SOCIAL
SUSTAINABILITY
STATEMENT
11
HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT
The Group believes that sustainable growth in our business comes hand in hand with good operational performance
in aspects such as safety, productivity, cost effectiveness, and reliability. We have invested and will continue to
invest foremost in our people to drive operational excellence.
| FACILITIES FOR EMPLOYEES | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALL HOUSING WITH GARDEN PLOTS |
5 TRAINED NURSES |
3 VISITING MEDICAL OFFICERS |
4 COMMUNITY HALLS |
9 PLACES OF WORSHIP |
5 HUMANA SCHOOLS |
The Group is aware that the quality of its people is crucial to deliver its strategy and to ensure its future success
and, therefore, aims to create a positive work culture in the workplace where employees are able to constantly
learn new skills and improve their efficiency in carrying out their tasks. This continuous learning culture gives our
people the leverage to move up the skill value chain.
Whilst the Group continues to focus on human capital development, we have also invested heavily to better our
employees’ welfare by providing improved employee housing, free/subsidised electricity and free water supplies
to estates and mills housing; and free education for our employees’ children residing in plantations and mills.
Facing the challenges brought about by severe labour shortages affecting most industries in Malaysia, in particular
our industry, the Group has responded with the appropriate employees recruitment and retention measures. Due
to the intense competition amongst plantation companies in recruiting estate workers, our Group offers attractive
and fair recruitment packages. A Policy on Responsible Recruitment was introduced to show our commitment.
The Group has a total employees of 1,331 persons at 31 January 2023 of which 59% are Malaysian.
Profile
Fair Remuneration
We provide competitive and fair remuneration
to reward employees for their expertise and
commitment to our business sustainability and
long-term success. Our remuneration approach is
designed to inspire our employees to perform at
their best and to embrace our core objective and
shared values. Remuneration and compensation
are based on competency, achievement and
experience.
Human and Workers Rights
The Group is committed to ensure the dignity and
rights of our workers are respected in line with
legal regulations and the United Nations’ guiding
principles on human rights.
Our commitments include the following:
- Providing a safe environment free from discrimination and violence; no form of workplace bullying or harassment (in particular sexual harassment) will be tolerated.
- Ensuring employees are paid based on legal requirement on minimum wage.
- Prohibiting child labour and forced labour within our organisation.
- Providing a responsive channel for employees to sound any complaints and grievances; and setting out the procedures for such complaints and grievances to be addressed satisfactorily.
Freedom of Association & Collective Bargaining
The management respects the rights of employees
and workers to form and join trade unions of
their choice and recognises their rights to bargain
collectively for their mutual benefit. We believe that
building harmonious relationship with employees
enhances our organisational productivity and
performance.
Working Hours
Working hours for our workforce are compliant with
national laws and industry standards. Overtime is
voluntary and shall not exceed the limit provided in
the national laws, collective agreements or industry
standards. Appropriate safeguards are in place to
ensure workers’ health and safety when performing
overtime work.
Diversity & Inclusivity
In respect to diversity and inclusivity, the Group
is committed to ensure equal opportunities
to all employees irrespective of their gender,
racial, religious or socioeconomic background.
We consistently nurture the development of our
human assets by fostering an inclusive culture and
celebrating diversity through active employee
engagements.
The plantation industry is traditionally dominated
by men as the nature of work is often arduous and
entails manual labour. We are actively encouraging
women to join all aspects of our ever-growing
operations. The Group establishes gender
committees at all our estates and palm oil mills to
safeguard the interest of our female workforce.
Gender Equality Committee
Gender Equality Committee has been established
in our estates and mills to encourage female
employees to raise their concerns or problems
encountered at workplace, to protect themselves
against sexual harassment and violence. The
Committee is chaired by the highest ranking female
of the operations. Quarterly or annual activities
are organised by the committee to enhance
the relationship among the female employees.
The committee has contributed to promoting
awareness of women’s rights or welfare within
the organisation and has been receiving positive
response from the female workers.
Ensuring The Welfare of Our Employees and Their Families
Our initiatives to improve employees welfare
have often times been extended not just to our
employees but also to their family members. These
initiatives have made a difference in our ability to
attract, recruit and retain the best talent.
One of such initiative is our employees’ family
benefit programs to provide day care services and
education for children of our employees who reside
in our operations. Under the programs day care
facilities and schools are build within the vicinity
of the estates. Transportation services are also
made available to facilitate hassel-free commute.
For our plantations in Sabah, we have initiated a
collaboration with the Borneo Child Aid Society,
known locally as Humana, a NGO dedicated to
assisting marginalised children, to make available
free and basic education to the child’s doorstep.
The key aims of our partnership with Humana are
to;
(1)
encourage our estate workers to allow their
children to attend classes, and
(2)
alleviate our workers’ burden of child care
and education.
Our commitment include:-
- Finding suitable and conducive venues to build schools, accessible within the plantation.
- Providing furniture and other basic amenities.
- Providing accommodation and other benefits for teachers.
- Organising transportation for students to ensure that they get to school on time, reducing financial burdens for parents.
- Undertaking all running costs associated with the operation and maintenance of the school.
