ESG – Environmental, Social, Governance

 

Introduction

Our business impacts the environment as well as wider society and we believe that managing this is more than just a policy to adhere to.

We see this as a way of thinking and a holistic approach to everything we do in running our business. We are determined to conduct ourselves ethically and with integrity at all times and to make a positive impact on the areas in which we operate.

 

Environmental

 

Our intention is to minimise our impact on the environment wherever possible and we do this in a variety of ways.

  • Use of chemicals

We limit the use of chemicals wherever we can – when we do need to use chemicals, we choose them very carefully

  • We use the Toucan Eco chemical-free cleaning system at our Leyland head office and on 20% of the sites we manage. Toucan Eco uses only salt and electrolysed water, meaning it is green and very clean – and it kills up to 99.99% of viruses and bacteria.
  • In the next year our intention is to further increase this ratio by 50%.
  • We source many of our other cleaning chemicals from Selden (which follows a stringent 8-point environmental policy) and Robert Scott – both companies use external accreditations including ISO14001 meaning that their standards are independently verified.

  • Energy usage and carbon footprint

 

 

65% of the energy we use at our head office is generated on-site via solar panels.  The remainder is purchased only from renewable sources, and we reduce our electricity and water consumption at every opportunity.

  • We work with our customers to help reduce energy consumption on their sites whenever possible.
  • We have 4 hybrid or electric vehicles within our insurance fleet, and we will increase this number as other vehicles are renewed.
  • To further reduce our carbon footprint, we hold client and staff meetings remotely where this is appropriate – but we balance this with regular site visits to ensure we get to see our staff and customers face to face.
  • We offer our site teams a cycle-to-work scheme. The current take-up rate is 2% – our aim is to grow this number to 10% over the next 3 years.

  • Sustainability in our supply chain

  • We spend over £100,000 per year on uniforms to ensure our teams are always looking smart and presented professionally – we are working with innovative suppliers such as Ralawise who are working on new technologies such as clothing made from recycled plastic bottles.
  • We source our cleaning equipment from trusted suppliers like Karcher and Glutton and we operate on a long-term hire model wherever possible – this helps to reduce cost for customers, extends the life cycle of the equipment and reduces the need for replacing perfectly good machines with brand new ones.
      • Karcher and Glutton supply us and our customers with 100% electric machines and both have sustainability and the environment at the heart of what they do.
      • Karcher has pledged to plant a tree for every piece of equipment we hire from them for use on one of our sites.
  • When we introduce our customers to waste providers, we only work with accredited suppliers with strong green credentials and the emphasis is always on recycling wherever we can – we never send waste to landfill.
  • We use the Trackforce Valiant system on many of our sites – this is a completely paperless security management software platform which further reduces our environmental impact. Our intention is to roll this out to all of our sites by the end of 2025. Furthermore, all of our suppliers are comprehensively vetted through our integrated management system which incorporates our ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 accreditations.
  • We have made a further commitment to the environment by pledging to plant a tree for every member of our team.

 

Social

  • Our approach to equality, diversity, and inclusion

 

 

 

  • We are committed to encouraging and celebrating equality, diversity, and inclusion among our workforce, and eliminating unlawful discrimination.
  • The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best.

  • Our performance

  • We already report on the gender pay gap – our latest results show a 1% difference in median hourly pay between men and women. Whilst there is still work to do, this is well ahead of the UK average difference which is currently 7.9%.
  • Our workforce is 59% male and 41% female.
  • We are now in our 7th year of being a recognised Real Living Wage service provider – almost 60% of our staff are paid at or above the Real Living Wage – that’s 25% more than is typical in our industry.
  • Every member of our staff has free access to 24/7/365 mental health support whenever they may need it.
  • Every year we nominate charities, and our senior leadership team takes charge of fundraising for these causes – last year we walked Hadrian’s Wall for The Alzheimer’s Society and The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (raising over £3,500), our latest charities will be announced in due course.
  • We are on course to utilise 72% of our apprenticeship levy funding, and our aim is to increase this to 80% over the next 3 years.

  • Working in partnership with our customers

 

Our aim is to always work closely with our customers, and we get involved in supporting our local communities wherever we can – these are just a few examples.

  • We supported our team at Princes Quay by highlighting the importance of mental health issues and helping to normalise talking about how we are feeling.
  • We helped to clean the dock at Princes Quay in order to improve the quality of the water and to highlight the importance of World Ocean Day.
  • We worked alongside our customers at The Harvey Centre to raise money for Streets2Home.
  • We worked with the team at Trinity Square on their #trinitycares campaign throughout the pandemic – leading to the shopping centre winning the award for Best CSR Campaign in 2021.
  • We have supported Edmonton Green with their Christmas gift appeal, run in support of The Salvation Army.
  • We have worked with customers such as Ashdown Phillips to support wider initiatives including Sleep Out to Help Out.
  • We are proud supporters of Purple Tuesday, and we work with many customers on this every year.

 

Governance

  • As a business, we actively encourage and promote diversity and equality including within our senior leadership team.
  • We are also an accredited Disability Confident employer.
  • We actively promote the positive recruitment of females into security roles, which is historically seen as a ‘male’ occupation.
  • The current gender split of our total workforce is 59% male and 41% female.