Compliance: satisfying demands
As a global company group it is especially important to us to keep to standards of behavior which demonstrate a responsibility to our fellow humans beings and the environment, are in accord with the respective legal situation and conform to our notion of integrity. For this reason KHS implements certain compliance guidelines which have already enabled us to achieve a high level of compliance worldwide. We of course wish to defend these in the future, too, and supplement them with further current and important issues.
Our company group is represented in more than 60 countries worldwide. With our code of conduct for employees, prescribed by both KHS and our parent company Salzgitter AG, in view of the large cultural variety within our corporate group we have created a universal system of values and basic principles which is designed to act as a guideline to all employees regarding the manner in which they conduct themselves. Among other areas, the code regulates various general matters, such as applicable law, the avoidance of conflicts of interests, fair working conditions, loyal and transparent reporting, safety and environmental protection, the duty to observe secrecy and data protection. For further compliance guidelines a compliance officer appointed specifically for this purpose is available to all employees should they have any questions or are unsure whether certain behavior complies with the regulations or not.
You can find the full code of conduct here.
In addition, we find it important that our suppliers also pledge to safeguard general human rights, uphold recognized standards and adhere to the law. Based on our code of conduct for our employees and on our vision, we have thus also established a code of conduct for suppliers which is binding for all suppliers in the KHS Group and their subcontractors. The issues it governs include legality and integrity, human rights and working conditions, environmental and climate protection, occupational health and safety protection and monitoring and audits. We reserve the right to carry out random checks of our suppliers.
You can find the full supplier code of conduct here.
Self-regulation and competition law
We regularly subject ourselves to independent audits in order to have the manner of conduct we aspire to monitored by an external body. These include ethical audits for SEDEX – always with a relevant international focus, the results of which are made available to our customers – and self-initiated audits within our compliance management system CMS. Here, we believe it is important to act in a way which is both authentic and credible – and to also function as a role model for our suppliers and business partners.
We place special emphasis not only on the prevention of corruption but also on the subjects of competition and antitrust law. Using a dedicated e-learning system we hold special training courses for Purchasing, Sales and managerial staff throughout the group in order to sensitize personnel to these topics and anchor our standards in their minds. The aim is to recognize and curb any possible hazards when working with our suppliers and customers in this way and in good time.
Compliance means also acting as a role model for practiced integrity in our day-to-day business. What we have achieved must be upheld and strengthened; we must practice compliance effectively and authentically in language which is plain and simple.
