Governance
We operate with integrity in everything we do to uphold Cameco’s values, achieve solid results, deliver value to shareholders and earn and maintain the trust and confidence of all stakeholders.
Board, Executive and Management
Our commitment to sustainability starts at the top. Our board of directors is responsible for overseeing management and our strategy and business affairs. One of the board’s five standing committees is directly responsible for overseeing safety, health and environmental risks and related operational risks.
The board is actively involved in our annual strategic planning process and works with management to set our strategic direction. The board oversees our annual corporate objectives and approves incentive compensation for our senior executives – all are based on performance against our four measures of success. It also reviews our safety, health and environmental quality policy every three years, as recommended by the safety, health and environment (SHE) committee.
Management provides strategic and operational leadership under the guidance of the board, and takes a proactive approach to managing risk across the company. In 2013, the board initiated quarterly presentations by management on our major enterprise risks and mitigation strategies.
Cameco’s safety, health and environment (SHE) committee
Cameco’s SHE committee is responsible for overseeing safety, health and environmental risks and related operational risks.
The committee is responsible for:
- Overseeing and assessing policies and management systems
- approving the safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) policy and management systems
- overseeing our compliance with all relevant SHEQ legislation and our SHEQ policy and programs
- bringing any material non-compliance with SHEQ legislation to the attention of the board on a timely basis
- overseeing enterprise risks related to safety, health and environment
- benchmarking our policies, systems and monitoring processes against industry best practice.
- Monitoring and assessing performance
- reviewing the findings of safety, health and environmental audits, action plans and results of investigations into significant events
- reviewing the annual budget to ensure sufficient funding for safety, health and environmental compliance
- conducting site visits
- determining the SHEQ objectives for executive compensation and related impact
- reviewing environmental and safety performance assessments for the short-term incentive plan
- reviewing our sustainable development report
- keeping abreast of significant issues and monitoring trends and significant events through reports from management.
Other Key Roles and Responsibilities
Several corporate teams support the board and management by helping to ensure our safety, health and environmental programs are implemented and monitored effectively.
Safety, health and environmental quality (SHEQ):
- works with our operating divisions and sites to identify and analyze processes that are shared between sites
- helps corporate communications and other departments communicate safety and health roles and responsibilities to employees and contractors throughout the organization
- leads the review of our safety, health and environment objectives.
SHEQ audit:
- is responsible for providing overall program guidance for our corporate and site audit programs
- establishes minimum requirements for the site audit programs and periodically audits each one to check that they’re effective and consistent with our corporate SHEQ management processes
- coordinates and ensures annual legislative compliance audits at each of our sites
- reports their findings to the senior vice-president and chief corporate officer, vice-president, SHEQ and regulatory relations, director of SHEQ systems, and to the appropriate site representatives
- where appropriate, they provide personnel and support for completing site audits.
Corporate Responsibility
- responsible for development and implementation of the five-pillar corporate social responsibility strategy we use to manage relationships with communities near our operations
- coordinate and lead development of this report.
Policies and Standards
Our behaviour and actions are governed by our code of conduct and ethics. The code applies to all employees, officers and members of our board of directors, and covers all aspects of our business and how we conduct ourselves with shareholders, customers, partners, contractors, suppliers, competitors and the public.
Our corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy defines what CSR means to Cameco and includes commitments to:
- comply with all applicable laws and regulations where we operate
- conduct regular internal and external audits of our business and operations
- release a bi-annual sustainable development report aligned with key performance indicators that are relevant to our business, including GRI and corporate indicators
- proceed in good faith to use our influence to encourage partners and co-owners to adopt practices consistent with our policy.
Other policies, programs and standards guide how we work and interact with our employees and other stakeholders to support our long-term viability and success:
- Respectful workplace program – promoting a work environment that is safe, healthy and free from harassment, violence and discriminatory practices
- Safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) policy – striving to be a leading performer in all aspects of our business through a strong safety culture, environmental leadership and operational excellence
- Talent acquisition and recruitment program – Cameco attracts a diverse array of qualified individuals to fulfill work requirements. This is achieved by taking a well-planned approach to equity, diversity and identifying the required workforce. We have a comprehensive program that encompasses principles and practices for the recruitment and selection of potential employees and the transfer or promotion of existing employees. It includes commitments to: confidentiality; hiring decisions that reflect Cameco’s workforce diversity goals; promoting a culture of attraction and talent acquisition where all employees are encouraged to refer qualified people from their social and professional networks; and adhering to sound principles, processes and legal requirements
- Procurement of goods and services policy – our approach reflects our desire to contribute to the communities where we work and live by “buying locally.” This approach is based on our preference for local vendors once we have ascertained that they meet Cameco’s expectations for safety, quality, competitiveness and other factors that may be relevant in a particular case.
