OUR ESG VISION
Water is vital for our survival and in our changing world, it is an increasingly precious and volatile commodity. At Stuart Turner, we recognise our role in helping people to get the most out of the water they receive.
The past months have highlighted the responsibility of businesses to act as stewards of both people and planet. Our purpose is to Power Water Through Premium Products and Solutions and, as a water business, we recognise how we are well-placed to play our part.
Covid-19 has accelerated and laid bare some challenges that we feel are important to tackle head on. At Stuart Turner, we have reinvigorated and expanded our commitments to meet the new needs of our colleagues, customers and supply chain partners.
The pandemic has increased water usage at home which provides further opportunities for us to help to improve water management by investing in new solutions that help reduce water use and cut down on waste.
Going forward, we are prioritising the implementation of improvement strategies across our environmental and social performance. For further information on our work to date and our ambitions across Environmental, Social and Governance issues, please read on..
ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRESS
A core part of our positive environmental impact is through the efficiency of our products in use. It is now quite clear that pumps with variable or adjustable speed drives can play a significant role in energy use reduction going forward. The British Pump Manufacturers Association estimates water pumps have the potential of saving 50TWh of electricity across Europe, which is equivalent to the output of five large coal-fired power plants, annually.
To minimise energy usage and maximise water efficiency, we ensure that we continually review and upgrade our products. For example, our Aquaboost range delivers Variable Speed Boosters to maximise system efficiency and our Mainsboost range that uses zero energy to supply increased water pressure to homes. In addition, our ST15/60B and PULSE hot water circulators save water and energy by stopping the water in pipes from getting cold, enabling hot water to be delivered instantly the tap is turned. Read more about the impact of our equipment in use at a special care home in Hertfordshire.
Our products play an important part in wider water management and minimisation of leaks (inside and outside the home) by enabling low water pressure in the mains. With 2,954 million litres of water leaked each day across England and Wales in 2020 equivalent to1,182 Olympic swimming pools per day, a systems approach is essential. Stuart Turner pumps deliver consistent provision of high water pressure at the point of use enabling innovations in tap and shower head technology which can reduce the amount of water that is required without negatively impacting the showering experience.
Our own operations require very modest water usage. We work hard to minimise our water usage and have made a 17% reduction over the past year.
This year we are partnering with The Tree Council to plant 500 trees over the next two years as part of our plans to decrease our energy consumption and carbon emissions while increasing the efficiency of our products. The partnership was initiated following our decision to condense the Manuals for our Showermate range to the essential safety information and provide the full instructions through a QR code, saving an estimated 3.5 tonnes of paper per year.
We have been working towards achieving the ISO 14001:2015-certified world class environmental management system, which we expect to be completed in 2021. This certification will provide us with a strong baseline and will serve as our continuous improvement framework.
SOCIAL COMMITMENTS
Our people are central to our business, and we have sought to drive change and bolster our support to our employees in recent months. We have taken our HR function in house, which has led to a series of new initiatives, including the codification of our values, the creation of a Mental Health Committee and a new healthcare programme.
The past months have placed an unprecedented level of strain on people across the world, and to reflect this we have created a Mental Health and Wellbeing Committee. This forum shines a light on areas that people are struggling with, as well as providing a forum for sharing advice. In addition, we have introduced our Health Shield programme that enables our people to access secondary health benefits from dentistry to acupuncture.
We are committed to training our people and this also extends to providing education opportunities to our installers, with whom we regularly engage, as well as our local community. Our National Training Manager has relationships with thirty colleges across the country that offer plumbing courses to students and holds sessions on plumbing techniques and regulation. We are looking into opportunities to deepen our existing relationships with colleges so that we can run training and apprenticeship programmes in future.
We are committed to creating an environment in which the individual differences and contributions of our staff are recognised and valued. Furthermore, we are committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity amongst our workforce. Our aim is that the workforce will be truly representative of all sections of society and each employee feels respected and able to give of their best.
GOVERNANCE MEASURES
We uphold high standards of governance in every element of our decision making. Responsibility for governance is shared across our Board members.
Risk management is a responsibility of the Board, and our risk register is reviewed regularly and formally updated annually. As part of our ISO 9001:2015-certified quality management system, we have carried out an in-depth risk assessment of our supply chain and we avoid areas of geographical risk. We have ambitions to balance our supply chain so we are not disproportionally reliant on any single suppliers or any one region of the world.
We have put in place a series of policies that reflect our commitment to upholding good governance. These policies include:
- Ethical trading
- Data protection policy
- Anti-bribery
- Employee Code of Conduct
- Equal opportunities
- Whistle blowing
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