Social Responsibility Policy

Social Responsibility Policy V4 - 24/02/2025

SCOPE

The principles outlined below apply to Bip S.p.A. and Bip Services S.r.l.

VISION

BIP has risen to prominence as a strategic consultant in Italy and all over the world, and with a view to consolidating and improving its position, the company has set itself the goal of achieving the highest level of Corporate Social Responsibility compliance.

For this purpose, BIP intends, in the performance of its activities, to acknowledge the value of the work performed by its personnel and adapt its processes with a view to ensuring that legality, integrity and transparency are the essential foundations for achievement of its economic and productive goals.

MISSION

BIP, as a Business Advisor, acknowledges the central role of human resources as the key to the success of any enterprise, and therefore aims to improve the social condition of all personnel employed directly by the organisation or indirectly by its suppliers and subcontractors, with a particular focus on the employment relationship, safety and development of human resources.

BIP has set itself the following goals to be achieved and consolidated:

Promoting ethical behaviour and respect for human rights, both within the company and in its external relations, coming up with processes involving workers, customers, suppliers and all other stakeholders through adoption of an Organisational Model, and therefore a Code of Ethics, compliant with Legislative Decree 231/2001 as amended;
Adopting a Corporate Social Responsibility Management System in accordance with the applicable international standard, Social Accountability 8000 (SA8000), to keep track of compliance with and improvement of the principles of corporate social responsibility;
Putting this Policy into practice through implementation of procedures, rules and instructions aimed at ensuring that the values expressed in it are reflected in every single person’s behaviour and implementing increasingly effective operative control, surveillance and measurement systems;
Publicising, disseminating and making available this Policy among all its stakeholders. Reviewing it periodically and ascertaining its continued appropriateness and consistency with goals for improvement;
Setting goals for Corporate Social Responsibility, determined through appropriate risk analysis, periodically assessing and monitoring risks and opportunities connected with the development and maintenance of the Management System, permitting development of an ongoing improvement programme.

PRINCIPLES

In compliance with the provisions of the reference standard, SA8000, BIP is committed to:

Combating child labour, that is, the labour of children below the minimum working age specified by law, not making use of child labour or encouraging it in any way. Safeguarding young workers (between the ages of 15 and 18), guaranteeing that they do not work in dangerous conditions and complying with the working hours, tasks and pay permitted by law;
Combating forced or obligatory labour, not making use of it or encouraging it in any way;
Adopting all the necessary measures to ensure that workers enjoy a safe, healthy working environment and adopting effective measures for the prevention of potential accidents, injuries or illnesses that could occur as a result of, in relation to or during the performance of work, eliminating hazards and systematically reducing risks to the health and safety of workers in the company. For this purpose, it is committed to providing workers with training and information to ensure that they perform their work in a way that is safe for themselves and for others;
Ensuring freedom of association for workers and the right to join trade unions;
Combating discrimination in all forms among its workers, on the basis of age, gender, religion, racial background or sexual orientation;
Treating all personnel with dignity and respect and not adopting or tolerating disciplinary practices such as mental or physical coercion or verbal abuse;
Ensuring working hours in line with the provisions of the National Collective Labour Agreement, and in no case more than 48 hours per week. Complying with the current regulations and the provisions of the National Collective Labour Agreement regarding overtime work;
Paying a minimum salary at least equal to the one specified in the National Collective Labour Agreement, and in all cases sufficient to meet employees’ primary needs and provide them with discretionary earnings. Refraining from making use of “illegal labour” or payment systems aimed at avoiding compliance with obligations toward personnel;
Planning, implementing, checking and improving its Corporate Social Responsibility Management System, involving company personnel in this process in the ways identified in the system;
Complying with national laws, national collective labour agreements, laws governing the industry and other requirements to which it subscribes, and with the international regulations and documents referred to in standard SA8000, always applying the provisions most favourable to workers;
Ensuring that all workers have the opportunity to submit complaints and reports about the organisation, at an time, regarding any aspect of failure to comply with the requirements of SA 8000 or the commitments listed therein.

All external stakeholders can send a report about the application of the SA 8000 standard by contacting the SPT at spt.bip@bip-group.com.

Complaints and reports regarding the company’s management of workplaces or failure to comply with standard SA8000 may be sent directly to the Certification Body (Bureau Veritas Italia S.p.A.) or the Accreditation Body (SAAS), at the following addresses:

Bureau Veritas Italia S.p.A.: Viale Monza n. 347 – 20126 Milano (MI); e-mail: certification@it.bureauveritas.com; tel: +39 02.270911;

Social Accountability Accreditation Services (SAAS): 9 East 37th Street, 10th Floor – New York, NY 10016 (United States of America); e-mail: saas@saasaccreditation.org; tel: +1 (212)-391-2106.

Depending on the type of report received, the Certification Body or Accreditation Body may conduct additional checks on the company’s premises to determine the state of compliance with the requirements of the standard.