- Community investment program – eligibility guidelines for donations and sponsorships in four target areas: youth, education and literacy, health and wellness, and community development
- Engaging First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples (Canada) standard – formalizes our approach to engaging First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples in Canada. Cameco will assist the Crown with its consultation and accommodation obligations and provide employment and business development to communities affected by our operations.
- International business conduct program – principles, practices and rules to ensure directors, officers, employees and other people representing Cameco conduct themselves properly when dealing with public officials.
Diversity
We understand the true value of a diverse workforce and embrace, encourage and support workplace diversity. Through our firm commitment, we continue to innovate, manage change and grow as a respected industry leader and employer of choice.
In 2013, the Globe and Mail named Cameco one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for the fourth consecutive year. The award recognizes our efforts to include and support a diverse workforce.
Community engagement
We strongly believe that we achieve success at our sites when we involve, train and engage local people.
In 2012, we implemented company standards for engaging aboriginal and local communities in Canada, complementing the community engagement provisions in our CSR policy. Since then, we’ve announced the signing of two important collaboration agreements that benefit communities in northern Saskatchewan by setting out specific socioeconomic, community engagement and environmental stewardship commitments.
Management Systems
Two management systems help Cameco manage risk in a formal and consistent way:
- enterprise risk management system (ERM)
- integrated safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) management system
Enterprise risk management system
Our enterprise risk management system (ERM) is based on ISO 31000 and requires Cameco to systematically identify, rank and address risks as appropriate. Our process records, tracks and reviews identified risks, and our board of directors oversees the process to ensure that risks are managed responsibly and effectively.
The nominating, corporate governance and risk committee of the board (NCGR) oversees our risk management process and policies and management of our risk profiles and risk tolerance associated with strategy and corporate objectives. The ERM team provides this committee with quarterly updates on the status of the risk management program and co-ordinates specific risk presentations to the board and to other committees of the board.
Risk management is a core element of our strategy and objectives, and we use it continuously to improve our organization. Our risk management system feeds into our annual strategic planning process, where we identify potential threats to our business that must be addressed and opportunities to advance and improve it.
All enterprise-level risks are evaluated against Cameco’s four measures of success.
ERM supports all Cameco departments, divisions and operations by facilitating the identification, assessment and reporting of risks. This aids in the proactive management of opportunities and threats, improved decision making, enhanced outcomes and more effective allocation of resources.
Safety, health, environment and quality (SHEQ) management system
Consistent with our values and measures of success, Cameco recognizes safety and health of our workers and the public, protection of the environment, and quality of our processes as the highest corporate priorities during all stages of our activities, including exploration, development, operations, decommissioning and reclamation. This commitment is captured within Cameco’s SHEQ Policy, which applies to all of Cameco’s activities. The policy is supported by programs in the following areas:
- quality management
- safety and health management
- radiation protection
- environmental management
- emergency preparedness and response
- contractor management
- management system audit.
Each of these programs utilizes the risk management systems and is based on the “Plan, Do, Check, Act” management system cycle. Where available, the programs are modeled after international standards to capture best practices and make our programs compatible to systems used elsewhere in the world.
- Cameco’s health and safety management program is based on the British Standard Institute’s occupational health and safety management system guidelines (OHSAS 18001).
- Cameco’s quality management program is based on the International Organization for Standardization quality management system (ISO 9001).
- Cameco’s environmental management program is based on the International Organization for Standardization environmental management system (ISO 14001). The environmental management system at each Cameco operation has been certified to the ISO 14001 standard (except Cigar Lake, although this will be accomplished soon) to ensure that the system is robust.
Similar to the ERM system, the SHEQ management system is overseen by the SHE committee and undergoes frequent audits. Outputs from the SHEQ management system feed into our annual strategic planning process and are entered into the enterprise risk management system when needed.
Incident Reporting and Corrective Action
All of our North American operating sites have applied the Cameco corrective action process since 2009.
Benchmarked to the nuclear power plant model and adapted for use at our operations, our corrective action process offers a consistent, systematic approach to recording, tracking and classifying the severity of all types of non-conformance with Cameco policies and standards, the laws and regulations of the jurisdictions we operate in, and the terms and requirements of our operating licences. It allows us to systematically investigate accidents and other incidents, identify effective corrective actions, track their implementation and share information across Cameco’s operations.
Specialists at each site use the corrective action process to make sure there is appropriate incident investigation and follow-up and to promote a healthy reporting culture. They report regularly to site management, using minor incident trends to identify areas that may benefit from proactive attention and actions – one of the ways we work diligently to prevent small problems from becoming larger ones.