Stop and Seek Help: How Alcoans  in  North America Put Safety First, Support Local Communities

Across Alcoa’s North American operations, safety decisions made on the job in 2025 did more than prevent incidents — they reinforced a culture in which stopping work and seeking help is recognized and valued.

Through the Stop and Seek Help: Every Action Counts program, employees were recognized for choosing to pause work when something didn’t seem safe, and those safety actions also supported community organizations across Canada and the United States.

 At the heart of the program is a simple principle: every employee has both the right and the responsibility to stop a task if something doesn’t seem safe – and to seek help before continuing. This aligns with Alcoa’s global operations priority to build and sustain a culture of safe behavior. 

In 2025, employees across North America recorded approximately 3,000 Stop and Seek Help interventions—moments where people chose to pause, address risk and prevent a potential incident before work continued. 

“This program shows that when safety comes first at work, it shapes how we care for one another and how we show up in our communities,” said Gaby Poirier, Alcoa Regional Vice President of Operations for North America. “Stop and Seek Help recognizes the courage to pause work and seek help. Those decisions help prevent incidents and strengthen our safety culture, every day.” 

Each year, sites identify a short list of regional charities and invite employees to select three that matter most to them. Every time an employee stops and seeks help, they direct a program token to one of those organizations. At year-end, the total number of tokens is converted into donations for the three selected charities, connecting recognized safety actions on the job with added support for local communities. 

As the program continues in 2026, Stop and Seek Help remains an important part of how Alcoa teams reinforce safe decision-making on the job while supporting the communities around them, demonstrating that a strong safety culture delivers impact both inside and outside our operations.