Corporate Social Responsibility

1. Occupational Safety: Worker exposure to potential safety hazards (e.g., electrical and other energy sources, fire, vehicles, and fall hazards) are to be controlled through proper design, engineering and administrative controls, preventative maintenance and safe work procedures (including lockout/tagout), and ongoing safety training. Where hazards cannot be adequately controlled by these means, workers are to be provided with appropriate, well-maintained, personal protective equipment and educational materials about risks to them associated with these hazards. Workers shall be encouraged to raise safety concerns.
2. Emergency Preparedness: Potential emergency situations and events are to be identified and assessed, and their impact minimized by implementing emergency plans and response procedures including: emergency reporting, employee notification and evacuation procedures, worker training and drills, appropriate fire detection and suppression equipment, adequate exit facilities and recovery plans. Such plans and procedures shall focus on minimizing harm to life, the environment and property.
3. Occupational Injury: and Illness Procedures and systems are to be in place to prevent, manage, track and report occupational injury and illness including provisions to: encourage worker reporting; classify and record injury and illness cases; provide necessary medical treatment; investigate cases and implement corrective actions to eliminate their causes; and facilitate return of workers to work.
4. Industrial Hygiene: Worker exposure to chemical, biological and physical agents is to be identified, evaluated, and controlled. Engineering or administrative controls must be used to control overexposures. When hazards cannot be adequately controlled by such means, worker health is to be protected by appropriate personal protective equipment programs.
5. Physically Demanding Work: Worker exposure to the hazards of physically demanding tasks, including manual material handling and heavy or repetitive lifting, prolonged standing and highly repetitive or forceful assembly tasks is to be identified, evaluated and controlled.
6. Machine Safeguarding: Production and other machinery shall be evaluated for safety hazards. Physical guards, interlocks, and barriers are to be provided and properly maintained where machinery presents an injury hazard to workers.
7. Sanitation, Food, and Housing: Workers are to be provided with ready access to clean toilet facilities, potable water and sanitary food preparation, storage, and eating facilities. Worker dormitories provided by the Participant or a labor agent are to be maintained to be clean and safe, and provided with appropriate emergency egress, hot water for bathing and showering, adequate heat and ventilation, and reasonable personal space along with reasonable entry and exit privileges.
8. Health and Safety Communication: Participant shall provide workers with appropriate workplace health and safety training in their primary language. Health and safety-related information shall be clearly posted in the facility (Source: Responsiblebusiness.org)

Participants recognize that environmental responsibility is integral to producing world class products. In manufacturing operations, adverse effects on the community, environment and natural resources are to be minimized while safeguarding the health and safety of the public. Recognized management systems such as ISO 14001 and the Eco Management and Audit System (EMAS) were used as references in preparing the Code and may be a useful source of additional information.

The environmental standards are:

1.  Environmental Permits and Reporting: All required environmental permits (e.g. discharge monitoring), approvals and registrations are to be obtained, maintained and kept current and their operational and reporting requirements are to be followed.
2. Pollution Prevention and Resource Reduction: The use of resources and generation of waste of all types, including water and energy, are to be reduced or eliminated at the source or by practices such as modifying production, maintenance and facility processes, materials substitution, conservation, recycling and re-using materials.
3. Hazardous Substances: Chemicals and other materials posing a hazard if released to the environment are to be identified and managed to ensure their safe handling, movement, storage, use, recycling or reuse and disposal.
4. Solid Waste: Participant shall implement a systematic approach to identify, manage, reduce, and responsibly dispose of or recycle solid waste (non-hazardous). Wastewater generated from operations, industrial processes and sanitation facilities are to be characterized, monitored, controlled and treated as required prior to discharge or disposal. In addition, measures should be implemented to reduce the generation of wastewater. Participant shall conduct routine monitoring of the performance of its wastewater treatment systems.
5. Air Emissions: Air emissions of volatile organic chemicals, aerosols, corrosives, particulates, ozone depleting chemicals and combustion by-products generated from operations are to be characterized, routinely monitored, controlled and treated as required prior to discharge. Participant shall conduct routine monitoring of the performance of its air emission control systems.
6. Materials Restrictions: Participants are to adhere to all applicable laws, regulations and customer requirements regarding prohibition or restriction of specific substances in products and manufacturing, including labeling for recycling and disposal.
7. Water Management: Participant shall implement a systematic approach to prevent contamination of stormwater runoff. Participant shall prevent illegal discharges and spills from entering storm drains.
8. Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are to be tracked and documented, at the facility and/or corporate level. Participants are to look for cost-effective methods to improve energy efficiency and to minimize their energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

