ESG Commitment
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
Our Environmental, Social and Governance Responsibility
At Vicplas, we believe that doing good is good for business. Underlying our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts is a commitment to create sustainable, long-term value for ourselves, as a company, our employees, stakeholders and society at large.
The Vicplas Board of Directors oversees all ESG matters with support from the Corporate Sustainability Committee, which is chaired by our Group Chief Executive Officer. The Committee, in turn, manages the Corporate Sustainability Work Groups, which implements ESG efforts at a business segment level.
In Support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Our ESG efforts are fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals put forward by the United Nations. We have identified five areas in which we have the largest opportunity for impact and continue to work towards achieving progress in each.
Our plastic product lines from Vicplas Pipes are formulated to be free of heavy metals such as lead. These are manufactured in compliance with the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1). The restricted materials are hazardous to the environment and pollute landfills, and are dangerous in terms of occupational exposure during manufacturing and recycling. By ensuring that our products are RoHS compliant, we reduce the risk of injury to people and damage to the environment.
We believe in creating equal opportunities for women to work, thrive and lead our organisation. At Vicplas, we have a healthy representation of women across our workforce, senior management team and Board of Directors.
All our employees, regardless of where they are located, are paid fair wages and accorded employment benefits in line with local regulations.
Our ongoing sustainability journey includes actively pursuing the ISO 14001:2015 Environmental Management Systems and ISO 50001:2018 Energy Management Systems to guide us in improving our manufacturing processes to reduce our use of resources, energy and waste. We also continue to explore ways to reduce GHG emissions from our business activities.
We do not tolerate any form of discrimination based on nationality, race, religion or political inclination that could compromise equal opportunities in our recruitment process and our employees’ career development.
Building Trust with Our Business Partners
We are committed to providing products with the highest level of quality and product safety. The conformity of the products, systems, and processes is periodically checked and confirmed at our various plants through internal and external audits.
We take responsibility in ensuring the safety and privacy of our customers’ data. In addition to processes and controls for handling and communicating sensitive and confidential information, we also have information security policies to ensure that customer data is managed in accordance with the level of confidentiality required.
As an SGX Mainboard-listed company, we adopt the Code of Corporate Governance as required in the Listing Rules. Our corporate governance framework covers ethics and compliance through a Code of Conduct as well as action guidelines which our officers and employees are expected to adhere to.
Our operations are subject to requirements through sector specific laws, regulations, and national licenses. We have policies, procedures and
programmes in place to prevent potential violations or non-compliance and monitor our practices through risk-based due diligence processes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenging time for businesses and individuals alike. We made several strategic adjustments to ease the burden on our customers and suppliers and supported governmental guidance on safety measures. Learn more in our Sustainability Report for FY2021.
Protecting our Environment
We have embraced various green practices in our business operations. Our pipes and pipe fittings segment fully conforms to the relevant Singapore Standards on Specifications for unplasticised PVC pipes and fittings as well as its British, Australia and Japanese equivalent standards. We continue to work towards reducing or eliminating GHG emissions from our activities, and continually seek new and innovative ways to reduce our environmental impact.
In our Sustainability Report for FY2021, to better understand our environmental footprint, we reported our energy consumption and Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions based of each business segment, and provided the energy and GHG intensity based on revenue. We believe that this will help us to better measure our progress year-on-year as we identify opportunities to reduce our GHG emissions and contribute to a low-carbon economy.
Caring for Our Employees
Our people are our most valuable resource and investing in their professional and personal well-being is vital to our success as a business. Our Human Resource management principles and policies are guided by the Singapore Tripartite Alliance for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices and established based on fair employment practices with the goal of attracting, supporting and retaining a motivated workforce.
We recognise that consistent and ongoing education is critical to maintaining a competitive, skilled, productive and motivated workforce. We offer training opportunities based on each employees’ job scope and skills requirements.
