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Our commitment to human rights Modern Slavery Statement of CRH plc For the year ending 31 December 2022
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2022 achievements 1Ongoing goals and targets 1Responsible corporate governance 2CRH at a glance 3Our policies 4Our supply chain risks 5Assessing and managing risk 7Internal due diligence 10External due diligence 11 Global direct sourcing audit summary 12 Conflict minerals reporting 13Training 15Speak Up process 15 ContentsIntroduction This statement is made in compliance with Section 54(1) of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 and other applicable legislation*, and sets out the measures CRH and its subsidiaries (collectively “CRH” or the “Group”) have taken during the financial year ending 31 December 2022 to ensure that slavery or human trafficking is not taking place within its own business or in any of its supply chains.CRH believes that slavery, in all its forms, is unacceptable and that all CRH companies must do everything they can to prevent any form of slavery, human trafficking or any other unethical behaviour in their businesses and supply chains. This Statement was approved by the Board of Directors of CRH plc on 28 June 2023 and signed on behalf of the Board by Jim Mintern, Chief Financial Officer. By:
All statements are available on our corporate website here* The California Transparency in Supply Chains Act 2010, The Australian Commonwealth Modern Slavery Act 2018 and Loi de Vigilance 2017. At CRH, we have a zerotolerance policy regarding anytype of modern slavery and we expect the same from our suppliers and customers. Thisstatement outlines our absolutecommitment to the protectionof human rights.
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1 2022 achievementsOngoing goals and targets
Our Modern Slavery e-Learning module continues to educate key teams in modern slavery and the risks it poses to our business. The training details the key indicators of modern slavery across the supply chain and provides an overview of our policies, systems and processes in place to prevent such behaviour.We have expanded our training to ensure our people are able to understand and respond to all human rights issues. We have completed training with key teams around the implications of sanctions and policy decisions we have taken following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Through our Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC), we continue to operate our core supplier due diligence processes to increase visibility and insights into our suppliers. This process captures a digital Supplier Code of Conduct acknowledgement and automated data points on financial health, sanctions screening and adverse media reports of suppliers in areas such as discrimination, workforce rights, human rights, workforce disputes and workforce health and safety issues.
Know Your SupplierTraining and raising awareness
Our Code of Business Conduct (CoBC) sets out standards of integrity and ethical conduct for our organisation. In 2022 we updated our CoBC, which is available on crh.com to include our refreshed values and our new Speak Up Policy. This policy emphasises each employee’s personal responsibility to speak up if they have a genuine concern of possible wrongdoing relevant to CRH’s CoBC. Every CRH employee is required to acknowledge that they have received the CoBC and will abide by its principles.
The infringement of people’s human rights can occur throughout the value chain. We have collaborated across Group functions as well as with human rights specialists to benchmark our salient human rights assessment methodology and to help identify specific areas of risk to people coming into contact with our operations. These risk areas are clearly communicated to our stakeholders in a transparent and open way. We continue to develop and refine our approach to human rights due diligence to better understand our potential impacts.
Code of Business ConductDefining salient human rights issues
Expand coverage of our due diligence process and explore new ways of gaining intelligence and performance insights.
Expand the coverage of our Modern Slavery e-Learning module to more colleagues across our business.
Continue to review human rights and modern slavery risks through our Enterprise Risk Management processes (see pages 50 - 59 in the CRH 2022 Annual Report, available on crh.com here).
Ambition to have a culture of safety and wellness working towards zero harm. Our target of zero fatalities extends beyond our own employees to include contractors.
Continue to use this annual statement to demonstrate progress and ensure we are fully transparent in our actions in the areas of human and labour rights (see page 7 for further details).
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Responsible corporate governance
Expectations Stakeholder expectations of businesses to respect human rights and address any adverse impacts have never been higher. We understand and support this expectation. In response, we continue to evolve and refine our approach to human rights due diligence to better understand our impacts and ensure we respect human rights across our value chain.We are committed to respecting internationally recognised human rights. Many of the existing principles, such as those in the Paris Agreement, the International Bill of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation’s current guidelines, are already embedded in our business and remain under review. We apply the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights across our operations and extended supply chain and are committed to building knowledge and awareness on human rights across our entire value chain.
