditions placed on us by Government to regulate the level of impact we could have on the environment – for example dust and noise. We conduct environmental monitoring to track whether these standards are being met. We have found that although we may be meeting these standards some residents still feel they are being impacted by our operations. By making an enquiry it allows us to assist in getting to the bottom of the environmental issue, as well as potentially improve our performance.
What happens when you make an enquiry?
reviewing the outcomes of this consultation and how we can integrate the findings into our systems. One of the pieces of feedback was about better communicating our processes around how community enquiries are responded to – this newsletter is the first step in improving this communication.
Over the summer Port Waratah got in touch with a number of community members who had previously made enquiries to seek feedback on our processes and understand how we can improve the way we respond to community enquiries. We are currently 1
2
A community member sends an email, leaves a message, or speaks to a shift supervisor or member of the Port Waratah environment team.
Port Waratah employees undertake an initial investigation to try and determine a source and the extent of the issue. 3
If the issue clearly relates to a third party, we will advise the enquirer and provide the other organisation’s contact details if we have them.
If we identify something we can do to minimise the impact we generally action this as soon as practically possible.
Sometimes further investigation is required to understand exactly what has happened, or how Port Waratah may have contributed. In a busy harbour and industrial area, even after detailed investigation, sometimes we are still not able to pinpoint the source.
4 Port Waratah will contact the community member and communicate how the enquiry has been responded to and provide any other relevant information.
2013 COMMUNITY ENQUIRIES DUST TRAIN NOISE
As a result of community enquiries in 2013, we made a number of changes to our operations:
- We were able to tighten a loose conveyor belt emitting noise within the same shift.
- We have tightened the threshold for CCT alarms to warn supervisors that errors have been detected in the system, such as an issue in the dust management system.
- Dust trigger levels at CCT have been adjusted to include periods when the risk of dust emissions is low, however are persistent for a length of time.
OTHER
NOISE Port Waratah received 21 Community Enquiries in 2013
MEET THE PORT WARATAH ENVIRONMENT TEAM
Port Waratah Environmental Team Members Eden, John and Ben outside a Kooragang Air Quality Monitoring Station.
COMMUNITY TERMINAL MEETINGS
Port Waratah has an environment team of five people, who coordinate different aspects of our Environmental Management System – from dust and noise to water and waste. The ‘Enviro’ Team also work with a number of independent consultants to ensure our environmental monitoring Did you know PortWaratah hosts quarterly Community Terminal Meetings? The Community Terminal Meetings have been running for five years and are an opportunity for community stakeholders to learn more about Port Waratah, ask questions about our operations and access key employees such as the Terminal Managers and the Environmental and Community Relations teams.
is undertaken according to Australian standards. Environmental Officer Trevor Thompson has worked at Port Waratah for five years and says he enjoys the diversity of the role most; from meeting with community members to discuss concerns about dust, to undertaking complex data analysis, to assisting with the rescue of a peregrine falcon. “I live with my family in Mayfield so I know how important it is that we continually improve our environmental performance, as well as producing reliable monitoring data the community can trust, ” Trevor said.
If you are interested in attending please contact Laura Harkins through contact_us@pwcs.com.au or 02 4907 2280.
SUMMER DUST PERFORMANCE Over the summer Port Waratah works particularly diligently to minimise the risk of dust emissions from our operations. According to our weather station on Kooragang Island, the weather conditions over summer were particularly dry, although we didn’t get as much heat as we normally do. The table on the right provides an overview of the results recorded in neighbouring suburbs over the warmer months. More data can be found on our website pwcs.com.au including monitoring for sites at Carrington, Tighes Hill and Mayfield (please note these results are cumulative, meaning they include a number of different dust sources including industrial, natural and vehicular emissions).
FERN BAY – POPPLEWELL ST GUIDELINE
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
1.2
0.6
0.7
1.4
72
52
39
27
Deposited Dust (g/m2/month) Monthly Result
N/A
Annual Average
4.0
0.8
Total Suspended Particulates (µg/m3) Maximum Result
260
Annual Average
90
42
76 42.5
PM 10 (µg/m3) Maximum Result
90
Annual Average
30
26
42 20.7
STOCKTON – PRAWNER’S CLUB GUIDELINE
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
0.7
0.9
0.7
0.9
91
88
Deposited Dust (g/m2/month) Monthly Result
N/A
Annual Average
4.0
0.6
Total Suspended Particulates (µg/m3) Maximum Result
260
Annual Average
90
11
66 49.7
MAYFIELD EAST – GEORGE STREET GUIDELINE
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
1.5
1.7
1.1
1.2
71
80
Deposited Dust (g/m /month) 2
Monthly Result
N/A
Annual Average
4.0
1.1
Total Suspended Particulates (µg/m3) Maximum Result
260
Annual Average
90
46
96 52.7
COMMUNITY INVESTMENT AND PARTNERSHIPS Over the years Port Waratah has had a strong history of supporting health programs and projects in our community. Two of our longer term partners, HMRI and Supporters of Cancer have achieved some great milestones which we would like to share with you.