Under the employees’ families benefit program, our employees’ children have access to quality education aligned
with the national school syllabus. In Sabah, we have established 5 units of Humana Schools.
The Group has invested in school buses to provide transportation to school-going children. As at 31 January 2023,
the numbers of school-going children are as follows:
Government primary and secondary schools
255
Humana Schools
204
Total
459
Improving the quality of life
The Group has carried out the following activities to improve the quality of life and foster a sense of belonging
amongst the employees in the Group:
- Various staff social activities, including festival celebrations and sporting events organised by the In-house Sports/Welfare Club with close observation of the prevailing COVID-19 precedures;
- Promote and sponsor the cultivation of vegetables and fruits in designated areas within the estates / mills. The Group supplies the necessary materials such as seedlings, young plants, planting materials, agro-fertilisers and bio-mass inputs. The produce is shared amongst employees; and
- Monitor retail prices for essential food items at the grocery shops in the estates to ensure that these items are reasonably priced.
Digitalisation (E-Wallet)
We have recently implemented the e-wallet salary crediting system where we collaborated with Merchantrade Asia
Sdn Bhd. Apart from having the function of an international Visa prepaid card, workers had also used their e-wallet
to withdraw cash anytime at local ATMs in Malaysia or their home country and Merchantrade branches, enabling
them to adopt digital financial services.
This facility has reduced the needs for workers going out to the nearest town for banking purposes.
12
SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORKPLACE
The Group places the utmost importance in ensuring that our workplace is safe and poses no health issues to our
employees. We strive to continuously improve our health and safety (“H&S”) policies and practices by educating
our employees on health and safety matters.
A Safety and Health Committee (“SHC”) is established at each business unit in line with the requirements of the
Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1994.
SHC Responsibilities:
- Assist in the development of health and safety rules and a safe working system;
- Review the effectiveness of safety and health programmes;
- Analyse trends of accidents, near-miss incidents, dangerous occurrences, occupational poisoning and occupational disease occurring at the workplace;
- Report any unsafe or unhealthy work conditions or practices at the workplace to the management together with recommendations for corrective actions;
- Conduct workplace inspections at least once every three months;
- Conduct investigations on accidents occurring at the workplace; and
- Promote and conduct occupational safety and health (“OSH”) activities such as health and safety campaigns, competitions, and promotions.
SHC Meeting
SHC meetings are convened quarterly by the estates and mills SHC to discuss and rectify workplace safety
and health issues. The respective chairman of the SHC are the managers of the estates/mills with its members
comprising the key personnel (employer representatives) and the workers (employee representatives representing
both locals and foreign workers). Meeting proceedings are properly recorded and reported.
Others
In addition, the following measures are carried out by the Group to address health and safety at the workplace:
- Providing appropriate Personal Protective Equipment for workers;
- Maintaining Safe Operations Procedures;
- Providing medical supplies for the medical clinics at the mills and employing Hospital Assistants. In addition to the regular duties, the Hospital Assistants carry out regular inspections of the employees’ housing to ensure that sanitation, health and drainage standards are properly maintained according to the Group’s policies; and
- Coordinating ‘gotong-royong’ and cleaning up activities to step up the hygiene condition and eradication of mosquitoes at housing areas of the Group’s estates/mills.
Accidents Statistics for current year
Our accidents statistics can be summarised as below:-
| Fatality Rate (per 1,000 Employees) |
Accident Rate (per 1,000 Employees) |
Frequency Rate (per million hours worked) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2023 | 0 | 46.58 | 14.76 |
Chemical Health Risks Assessment (“CHRA”)
In line with the Use and Standards of Exposure of Chemicals Hazardous to Health (USECHH) Regulations 2000, the
Group has appointed a certified assessor to conduct Chemical Health Risk Assessment (“CHRA”), for all chemicals
utilised in the respective plantations and oil mills. This is reviewed every 5 years by the appointed assessor as
stipulated in the Regulations and annual medical health surveillance is conducted on all employees engaged in
handling pesticide and other chemicals. In this context, training programmes on the use of personal protective
equipment for workers who are required to handle hazardous compounds are regularly conducted.
Based on CHRA recommendation, competent Hygiene Technicians registered with DOSH are appointed to
conduct Employee Personal Exposure Monitoring for staff handling hazardous chemical to monitor their degree
of exposure once a year. The said staff will be required to go for annual medical surveillance to ensure their good
health and wellbeing.
Hazards Identification Risks Assessment and Risks Control (“HIRARC”)
HIRARC are conducted on all estates and mills to identify all potential hazards related to work activities. Risk
assessments shall be conducted to prioritize the risks and control measures to be implemented to mitigate the
risks.
HIRARC shall be reviewed whenever there are any changes in process, work activities, new equipment, findings
from any accidents or near miss incidents and finding from workplace inspection reported at SHC meetings.
Noise Exposure Monitoring According to Factory and Machinery (Noise Exposure) Regulations 1989
The Group has appointed Noise Competent Person registered with DOSH to conduct Area Noise Mapping
and Employee Noise Exposure Monitoring to ascertain whether any employee is exposed to noise level above
Permissible Exposure Limit of 85dB(A) at all mills.