CRH plc At CRH, we stand together to reinvent the way our world is built. In 2022, our global footprint spanned 29 countries and over 3,160 operating locations, serving customers across the building materials sector. At CRH, what we make is essential to life and living because our materials, products and solutions define how our world is built. Our operating companies manufacture and supply a range of integrated building materials, products and innovative solutions which can be found throughout the built environment.We procure a wide range of goods and services and have an annual procurement spend of c. $20 billion, with 114,000 suppliers worldwide. Our core business lines each have a specific supply chain footprint with different characteristics, challenges and opportunities.For further details of our global footprint refer to pages 5, 62 and 63 of our 2022 Sustainability Performance Report here. Governance strategy The CRH Board of Directors is responsible for promoting the long-term sustainable success of CRH, ensuring that it makes a positive contribution to society while generating value for its shareholders. The Board has established the Safety, Environment & Social Responsibility (SESR) Board Committee to monitor developments related to sustainability and provide strategic direction, oversight and support to the Board on this important topic. In the area of procurement specifically, our Group Procurement Council oversees all aspects of purchasing strategy, policy, targets and objectives, and the global procurement team is supported by a Procurement Head of Sustainability, Innovation & Risk. In addition, the wider CRH Sustainability team facilitates reporting in all areas of sustainability. Our global Legal & Compliance team provides support to the foregoing in these responsibilities.
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In 2022, we were organised as three operating Divisions of scale comprising Americas Materials, Europe Materials and Building Products. CRH at a glance
c. 3,160 Locations
44%24%32%
45%55%
35%25%40% Sales by Division Americas MaterialsBuilding ProductsEurope Materials Sales by End-Use New BuildRepair, Maintenance & Improvement (RMI) Sales by Sector InfrastructureResidential Non-residential
What we do Build Sustainable and resilient communities through structures that provide protection, shelter, warmth and safety as well as enabling transport and commerce. Materials, products and services We manufacture and supply a range of materials, products and services that are used extensively in a wide range of construction applications. Integrated building solutions We combine and connect materials, products and services to provide customers with complete end-to-end building solutions.
Connect People and locations through infrastructure that moves people, property, information, energy and water. Improve A built environment that is stronger, more durable, more efficient, more economical and more effective. • Road and Transport Infrastructure Solutions • Water Infrastructure Solutions • Urban Construction Solutions • Renewable Energy Infrastructure • Utilities and Communications Infrastructure Sustainable products and solutions The solutions we provide help to shape a more sustainable built environment. Innovation We are constantly innovating to improve existing and develop new technologies that will empower more sustainable forms of construction in the future. Collaboration and partnership We understand the importance of collaboration and the need to work in partnership with others in order to realise our ambition in areas such as sustainability. • Low-carbon materials e.g. concrete • Recycled asphalt and low-carbon mixes • Recycled masonry products • Recycled composite decking products • Sustainable stormwater solutions • Modular and off-site manufacturing solutions • CRH Ventures – Launched in 2022 • Innovation Fund – Established in 2022 • Innovation Centre for Sustainable Construction (ICSC) – over 100 research and innovation projects underway • Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA) – Net-zero Concrete Roadmap • National Asphalt Paving Association (NAPA) – Net-zero Asphalt Pavements Roadmap • Shell – Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop decarbonisation solutions and technologies • Aggregates • Cement & Lime • Asphalt • Concrete • Paving & Construction • Architectural Products • Infrastructure Products • Construction Accessories
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Social Policy The Social Policy is outlined in our 2022 Sustainability Performance Report on page 66 (available on crh.com here) and requires all our Group companies to:
Comply at a minimum with all applicable legislation and continuously improve our social stewardship, aiming all the time to meet or exceed industry best practice standards.
