Alcoa 1996 Annual Report Download - page 4

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There is more to this story, but to cut to the results — in each
of the last nine years we have improved our lost workday perfor-
mance as compared with the previous year. Our incidence rate as
compared with U.S. industry has moved from 1⁄3the U.S. rate to
1⁄10 for all of 1996 and, at the end of 1996, we were operating close
to 1⁄20 the U.S. rate. (Our rates are, of course, worldwide rates.)
Wider Implications
Our safety performance is important in its own right, but at
Alcoa it has implications far beyond safety. In the process of
demonstrating that we have the ability to produce a team result
such as this — that is directly relevant to each employee — we
have developed and integrated the ideas and tools that are
necessary to superior achievement in all that we do: manufac-
turing, finance, logistics, environment.
We have made progress in all of these areas, but we are far from finished; and we will never be
through with our efforts to achieve and sustain zero injuries.
At root, this is a profound change in culture, a transformation from old habits of settling for
the “inevitable” (accidents happen…costs go up…markets get glutted…strikes are a fact of life) to the
belief that a company can seize the initiative and shape its own future.
This emphasis on creating our own fate has changed us as a company. If you go any place in
Alcoa’s twenty-eight country universe you will find safety is the first internal commitment. And on
this safety backbone we have been building excellence in all things we do.
Common Interests
Our focus on safety has been an important contributor to positive working relationships. Evidence of
this contribution is the landmark contract we signed in 1996 with more than 10,000 U.S. employees
represented by the Steelworkers union.
This is the longest duration contract we know of — six years — which means all of us can
concentrate on producing great results for customers instead of suffering the usual twelve-month
productivity slump as we approach the end of the traditional three-year contract.
Importantly, this new contract was negotiated by the Business Unit Presidents who have to live
with the consequences, and it provides for a far-reaching partnership approach that can only succeed
with their direct and continuing engagement. We believe the next stage of achievement in workplace
relationships is an “evergreen” contract that leaves behind the outdated notion of hostility between
employees and employers.
Paul H. O’Neill
Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer
“Our safety perfor-
mance is important
in its own right, but
at Alcoa it has impli-
cations far beyond
safety. In the process
…we have developed
and integrated the
ideas and tools that
are necessary to
superior achieve-
ment in all that we
do: manufacturing,
finance, logistics,
environment.”