(Source: Responsiblebusiness.org)

To meet social responsibilities and to achieve success in the marketplace, Participants and their agents are to uphold the highest standards of ethics including:

1. Business Integrity: The highest standards of integrity are to be upheld in all business interactions. Participants shall have a zero tolerance policy to prohibit any and all forms of bribery, corruption, extortion and embezzlement. All business dealings should be transparently performed and accurately reflected on Participant’s business books and records. Monitoring and enforcement procedures shall be implemented to ensure compliance with anti-corruption laws.
2. No Improper Advantage: Bribes or other means of obtaining undue or improper advantage are not to be promised, offered, authorized, given or accepted. This prohibition covers promising, offering, authorizing, giving or accepting anything of value, either directly or indirectly through a third party, in order to obtain or retain business, direct business to any person, or otherwise gain an improper advantage.
3. Disclosure of Information: Information regarding participant labor, health and safety, environmental practices, business activities, structure, financial situation and performance is to be disclosed in accordance with applicable regulations and prevailing industry practices. Falsification of records or misrepresentation of conditions or practices in the supply chain are unacceptable.
4. Intellectual Property: Intellectual property rights are to be respected; transfer of technology and knowhow is to be done in a manner that protects intellectual property rights; and, customer information is to be safeguarded.
5. Fair Business, Advertising and Competition: Standards of fair business, advertising and competition are to be upheld. Appropriate means to safeguard customer information must be available.
6. Protection of Identity and Non-Retaliation: Programs that ensure the confidentiality, anonymity and protection of supplier and employee whistleblowers 2 are to be maintained unless prohibited by law. Participants should have a communicated process for their personnel to be able to raise any concerns without fear of retaliation.
7. Responsible Sourcing of Minerals: Participants shall have a policy to reasonably assure that the tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold in the products they manufacture does not directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups that are perpetrators of serious human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or an adjoining country. Participants shall exercise due diligence on the source and chain of custody of these minerals and make their due diligence measures available to customers upon customer request.
8. Privacy: Participants are to commit to protecting the reasonable privacy expectations of personal information of everyone they do business with, including suppliers, customers, consumers, and employees. Participants are to comply with privacy and information security laws and regulatory requirements when personal information is collected, stored, processed, transmitted, and shared. (Source: Responsiblebusiness.org)

The management system should contain the following elements:

1. Company Commitment: A corporate social and environmental responsibility policy statements affirming Participant’s commitment to compliance and continual improvement, endorsed by executive management and posted in the facility in the local language.
2. Management Accountability and Responsibility: The Participant clearly identifies senior executive and company representative[s] responsible for ensuring implementation of the management systems and associated programs. Senior management reviews the status of the management system on a regular basis.
3. Legal and Customer Requirements: A process to identify, monitor and understand applicable laws, regulations and customer requirements, including the requirements of this Code.
4. Risk Assessment and Risk Management: A process to identify the legal compliance, environmental, health and safety 3 and labor practice and ethics risks associated with Participant’s operations. Determination of the relative significance for each risk and implementation of appropriate procedural and physical controls to control the identified risks and ensure regulatory compliance.
5. Improvement Objectives: Written performance objectives, targets and implementation plans to improve the Participant’s social and environmental performance, including a periodic assessment of Participant’s performance in achieving those objectives.
6. Training: Programs for training managers and workers to implement Participant’s policies, procedures and improvement objectives and to meet applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
7. Communication: A process for communicating clear and accurate information about Participant’s policies, practices, expectations and performance to workers, suppliers and customers.
8. Worker Feedback and Participation Grievance: Ongoing processes to assess employees’ understanding of and obtain feedback on practices and conditions covered by this Code and to foster continuous improvement.
9. Audits and Assessments Periodic self-evaluations to ensure conformity to legal and regulatory requirements, the content of the Code and customer contractual requirements related to social and environmental responsibility.
10. Corrective Action Process: A process for timely correction of deficiencies identified by internal or external assessments, inspections, investigations and reviews.
11. Documentation and Records: Creation and maintenance of documents and records to ensure regulatory compliance and conformity to company requirements along with appropriate confidentiality to protect privacy. 12) Supplier Responsibility A process to communicate Code requirements to suppliers and to monitor supplier compliance to the Code.
12. Supplier Responsibility: A process to communicate Code requirements to suppliers and to monitor suppliers compliance to the Code.

(Source: Responsiblebusiness.org)