Support freedom of association and recognise the right to collective bargaining.
Apply the principle of equal opportunity, valuing diversity regardless of age, gender, disability, creed, ethnic origin or sexual orientation, while insisting that merit is the ultimate basis for recruitment and selection decisions.
Manage our businesses in a fair and equitable manner, meeting all our social responsibilities including working conditions, as both a direct and indirect employer.
Ensure that we deal responsibly with our suppliers and customers in accordance with our Code of Business Conduct, Supplier Code of Conduct and proper business practice.
Prohibit forced, compulsory and child labour in all forms, including modern slavery.
Other Policies are included on page 65 and 66 of the 2022 Sustainability Performance Report here Our policies There are a number of key codes and policies that demonstrate our commitment to our values. These include:
Code of Business Conduct Our Code of Business Conduct (CoBC) affirms our commitment to doing the right things in the right way, complying with the law, and working responsibly. Each section of the CoBC (updated in 2022) gives clear guidance to our workforce on how to live up to our values of people are our priority, character is our strength, performance is our commitment and innovation is our way forward. Our CoBC is available in 22 languages on crh.com here.
Speak Up Policy Our Speak Up Policy outlines our commitment to supporting all persons, including current, potential, and former employees, independent contractors, customers, and suppliers in coming forward with any genuine concerns of wrongdoing within CRH. This Speak Up Policy is available in 22 languages on crh.com here.
Supplier Code of Conduct Our Supplier Code of Conduct (SCoC) sets out our expectations of suppliers in relation to safety and health, people and the community, environment, climate change, governance and compliance (available on crh.com here). It applies the concepts, principles and recommendations of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and other applicable legislation. SCoC requirements and acceptance is a founding principle in our standard contract clauses and terms and conditions of purchase.Our suppliers must specifically undertake the following in relation to modern slavery:
Support and respect the protection of human rights within their areas of influence.
Prohibit all forms of modern slavery including forced labour, bonded labour, compulsory labour and child labour.
Support the principles of Equality, Fairness, Inclusion and Respect when dealing with the recruitment and selection of employees.
Respect freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining by employees.
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5 Based on the risks identified and the outcomes of an accompanying opportunity assessment, we enhance our Category Strategy Plans to drive improvement actions at the point where we have most influence with our suppliers. Country risk is a significant part of this assessment and the vast majority of our suppliers replicate our operational footprint with over 91% of our spend in North America and Europe. We are continually improving our spend visibility platforms to enhance country and location insights into suppliers in regions with a higher prevalence of modern slavery. This allows us to focus our resources on supplier activities that prevent any potential issues with modern slavery.When specific issues are identified this approach enables us to put contractual clauses in place to manage supplier performance. We do this with human rights issues but also for environmental as well as health and safety issues. 91% of our operational footprint spend is in North America and Europe
“We are continually improving our spend visibility platforms to enhance country and location insights into suppliers in regions with a higher prevalence of modern slavery” Our supply chain risks We assess the sustainability risks of our major areas of spend in line with ISO 20400 - Sustainable Procurement best practice. We use 12 assessment criteria that cover the critical areas that impact our supply chain, such as health and safety, human and labour rights, environment, climate change and governance.
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Production equipment 5% Facilities management and estates 4%
Logistics servicesMaintenance, production & contractor services 20%13% Energy 12% Mobile equipment 6% Packaging 2% IT and telecoms 1%
Raw materials 17%
Building components and manufacturing materials 6%
General services 9% Chemicals 5% Building components and manufacturing materials - Sometimes sourced in low-cost countries through our Global Direct Sourcing team. See page 12 to see how we manage this risk.
Raw materials - We continue to engage in industry partnership schemes to understand and lead standards in this area. See page 14 for details.
