Values

Saint-Gobain sets out its values in its General Principles of Conduct and Action which is applied in every business and adherence to these principles are a requirement to being part of the Saint-Gobain group.

PRINCIPLES OF CONDUCT:

PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENT

Means mobilising to the best of one’s ability the knowledge and know-how of the individual and also calls for training to keep both up to date. It requires personal commitment and a willingness to take on the tasks assigned and to acquire knowledge necessary to do the job. It implies the effective contribution of each person in caring particularly for the environment and for worker health and safety.

RESPECT FOR OTHER

Is an absolute prerequisite for the professional and personal development of each person. It applies throughout the Group worldwide. It implies an acceptance of pluralism and other cultures and of people of all origins. It is expressed in a readiness to listen to others, to inform, to explain, and to engage in dialogue.

INTEGRITY

Requires a rigorous adherence to probity in all professional activities. It means that no individual may compromise the interests of the Group entrusted to that individual in favour of his or her own private interests – whether in dealing within the Group or in dealing on behalf of the Group with third parties, whatever local practices might be. Detailed rules of conduct may be adopted for certain categories of Group personnel where the nature of their responsibilities so requires.

LOYALTY

Requires honesty and fairness in dealing with superiors, colleagues, subordinates and third parties dealing with the Group. In particular, it is incompatible with the pursuit of self-interest where the latter conflicts with the goals of the individual company or the Group as a whole. It implies the adherence to the guidelines and internal rules of individual companies and of the Group.

SOLIDARITY

Is based on a sense of individual responsibility at work, which prevails over self-centred thinking. It encourages team work and bringing out the best in each person, in order to achieve the objectives of the company and the Group. It means rejecting management or operational methods geared more to the self-satisfaction of given individuals rather than the interests of the individual company or the Group as a whole.

 

PRINCIPLES OF ACTION:

RESPECT FOR THE LAW

All Group companies must apply in all areas all laws and regulations of the countries where they do business. Particular attention is drawn to the areas described below.

All Group companies must prohibit all actions which might breach applicable norms of competition law. They must refrain from any form of financing political parties or activities, even if allowed under local law. They must also reject all forms of active or passive corruption whether in domestic or international transactions. Furthermore, Group companies must not exploit loopholes or inadequacies in any such laws or regulations where this would mean non-compliance with the norms of the Saint-Gobain Group in the other areas.

CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Group companies are to actively promote the protection of the environment. All company sites, wherever they are located, must be managed in a way that allows the setting of clear environmental targets and the regular monitoring of environmental performances and measuring the same against these targets. They must strive to raise the main relevant environmental performance standards of their own sites to the level of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.

WORKER HEALTH AND SAFETY

Group companies are to take particular care to adopt all measures necessary to ensure the best possible protection against health and safety risks in the workplace. They must adopt risk reduction policies and follow-up on the due application of the same, checking actual results against the applicable standards. Such policies apply both to their own employees and to employees of sub-contractors, when the latter are working on a Group site. They must strive to raise the main relevant health and safety performance standards of their own sites to the levels of particularly effective performance standards found in the Group for comparable sites – even if that means going beyond the requirements of local legislation.

EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

Group companies must scrupulously ensure that employees’ rights are respected. They must promote an active dialogue with their employees. In addition, and without limitation, they must respect the following rules, even if not provided for by applicable local law. They must refrain from any form of recourse to forced labour, compulsory labour, or child labour – whether directly or indirectly or through sub-contractors when the latter are working on a Group site; and they must refrain from any form of discrimination with respect to their employees, whether in the recruitment process, at hiring, or during or at the end of the employment relationship.