Hearing Protection Devices (“HPD”) are provided by company and training conducted for staff on the proper usage
of HPD and care of HPD. Staff working in high noise area are sent for audiometric testing program by registered
Occupational Health Doctor on an annual basis. Briefing on the results of the audiometric test, provisions of the
regulations and effects of noise on hearing are conducted for the relevant staffs.
Fire Prevention
Emergency Response and Preparedness Emergency Response Team (“ERT”) has been set up in all oil palm estates
and palm oil mills.
Regular trainings for all ERT members and fire drills at all operation units are conducted on an annual basis to test
the readiness of the firefighting system. Implementation of effective fire prevention practices can improve the level
of safety through cooperative education, such practices include:
- Regular checking and maintenance of firefighting equipment is carried out and ensure all equipment are in good working condition and are easily accessible.
- Flammable materials or other hazardous substances are stored in a safe place.
- Fire safety demonstrations/fire drill practice are conducted.
- Designated smoking area with a safe distance away from the building is provided.
- Emergency plans and assembly location are assigned.
- Installation of smoke detector in the building.
- Update of list of emergency contact.
Human capital development – equipping and learning culture
The Group inculcates a learning culture in the organisation so that employees at all levels are equipped with the
necessary knowledge, skills and exposure, to be fully effective in their current jobs and meet the skill prerequisites
for their career progression and future assignments in support of the Group’s objectives and business plan. With
this in mind, we have established our own Plantation Training Centre in Keningau, Sabah to provide different levels
and areas of training to our plantation staff and workers to boost their productivity and to improve their efficiency
and work performance.
The Group also engaged experts to share knowledge on a variety of issues that could benefit the employees on
a personal and professional level. In-house training on subject matters such as human capital, safety, accounting,
technical issues and management skills are provided mainly for management personnel. Employees are sent for
external training by subject matter experts where specialist training are required.
Trainings and Development of Employees
A total of 446 man-days was spend on training and development for our employees (staff level and above). The
average man-day per staff is 1.1 man-days/staff.
On the job training at site were carried out by our staff and management to their worker on Safe Operating
Procedures and doing thing the right way. Reminder and briefing were also carried out during the daily muster
calls. No detail records were maintained. Moving forward, the estates and mills will maintaining proper training
records details.
Our employees are trained in various fields of expertise, including:
1.
Best Agricultural and Management Practice
- Pest and Disease
- Harvesting and crop evacuation
- Problem Solving Techniques
2.
Safety and Health
- Tool Box Meetings (for Palm Oil Mills)
- Emergency Preparedness and Response at Workplace
- Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Control (“HIRARC”)
- Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”)
- Chemical Exposure and Its Effect to Health
- Covid-19 Issues in OSH
- Chemical Health Risk Assessment (“CHRA”)
- Basic First Aid & CPR
- Occupational Safety & Health Regulations & Requirements
3.
Environment
- Challenge in Implementation of EQA Regulation
- Scheduled Waste – E-SWIS System
- Scheduled Waste Handling
- Water Quality Parameters and Assessment
- Quantification Reporting of GHG Emissions Removals for Corporates and Products
- Biodiversity Awareness
4.
Sustainability
- MSPO 2.0 Awareness Program
- MSPO 2.0 Internal Auditor Training
- International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) EU Awareness
5.
Human Capital
- Updates on Employment Acts
- Conducting Domestic Inquiry
- The Prevention and Eradication of Sexual Harassment
- Ethical Recruitment
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The Group has over the years placed great emphasis on enhancing living conditions of the communities where we
operate. This is evidenced by the Group’s contributions to the communities in the areas of education, infrastructure,
cultural and social development initiatives. It is the Group’s practice to create and offer priority in job opportunities to
local villagers, either by way of direct employment, internship or through the award of contract works. This approach has
proven effective in improving their living standards.
In a joint venture agreement between the Group and a local orphanage, the Group has successfully converted a piece
of land belonging to the orphanage into an oil palm estate. Profits from the operation of the estate is channelled to the
orphanage and a development fund set up by AI-Yatama Berhad, an organisation running the orphanage.
The Group has undertaken the development of oil palm plantations on Native Customary Rights (“NCR”) land in Sarawak.
The aim of this project is to bring social and economic benefits to landowners who are from the indigenous community
of Malaysia. The Group now manages 2,774 Ha as at 31 January 2023 under this NCR project of which 2,449 Ha have
been planted. The Group’s involvement in developing NCR land has enabled sustainable income to be provided for
about 700 local land owners, a major effort contributing to poverty alleviation in the rural areas.
During the year, the Group has assisted trainees from various universities, institutes of higher learning and training
centres to undergo their practical training. Suitable candidates have been identified for employment after they have
completed their training.
Corporate Social Responsibilities initiatives
The Group made several contributions and donations amounting to approximately RM75,000 to governmental and nongovernmental organisations to support their sports, cultural and welfare activities. Donations were also made to schools
for their building funds, sports day and Parents and Teachers Associations in Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.
This Statement has been reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors at a meeting held on 17 May 2023.