Sustainable procurement approach Our sustainable procurement approach is to ensure our businesses are well-equipped to understand and manage responsible supply chains through: • Our CRH Group Procurement Council overseeing all aspects of purchasing governance including strategy, policy, targets and objectives. • Engagement with suppliers, governments, businesses and other partners to find new ways to innovate and create positive change, to transition towards more responsible supply chains across the entire industry. • Assessing risk at a category level, in line with ISO 20400 – Sustainable Procurement best practice. Our procurement teams undertake a specific ESG risk assessment for all spend, of which labour practices is a core aspect. • Identification of critical suppliers, assessed against specific sustainability issues, such as modern slavery. • Assurance procedures in place to ensure that all CRH companies are actively implementing the requirements of our SCoC.Non-compliance by a supplier of the SCoC can have a number of consequences, including exclusion from any tendering process or termination of contract. However, our preference is to work with our suppliers to develop remediation plans for those affected, and build the capacity of suppliers to ensure these issues are properly managed on an ongoing basis. Our supply chain risks - continued
Increasing modern slavery potential impact I n c r ea s i n g
e x t e r n a l
s p e n d
%
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Salient Human Rights Issues
As we operate and develop our extractive sites, it is important that we ensure the health and safety of the communities where we operate and respect their land rights ensuring they have free prior and informed consent. Our Commitment CRH aims to use our reach and influence to positively impact our local communities. Our Actions
Health and safetyLabour rightsGrievance mechanismsLocal community rightsLabour rights of those working in our extended supply chain Potential at risk stakeholders: Employees Contractors Third parties working on our sites
We understand the importance of putting in place effective grievance mechanisms. These need to operate at a site level, ensuring potentially affected parties have a trusted mechanism to raise issues of concern and ensure they’re appropriately dealt with. Our Commitment CRH is committed to doing business in a sustainable, responsible and ethical manner. Our Actions
We want to ensure that everyone working for CRH is treated fairly and equitably free from discrimination, with just and favourable conditions of pay and employment. We want to ensure that all those working on our sites are doing so freely, ensuring no forced labour and we support freedom of association. Our Commitment At CRH we are committed to creating a culture where everyone feels respected, valued and treated fairly. Our Actions
We operate major industrial sites which are potentially hazardous working environments and we want to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. Our Commitment
We believe everyone has the right to a safe and healthy workplace. We manage safety across our operations, working towards our ambition of zero harm. Our Actions
Assessing and managing risk Our approach to risk management is integrated into our business, providing a robust foundation for the identification and assessment of material threats and opportunities and allowing us to make appropriate decisions. Our recent salient human rights risk assessment has looked at our operating sites, the work that is carried out on those sites, and the countries in which we operate. On top of this, we have a continuing programme to assess and manage salient human rights risks in our extended supply chain. Based on this work, we have identified the following core salient human rights risk areas:
Workers in the supply chain Localcommunities Partners
C o n t i n u o u s
m o n i t o r i n g
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Case studies
Safety and wellbeing Keeping people safe is a moral imperative and a salient human rights issue. We have strong policies in place to uphold our commitment to health and safety across our organisation. Our Health and Safety Policy (see page 66), which is applied rigorously across all our operating companies, is the cornerstone of safety management at CRH and is complemented by our industry-leading CRH Life Saving Rules, designed to support our focus on eliminating fatalities. At CRH we concentrate on eliminating hazards at source, cautiously planning and designing our activities, conducting risk assessments to identify hazards, managing risks and investing in areas for improvement. We partner with key stakeholders to develop innovative technical solutions, developing and designing clear work methods to mitigate or remediate issues as they are identified. In 2022, following a detailed analysis of the fire risk across our business, the health and safety team in our Europe Materials Division collaborated with our insurance companies and other specialists to develop key risk reduction best practices. This led to a number of projects taking place in 2022 to reduce the risk of fire. For example, Romcim, part of our Europe Materials Division in Romania, has implemented an automatic fire protection system for mobile equipment at its Hoghiz location. The detection and suppression system prevents injuries and damage that could arise from potentially hard to detect and intense vehicle engine fires. In addition to this internal work, we engaged with several external industry bodies to help mitigate the fire risks associated with the changing fuels base as the industry increases the use of alternative fuels and materials across the sector.
