CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY POLICY

Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

CSR refers to the way in which businesses regulate themselves in order to ensure that all of their activities positively affect society as a whole. CSR policies aim to guarantee that companies work ethically, considering human rights as well as the social, economic and environmental impacts of what they do as a business. Businesses should meet, and aim to exceed, any relevant legislation, and if legislation does not exist in a particular area, the company should ensure they carry out best practices anyway.

At Interfloor we are committed to ensuring that any business undertakings are conducted as ethically as possible by following the below policy.

Who we are and what we do?

Interfloor, part of the Victoria plc group of companies, was created by the merger of Tredaire and Duralay in 2002 but our heritage dates back to the 1940s when Duralay began manufacturing the first carpet underlays in the UK.

We are Europe’s largest manufacturer of carpet underlay and flooring accessories operating from two manufacturing sites in the UK, and we supply our products to flooring retailers, distributors and flooring contractors in the UK and around the world.  All of our Tredaire and Duralay underlays are made in the UK at our production facility in Lancashire England, and our Gripperrods carpet gripper and jointing tapes are produced in Dumfries Scotland along with some final finishing of bought-in accessories.

Our mission at Interfloor is to be the supplier of choice for our customers by offering better products, better brands, better range, and better service than our competitors.

Interfloor is focused on maximising our return on assets employed to deliver sustainable earnings growth for our stakeholders.  We value our people and are committed to operating ethically and with full regard for our environmental and social responsibilities.

Looking after Employees

In order to remain competitive, at Interfloor we believe we must recruit and retain talented, motivated, loyal and productive staff.

Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code

As part of the foundation to this belief we fully commit to compliance with the Ethical Trading Initiative’s Base Code as a minimum standard.  The ETI’s Base Code is founded on the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and is an internationally recognised code of labour practice.  As such we ensure:

• All employment is freely chosen
• Freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining are respected
• Working conditions are safe and hygienic
• Child labour is not used
• Living wages are paid as a minimum
• Working hours are not excessive
• No discrimination is practised
• Regular employment is provided
• No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed
• No bribery, corruption, blackmailing or bullying is permitted.
• No slavery or human trafficking is permitted.
• Third Party Suppliers and buyers are both free to sell and buy from any number of other businesses.

Communication & Participation

• We believe strongly in honest, two-way communication and encouraging our employees to participate in continuously improving each aspect of the business.
• We continuously work on maintaining an excellent employee relations environment and endorse the benefits of collective bargaining through both Trade Union and Works Councils
• We maintain a defined structure of communication that gives every employee access to Senior Management on a regular basis

Modern Slavery

• We wholeheartedly support the eradication of modern slavery and annually publish a statement on the actions we take to ensure no modern slavery within our workforce and those of our supply chain

Equal Opportunities and The Gender Pay Gap

• We are an equal opportunities employer and have a published policy to support our continuous efforts to both promote diversity within the workforce and ensure no-one suffers any detrimental treatment due to their gender; race or ethnic origin; sexual orientation; disability; religious or personal beliefs; age; or right to association such as trade union membership.
• We publish annually our Gender Pay Gap and whilst our gap is much smaller than the UK average, we are committed to a clear action plan to eradicate historical bias which created these inequalities

Anti-Bribery

• We have a clear and defined policy and systems to protect our employees and business from unethical business practices such as bribery and corruption.

Looking after Customers

Interfloor is dedicated to offering customers a large choice of branded, unbranded and customer own-brand competitively priced underlay products and accessories, leveraging our extensive access to the global flooring market, and by offering customers high levels of quality and service underpinned by instilling a customer centric culture within our business.

We want customers to be delighted with the products and service they receive from Interfloor which is why we support customers with a vast range of point of sale merchandise for our underlays and accessories, product information and training and a sampling service where we send out thousands of samples each month.  In addition, we provide a full range of technical specifications for our underlays plus fitting guides for different flooring types.

We aim to offer peace of mind for our customers and welcome any feedback of all kinds. Customer satisfaction is our goal and we measure ourselves and our performance annually through customer surveys, selecting customers at random each time across all sales channels. All negative customer feedback is investigated and where appropriate steps taken to avoid repetition. Any positive feedback is passed on to relevant departments and or individuals to further encourage good customer service.

We don’t quote a number of years as a guarantee, we go one step further and we guarantee that where fitted correctly, our underlays will last for the full serviceable lifetime of the new carpet installed at the same time.