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP TO DELIVER HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR NEWCASTLE With the start of a new year comes the start of a new round of applications for Port Waratah’s Community Investment and Partnership Program. We are now accepting applications for programs or projects which: - Provide the majority of the benefit to the Newcastle community, particularly our neighbouring suburbs; - Directly address an area of need within the community and/or provide support in an area of strength.
If you would like to make an application email us on: contact_us@pwcs.com.au or call 02 4907 2280.
Above: HMRI researchers have identified a drug that inhibits myopia (photo supplied by HMRI).
HMRI According to the World Health Organisation, one of the leading causes of visual impairment and blindness is myopia or short-sightedness. Myopia affects up to 27 per cent of young Australians and is increasing around the world. With the support of a Port Waratah $25,000 grant, the HMRI researchers have been on the hunt to identify causes and potential
treatments for myopia within the eye. Initial outcomes have been promising, including identification of a specific cell which ‘switches’ on and off with the presence of myopia. This has led to the development of a drug which could trigger these cells – essentially ‘turning off’ the development of the condition. The final stages of the study will look to confirm these results and complete a draft patent for the discoveries.
SUPPORTERS OF CANCER/CALVARY MATER HOSPITAL For three years Port Waratah, along with Supporters of Cancer (SOC) have been co-funding an ambitious $240,000 trial at Calvary Mater Newcastle. With long cancer treatment waiting times, this unique partnership allowed the trial appointment of an Oncology Practitioner, Gillian Blanchard at the hospital for three years. A nurse practitioner can provide an increased level of care and technical expertise to the patients; care that
once only doctors could provide. Nurse practitioners are known to help relieve the pressure on other medical oncology professionals when they work together. While nurse practitioners are known in other districts – Gillian’s was the first oncology position for the Hunter. The funding from Port Waratah and Supporters of Cancer has meant that Gillian has been able to work fulltime – seeing over 1000 patients with cancer per year.
With patient satisfaction rates through the roof – Gillian’s role has meant that waiting times for first treatment have been reduced from 6–8 weeks to 2–3 weeks. The programme has been so successful Calvary Mater Newcastle has confirmed that it is making the Oncology Practitioner role a permanent, fullyfunded position. Above (L to R): Supporters of Cancer’s Pam Fitzgibbon, Oncology Practitioner Gilllian Blanchard and Port Waratah’s Hennie du Plooy catch up to reflect the success of the partnership.
IT’S WHO WE ARE WE OFFER OUR SERVICES TO OVER
OUR VISION:
TO BE A RESPECTED, WORLD CLASS COAL EXPORT FACILITY THAT CONSULTS, EDUCATES AND SUPPORTS ITS STAKEHOLDERS AT ALL LEVELS BY ALWAYS BEING RESPONSIBLE AND DEDICATED TO DELIVERING STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE.
TO DO THIS WE MUST PIONEER NEW WAYS OF DOING THINGS AND WORK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ALL OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS:
COMMERCIAL CUSTOMERS, OTHER COAL CHAIN SERVICE PROVIDERS...
INTERNAL
EMPLOYEES, CONTRACTORS...
EXTERNAL
COMMUNITY, GOVERNMENT, LOCAL RESIDENTS...
30 MINES, WORK WITH FOUR RAIL PROVIDERS, SO THAT WE CAN RECEIVE, BLEND AND STOCKPILE UP TO
EIGHTY
DIFFERENT TYPES OF COAL...
RESPONSIBLY AND RELIABLY...
SO THAT IT CAN THEN BE LOADED ONTO APPROXIMATELY
1,200
VESSELS*
EACH YEAR AND SHIPPED TO OVER
14
We would love to hear from you, whether it is to provide feedback about our newsletter or to learn more about our operations. Please contact us on: P (02) 4907 2280 (24-hr Community Enquiries Line) E contact_us@pwcs.com.au P PO BOX 57 Carrington, NSW 2294 W pwcs.com.au
DIFFERENT COUNTRIES* AROUND THE WORLD. *2013 STATISTICS
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