About us
| Port clean-up - Holcim New Zealand |
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Description Wind-blown clinker from a Holcim New Zealand shipment unloading at Lyttelton port turned into a hard, crusty coating on the houses, cars, and buildings in a third of the historic port town after light rain overnight. The company's swift response to rectify the problem was text-book crisis management in action. |
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Objectives Holcim New Zealand accepted responsibility and requested the patience of the affected community while damage was assessed and a cleaning program put in place. This calmed stakeholders, who accepted that the company would set things right as soon as practically possible. |
Activities
Clean-up operations were coordinated with the local environmental regulatory body. Three months after the incident, the file could be closed. A log of “lessons learned” was then shared throughout the Group to help avert future occurrences. A key lesson was that early action helped keep costs to a minimum; escalation of the damage could have pushed costs four to five times higher than the final sum of CHF 195,000. And this figure does not include associated costs, such as future potential regulatory requirements, if the incident had not been well-managed in the eyes of authorities.
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Results A key aspect of risk management is managing one's reputation. The accident ultimately improved Holcim's reputation; a “neutral” local rating beforehand improved to “above average” afterwards. |