Suppliers’ Standards

At Interfloor we aim to create a sustainable and ethical supply chain based on trust and shared values with our suppliers. Our Procurement function is dedicated to the evaluation, management and continuous improvement of our suppliers and have a focus on the 3 key methodologies:

Selecting the right suppliers:

• Each tender created by Interfloor follows a pre-requisite application that ensures adherence to our CSR values is met.
• Suppliers are selected based on the most advantageous tender, this includes price, service, terms, location and size of business and also sustainable, ethical and environmental shared values.
• All tenders are secured by a Framework that comments on the expectations of our suppliers regarding CSR and details the supplier code of conduct.

Management and measurement of suppliers:

• Suppliers are expected to attend a minimum of one review per year, this review ensures that changes made within the supply chain are captured and requires continuous monitoring of their adherence to the Framework agreement and supplier code of conduct.
• Regular audits are in place with suppliers and requires evidence of their adherence to our supplier code of conduct, product specifications and CSR values.
• Recognition is given to suppliers to both improve standards and perform well in these areas.
• Interfloor is committed to fair terms of purchase and endeavour to pay all suppliers to terms, such terms are monitored regularly.

Continuous Improvement of suppliers:

• Support is provided for all suppliers who do not conform to our supplier code of conduct or shared values. Frequency of reviews and audits are increased where required to ensure that standards are reached within the given time frames.
• Suppliers are encouraged to identify any product development that may improve the production process, provide cost benefits, improve quality of the finish goods and provide a more sustainable, ethical or environmentally focused product.

Procurement team:

The Procurement team is encouraged to maintain a membership with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply, this membership includes an annual Ethical certificate that must be completed. Internal and external training is available to ensure we have an up to date knowledge of CSR and policies such as Modern Slavery and Anti-bribery.

Protecting the Environment

As a business we have a clear focus on our responsibility to protect our environment and through a clearly defined Environmental Management System we are focused on:

• Sustainable sourcing – we constantly review our suppliers and raw materials to identify alternatives for sustainable sourcing and work to understand life cycle of the materials we use as well as of our own products.
• Airborne Emissions – one impact from our manufacturing processes can be VOC, visible and odorous airborne emissions. We maintain use of BAT (best available technology) to control our emissions to well within legal limits and as low as reasonably possible.
• Wastewater & Trade Effluent – all of our wastewater and trade effluent are contained and shipped off-site through a licenced waste carrier who treats the water so that it is re-usable.
• Soil & Groundwater Contamination – all of our processes are contained on hardstanding land and our drainage systems are fully contained with all drainage passing through interceptors with filters prior to emissions from site to local waterways.
• Hazardous Substances – it is unfortunately a fact of life, like many manufacturing processes, that we will use some hazardous substances, but we do not rest on our laurels and constantly review our raw materials to identify less hazardous alternatives. Where hazards are identified we have specific plans in place to manage the risk effectively i.e. solvent management plan, asbestos management plan.
• Waste – we have robust procedures for recycling of our own process waste and proactively work to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.
• Packaging – we report the volume of packaging we use as part of the Packaging Waste Producers Responsibilities legal framework. We minimise packaging wherever possible and all of our underlays have single layer packaging with no exterior packaging of multiple products.  We continuously seek opportunities for both recycling of our packaging and consider the use of sustainable packaging alternatives where available.
• Energy
  • we are party to a Climate Change Agreement for the Chemical Sector and registered under the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. As part of our CCA we have an energy management plan with annual energy reduction targets to meet in order to maintain scheme compliance.
  • In accordance with Energy Saving Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) legislation, we undertake a detailed audit every 4 years of our total energy consumption which include electricity, natural gas, LPG, diesel (white and red) and petrol and includes everything from running machinery to vehicles. As part of the audit we develop recommendation to help reduce our energy consumption.

Community Engagement

As a business, we are very focused on the impact we have on our neighbouring communities; not just from an environmental basis on which we have a strong focus; not just supporting the local economy by employing locally and using local contractors and suppliers where possible; but also in terms of what we can contribute to the general betterment of our local communities.

At Interfloor we truly support youth welfare, opportunity and development as the key focus of our community engagement commitment, which we will achieve by the following as an example:

• Supporting local initiatives to eradicate child poverty and ensure every child has access to healthy meals both within and out with school term times.
• Working with local organisations to ensure local children have every opportunity to grow and develop in a safe environment.
• Working with local Schools and Education Authorities to help prepare children for the transition to the world of work and also encourage removal of historical biases, such as encouraging more girls into STEM subjects.

Measurement

Our targets and measurement of each aspect are as follows: