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Corporate social responsibility statement
Spectris' subsidiary companies operate from 160 offices around the world. Their products are used to monitor and control processes and to enhance productivity in a wide range of industries. Spectris is committed to creating business growth through adding value for its customers whilst ensuring that its impact on the environment is minimised.
Spectris continues to be a member of the FTSE4Good UK index, which measures and benchmarks the performance of companies that meet globally recognised corporate responsibility standards, with particular emphasis on the environment and human rights.
The policies and information below relate to all Spectris operations.
Policy setting and monitoring
Overall responsibility for developing corporate policies on environmental, social, ethical, and health and safety matters, and for reviewing their effectiveness, lies with the Spectris Board. The individual operating units are then responsible for ensuring these policies are communicated and applied within their particular business, taking account of local legislation and regulation. All policies and procedures are reviewed periodically and any updates are communicated to the operating companies.
Spectris policies and procedures are communicated to all business units via the Spectris Group Manual. As an integral part of the company's risk management and corporate governance processes, the Managing Directors and Finance Directors of each operating company are required to certify, on an annual basis, compliance with these policies and procedures and report on, where appropriate, all non-compliance events.
Environment
Many Spectris products have a positive environmental impact by providing customers with the ability to reduce energy consumption or wastage or to control emissions. Our curing lamps, for example, use ultraviolet light to cure or "dry" environmentally-friendly inks and coatings, replacing conventional energy-intensive heat treatment of traditional materials which are either toxic or emit solvent vapour. Our instrumentation helps wind farm operators to keep their turbines running by using remote predictive monitoring to detect and prevent faults. Our products can also help customers meet environmental legislation. For example, we supply instrumentation which can measure low levels of materials such as lead and cadmium to meet the new European directive on the restriction of hazardous substances. Further examples of the use of Spectris products having a direct beneficial contribution to the environment are shown on our website.
Our environmental policy is published on our website at www.spectris.com/aboutus/corporate.php.
Spectris aims to reduce the impact its products have on the environment by designing products which are energy-efficient and avoid the use of harmful substances. The design processes take into account the operational lifetime of every product and end-of-life removal or disposal. Consideration is given to the recyclability of materials, energy consumption, environment-friendly production, packaging and shipping. Products have been developed which meet the new European regulations on the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) and Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). For example, printed circuit boards used in instrumentation sold to customers in this region no longer use the now banned lead-based solder in their manufacture. This legislation has not had a material impact on the company's operations and in fact has brought benefits to businesses such as PANalytical which has developed X-ray instrumentation specifically for customers to analyse their products to ensure that no traces of the prohibited substances are present.
Climate change
Spectris products do not require capital-intensive manufacturing processes and hence their manufacture has a low overall environmental impact. Nevertheless, we are committed to adopting environmentally responsible policies wherever our companies operate. Due to the nature of the group, both in terms of geographical locations (6000 staff in 160 offices in more than 28 countries around the world) and the characteristics of our business model (autonomous companies, with only limited resources at the centre), it is impractical for Spectris to require its operations to measure greenhouse gas emissions or the use of other resources such as water and waste. The low power consumption of our operations means that Spectris is not required to participate in the European Emissions Trading Scheme. Nevertheless, all businesses are conscious of the need to conserve energy and resources and local initiatives are in place at many sites to reduce energy usage and minimise wastage. These include recycling of waste paper, cardboard, plastic cups, aluminium cans, batteries, toner cartridges and mobile phones, reducing energy consumption through the use of timers and sensors to control hot water, air conditioning and lighting, reducing water consumption and re-use of packaging and filling materials. Spectris complies with the UK Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations which set targets for the recovery and recycling of packaging waste.
Spectris businesses also encourage and work with their suppliers to reduce their impact on the environment and to ensure that their products meet the relevant legislation. Supplier audits and surveys are regularly undertaken.