Social sustainability performance indicators – experiences from process industry

Sustainable industrial development can be advanced through the development and application of sustainability metrics. This study addressed the application of social sustainability metrics to the measurement of sustainability performance within process industry and to metal production at the plant level in particular. The applied social sustainability indicators are one part of the overall sustainability index which aims at presenting a balanced and holistic view of plant-level sustainability performance. Application of plant-level indicators can support informed decision-making and fill in potential gaps in corporate-level assessments and reporting initiatives with respect to plant-level social sustainability performance. The social part of the overall index provides information on both in-plant sustainability performance and on the direct and in-direct impacts of plant operations on the surrounding society with special emphasis on the supply chain and emerging social due diligence aspects. The results of pilot implementation of social indicators in Ruukki Lappohja plant indicated a very high level of social sustainability performance with minor areas of improvement such as social risk management auditing covering the whole supply chain, suppliers communication on social responsibility requirements to workers and sub-suppliers, signing of the code of conduct by employees and reporting on policies on local community relations, safety in supply chain covering suppliers and contractors and factory health and safety performance in relation to average field of industry performance in this field.