Registration document 2007 - Total.com

11
Over and above the prevention policy, the Group’s operational
entities are required to establish emergency plans in the event
of an accident. These plans are regularly updated and verified
with the relevant Environment and Safety departments, and
feedback from experience is systematically organized. These
policies for prevention and site clean-up in the event of an
accident are operational not only for industrial sites, but also for
the transport of hazardous goods, where comparable actions
and procedures are in place.
• The principles relating to staff revolve around three ideas:
all employees have a responsibility at their level in terms of
safety and the environment; they must be aware of this and act
accordingly. Work is assessed hierarchically according to these
and other criteria. To flesh out these principles, TOTAL S.A.’s
Environment and Safety department organizes training both for
management and for health, safety and environment officers.
Training for emergencies, crisis management and providing
feedback is also in place. The business units also offer
numerous courses appropriate for the various staff responsible
for these functions.
• Regarding relations with third parties, the charter
recommends that outside service providers, suppliers, and industrial
and commercial partners generally adhere to the Group’s Safety
and Environment policy. It also emphasizes that the expectations of
the unions, customers, shareholders, and other parties involved in
relations that affect the environment must be satisfied, in an attitude
of constructive dialogue and transparency. Particular attention is
paid to relations with the neighboring community, and pilot
programs for close partnerships, dialogue and concerted action, in
which the Group’s above-stated approach to the social and
environmental relationship is reflected, are being conducted around
certain sites. These are intended to become more widespread
depending on the experience on the ground.
The structure of the Group’s entities ensures that they constantly
and effectively take into account the environment in all their
activities. Centrally, the Sustainable Development and
Environment department (Développement Durable et de
l’Environnement – “DDE”) presides over the environment network
in order to facilitate exchanges and synergies between the units.
The actions and policies of the DDE and the Industrial Safety
department within TOTAL S.A. are coordinated in the Strategy
and Risk Evaluation department.
The Sustainable Development and Environment departments and
the Industrial Safety department of the business units convey to
the subsidiaries, who then pass them on to the industrial sites,
the principles for action and the short- and medium-term
environmental objectives that they have established in joint
working parties.
All the Group’s business units thus have each established,
according to the specific requirements of their regional site and
activities, internal management systems in the environmental area
and in safety and quality. This involves a determined and
280
Appendix 3 - TOTAL S.A.
Social and environmental information
TOTAL - Registration Document 2006
concerted approach, based on information, working together,
raising the awareness of staff and delivering training to them.
Progress objectives are defined and action plans implemented;
the results obtained are measured using methodologies and
indicators that are progressively developed and refined; and
feedback and associated controls in the form of audits are
conducted. These management systems are the subject of
periodic evaluation by internal auditors in order to continually
optimize them.
Within the Group, monitoring of the practical implementation of
the principles of the Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE)
Charter by the various entities is of considerable importance.
When internal audits and environmental inspections of any kind
are conducted by the relevant departments, the way in which the
principles of the charter are implemented is included in the items
verified. To facilitate this monitoring, the reporting processes for
performance and events are constantly harmonized and
improved at the entities, as well as between these entities and
the central departments. In addition, in order to consolidate the
reliability of these reporting procedures, their verification by an
external organization is now incorporated in the Group’s
procedures. Following a mock audit in 2005, the verification of
environmental reporting data has been conducted by the auditors
at a dozen sites, chosen each year by the auditors. The first
survey report conducted in 2006, which was included in the
Registration Document for 2005, covered five indicators that
were assessed with regard to their relevance, reliability,
objectivity, comprehensibility and exhaustiveness.
This desire to continually achieve better-integrated management
of the environment has led the Group to work towards ISO
14001 environmental certification. Because this international
benchmark is awarded by certification from a third party,
following independent audits for compliance that are repeated
every three years, it allows for external recognition of
environmental management systems. In Europe, in Refining &
Marketing and Chemicals, the majority of sites (about one
hundred) have now been certified; for the other activities and
outside Europe, the certification process is actively underway. In
addition, the objective of certification of 75% of the Group sites
considered as particularly important for the environment is
expected to be reached for 2007; by the end of 2005, over half
these sites had been certified.