The nature of our business, as well as our diverse operations, inevitably create health and safety risks. Our aim is to limit those risks as much as possible so as to provide our employees a safe working environment. Each of our sites in Singapore and Malaysia has a Health and Safety representative to drive a positive safety culture and oversee the implementation of health and safety practices in their respective facilities.
Supporting our Community
As a responsible corporate citizen, we believe in giving back to society. Through philanthropy and employee volunteer efforts, we support organisations that stand up for vulnerable communities in Singapore such as migrant workers, low-income households, people living with disabilities and the chronically ill.
Sustainability Reports
Read our sustainability reports to find out how we’ve been making progress on our ESG commitment.
Code of conduct
Purpose
Our customers around the world depend on us to provide safe, dependable and effective products and services to improve and advance the industries which we serve. Every employee in the Vicplas International Group of companies (“Vicplas”) plays an important part in this objective and in strengthening the trust and long-term relationships with all our stakeholders which are essential to the future growth of our company.
Vicplas has adopted the following Code of Conduct to set out the standards and requirements that we expect all our employees including directors, senior executives, officers, consultants, contractors, trainees, interns, and any other persons associated with Vicplas to adhere to. This Code’s intended purpose is to direct our employees on ethical business conduct, foster a culture of respect and integrity, and help to recognise and deal with unethical conduct.
Each employee is responsible for reading, understanding and following the Code. Employees who violate the code are subject to discipline, up to and including termination of employment.
Introduction
Vicplas is committed to conduct our business activities with the highest level of integrity and ethics. We comply with applicable local laws and regulations, adopt international best practices and conduct our duties with honesty and fairness.
Conflict of interest may arise when personal interest interferes with the interest of Vicplas. All employees must avoid conflicts of interest, promptly cease activities that cause conflicts to exist and provide written disclosure of any conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest. An employee when acting on behalf of any entity within Vicplas must ensure that the deliberations and decisions made are in and for the interest of Vicplas as a whole, and the interest of Vicplas must always be protected when entering into a transaction, contract, or arrangement.
An employee must not exploit, or reasonably appear to exploit, to his/her personal interest, benefit or financially gain, through any personal or professional relationships with a supplier, customer, acquisition target or business partner or any other organisation (or an officer or employee of such organisation) with which Vicplas has a contractual relationship.
Each person at Vicplas has a responsibility to comply with all procedures that protect our information, brand and reputation as well as confidential information that customers and others have entrusted to us. Everyone is required to follow applicable security and use procedures to protect the company’s assets from theft, loss, damage and misuse including unauthorised access.
Vicplas is committed to comply with all relevant local regulations and requirements on personal data and privacy, including the use, distribution, and destruction of personal data of our employees, contractors, and other associated parties. Employees are responsible to safeguard personal information in a safe and secure manner and protected from being disclosed, used for any other purpose than its intended use and destroyed. Information security controls must be followed to prevent any breach in data privacy, loss of data, intellectual property mishandling and any cybersecurity threats.
Vicplas is committed to respecting human rights in our operations, our supply chain, our business partnerships and our products. We believe that human trafficking, forced and slave labour are unacceptable. Our Code and policies prohibit harsh or inhumane treatment, including corporal punishment or the threat of corporal punishment. All employees, suppliers and business partners must be treated with respect and dignity, and we expect our suppliers and business partners to make the same commitment to respect human rights.
Vicplas is committed to take progressive steps to ensure that our practices are consistent with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (2011) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) core standards. We comply with relevant local employment and minimum wage laws including regulations on working hours, overtime, salary remuneration, benefits, and any other requirements.
Reporting of any misconduct
If there are any breaches of this Code of Conduct, this can be reported anonymously through our confidential reporting email concerns@vicplas.com.sg which is monitored by the Group Human Resources Director. Reports made in good faith will be investigated by an independent person/persons.
Vicplas is committed to ensuring that the raised concerns, and the identity of the person raising the concerns, are kept strictly confidential and that the person raising the concern is protected against detrimental or unfair treatment.