Corporate Social Responsibility Commitment
We are committed to attaining the highest standards in the ethical, responsible and sustainable conduct of our business. We believe it is the appropriate way of doing business and we believe our consumers make a stronger connection with our brands as a result.
Corporate social responsibility at Pacific Brands touches every part of the business and encourages our stakeholders to contribute to our vision for significantly reducing our impact on the environment and supporting the communities in which we operate.
Our program focuses on four key areas where we are seeking to make a difference:
- Our People
- Our Environment
- Our Community
- Our Marketplace
Our People
Pacific Brands has an ongoing commitment to providing a responsible working environment for all of our employees. We recognise it is important to ensure all employees have the best opportunities available to prepare them for the future.
Our learning and development programs help us build a high performance organisation capable of delivering Pacific Brands' strategy. A key focus has been on leadership development at all levels and on actively managing performance and talent across all divisions.
Health and safety
The health and safety of our employees is a top priority for Pacific Brands and we have a number of initiatives to ensure this, including:
- Our workplace integrated management system which encompasses safety, health, environment and quality and covers areas such as leadership, process approach and continuous improvement. Pacific Brands is externally accredited to AS/NZS 4801, ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
- Open and consultative safety, health and environment programs.
- Annual influenza vaccination programs.
- Discounted private hospital insurance.
- Site based safety advisors, supported by a national team.
- Dedicated injury management and return to work resources.
- Access to International SOS for all employees to ensure they are able to obtain appropriate medical assistance when travelling.
In addition to our programs for our employees, our supplier evaluation processes require suppliers to demonstrate they have formal management systems in place to identify and manage safety, environment and quality.
Our Environment
We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint. Our robust Environmental Management System is certified within ISO 14001 and helps to ensure that we have a positive impact on emissions.
We have a number of environmental initiatives in place, including:
- Working closely with our environmental partners, to reduce our waste to landfill during the year.
- Membership of the Australian Packaging Covenant (APC) - a voluntary initiative by Government and industry to help reduce the environmental effects of packaging in Australia. The majority of our packaging materials are either reused or recycled and new opportunities are being explored across Pacific Brands on an ongoing basis.
View our APC Annual Report 2011-2012 and our APC 5 Year Action Plan.
- Monthly data collection of our water, energy, fuel and waste (in all our operations) to identify improvement opportunities.
- Annually measuring, assessing and reporting greenhouse gas emissions to ensure compliance with the National Greenhouse Emissions Reporting Act, 2007.
- Encouraging the management and reduction of carbon emissions within our supply chain.
- Setting all printers to double-sided printing to reduce printing outputs.
- Trialing water recycling programs across our sites.
- Site based recycling programs.
- Minimising energy consumption and reducing energy demand so that we can reduce the carbon footprint of our business.
Our Community
Looking after the communities where our employees and consumers live is the right thing to do and we value the deeper connections it helps us build with them.
Our community investment program aims to enhance the social and economic wellbeing of the communities where we live and work. The heart of our approach involves developing innovative programs and partnerships with clear aims and meaningful outcomes.
We continue to support a number of charitable organisations including:
- Breast Cancer Network of Australia
- Brotherhood of St Laurence
- Nippers Surf Education Program
In addition, many of our businesses participate in a number of initiatives within their local communities.
This year we have also provided support to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal and the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal by donating products for distribution the many people impacted by these events.
Our Marketplace
The impact a business makes on the environment and the communities in which they operate is becoming more important to all of us every day.
More and more, people are beginning to think about how a product is made rather than focussing solely on the product itself. This concern also extends to the environmental and social conduct of our suppliers.
Ethical Trading
Pacific Brands is committed to ensuring we meet our social compliance responsibilities.
We have continued our program of auditing our supply chain for adherence to ethical practices spanning labour rights, safety, quality and the environment.
We have a strong dedication to social compliance; however we recognise the difficulties in dealing with a large and complex supply chain. We have made a commitment to developing, over time, social compliance within our supplier base.
View our Supplier and Manufacturer Code of Conduct
View the Workwear and HFO Policies on Sandblasting