Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

We align activities with the expectations of our stakeholders in relation to our economic, social and environmental impact.

SOCOTEC has an excellent reputation in the UK for carrying out business in accordance with the highest principles of business ethics. We are proud of this reputation and are committed to conducting our business activities with honesty and in full compliance with current laws and regulations.

As an innovative business, we continually seek better, safer, more cost effective and sustainable methods of working, while adhering to best practice.

SOCOTEC's policy is broken down into three key areas:

• People
• Environment
• Health and Safety

People

Our employees are our most valuable resource and are a key factor in the delivery of services to our clients. We recognise that it is the calibre of the people that make up our teams that differentiates us from our competitors. As such, we work hard to recruit, develop and retain the best talent in the industry. As part of their personal development plan (PDP) each of our employees is given a clear route for progression, including technical and professional training. Further to this, it is crucial that all employees maintain a high level of safety and technical expertise, therefore regular training and advice is made available.

To ensure that we enhance our employees’ environmental awareness we provide continual training to enable consideration and understanding of environmental issues when planning, undertaking and implementing all projects.

We provide our managers with Equal Opportunities advice and support to ensure they have understanding of their obligations allowing them to manage their team fairly and equally in all areas of employment. Ensuring all employees are aware of the company's legal obligations, policies and internal procedures relating to the provision of Equal Opportunities.

Annual appraisals are conducted with all employees, allowing quality one-to-one time with their manager to discuss their performance, establish new objectives and determine the employee's individual training and development needs that are required to assist in achieving their goals.

At SOCOTEC our employees are the bedrock of our business we update them with business news on a regular basis, issuing around two intranet announcements each week to keep them engaged. With 1,700 employees working across 30 of our own UK sites, as well as being out in the field, we use technology to push an email directly to our employees’ mobile phones, tablets and / or desktops.

Whether they are field based, at their desks, or based at a client site, we ensure that all employees receive regular communications and updates on performance, significant business events, new contract wins, promotions, acquisition details and progress on our strategy.

We conduct annual surveys and focus groups to seek employee views and create action plans to improve engagement. SOCOTEC's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy ensures that social and environmental concerns are considered in our all of our business operations.

Environment

We fully recognise that our day-to-day operations cause inevitable impact on the environment in a number of ways. We are committed to reduce this level of impact through assessing and improving our environmental performance using a documented, maintained, monitored and reviewed Environmental Management System that is communicated to all employees.

Through ISO 14001 we employ systems and procedures that ensure the company's compliance with all relevant laws, regulations and other requirements relating to the environment.

Sustainability considerations are fully integrated in our business decision making. We carry out environmental supply chain management to encourage suppliers to adopt environmentally sound practices.

Health and Safety

SOCOTEC, led by its Board of Directors, will do everything that is reasonably practicable to protect the health, safety and welfare of both our employees and any other person affected by our activities.

The Board, led by the Chief Executive Officer, has overall responsibility for ensuring that we maintain high standards of health and safety. However, we rely on all of our employees, sub- contractors and clients to play their part in effectively implementing our health and safety policy and sharing in our commitment to:

Everyone’s Safety Goal – Everyone Home Safe, Every Day

As such, we will:

• undertake risk assessments, implement the identified control measures and ensure that safe systems of work are applied in relation to our activities
• provide and maintain a safe and healthy working environment including safe access arrangements and suitable welfare facilities
• provide information, instruction, training and supervision to enable employees to perform their work safely
• promote a positive health and safety culture within the organisation, in particular consulting with employees on health and safety matters, both throughelected representatives of employee safety and directly at other forum
• commitment to prevention of injury and ill health and continual improvement in OH&S management and OH&S performance
• ensure safety and the absence of risks to health in connection with the storage, handling, use and transport of articles and substances
• ensure that all vehicles and work equipment are suitable for purpose and properly maintained 
• make available all necessary safety devices and protective equipment and supervise their use
• take steps to assess the competence of any contractor we engage and to ensure that information is exchanged on matters relevant to health and safety
• be prepared for emergencies such as fire and medical emergencies and investigate all incidents of injury or ill health
• set and monitor health and safety objectives

The Company is committed to continual improvement in safety performance and ensuring that the delivery of the health and safety management system is adequately resourced to enable the full implementation of this policy. This commitment includes the provision of sufficient resources, management and employee time, as well as training and health and safety advisory support.

It is the responsibility of the HSEQ Director to drive and monitor the implementation of the Health & Safety policy, the company’s overall health and safety performance and also to provide strategic guidance to all of the operational divisions and support functions, reporting to the Board accordingly.

This Policy Statement and the Responsibilities and Arrangements that support it will be reviewed at least annually, or more frequently where there have been significant changes to the company or the nature of the company’s activities.

Revision of Policy

The Company reserves the right to amend and/or withdraw this policy from time to time for any reason, including without limitation, to take account of changes in the law, best practice and/or business requirements.

Signed: 

Nicolas Detchepare

Chief Executive

Officer Date: September 2022

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