Inclusion and diversity At CRH people are our priority and we are committed to fostering an inclusive working environment that supports our people at all times. We understand that we all have a responsibility to ensure that there is mutual respect in the workplace and our aim is to promote a safe and healthy work environment, paying attention to both physical and mental wellbeing. It is clear that by fostering an inclusive and diverse work environment free from discrimination or harassment that our employees will be able to bring their most authentic selves to work.We listen carefully to what our employees are telling us through Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) that have been established across many of our operating companies and sponsored by senior leadership. For example, Mosaic is an ERG open to all employees with a mission to advance employees and communities of colour. In addition, our ERG for Women and Allies advocates for issues facing women in the workplace, such as potential barriers to advancement or a lack of inclusive PPE, for example. The vision and mission of our ERGs are to be a key enabler of CRH’s commitment to an inclusive workplace by enhancing the experience for all employees. We are working hard to dismantle any pathways that may lead to structural inequalities. In 2022, approximately 250 senior leaders from across CRH participated in a six-month Inclusive Leadership Programme to advance the move beyond awareness of unconscious biases, towards deeper behavioural and skills building.
CASE STUDY CASE STUDY CASE STUDY As the geopolitical situation in Ukraine evolved this year our most important job has been to keep our 820 colleagues in Ukraine safe. Our teams on the ground have worked to ensure this and supported our colleagues and their families to transfer to safer locations. CRH leaders have maintained regular communication with those in Ukraine and coordinated efforts have been established to help CRH employees with what they may need in the longer-term. Throughout the crisis we have retained clear communication with our employees regarding the events taking place on the ground and have developed ways to show our support over these difficult times.In addition to providing this support, we have partnered with UNICEF to donate over $1 million, our employees have also donated $280k and we have matched this with another donation of $280k to support the humanitarian relief efforts on the ground in Ukraine. The money donated is being used to set up and run four ‘Blue Dot’ centres along the border areas. You can read more about the ways in which we are supporting our employees in Ukraine on pages 4, 52 and 55 of our Sustainability Performance Report. Safeguarding our employees in Ukraine
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CASE STUDY CASE STUDY
Developing community engagement We want to help, support and strengthen the communities in which we operate and we understand that collaboration is always needed to bring about a positive impact. Our operating companies support local livelihoods and businesses and build strong, transparent relationships with our stakeholders to positively influence local change. We understand that through education we can help people within our communities to develop careers and over the last two years at CRH we had approximately 1,880 educational interactions with 73,900 people participating. These interactions included career development guidance for students, provision of work experience, bringing science alive and site tours.The EQIOM Rochefort-Sur-Nenon plant, part of our Europe Materials Division, has welcomed over 650 visitors to the site in recent years to learn about the cement plant, processes used on site, history and teams. By conducting site tours, EQIOM hopes to inspire the next generations’ interest in STEM subjects and highlighting the possibilities for fulfilling work through the construction industry. These visits also provide a platform to demonstrate in a very transparent way the operation of the plant and helps develop trust and provide an arena for discussion on any issues that may arise. Supply chain Ethical Labour standard
Tarmac, part of our Europe Materials Division, is the UK’s leading building materials and construction solutions business and has again been verified under BES 6002, the Ethical Labour Sourcing (ELS) standard, which was developed by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in response to the 2015 Modern Slavery Act.The ELS standard aims to verify companies that are applying due diligence around human rights and ethical concerns when sourcing materials, products and services, including labour, and which are actively identifying and working towards eradicating the exploitation of vulnerable workers.BRE’s ethical sourcing standard assesses organisations across 12 areas, including management structure and systems, learning and development, bribery and corruption, procurement and supply chain management. Case studies - continued
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10 Measuring effectiveness and year-on-year progress Through our annual Review process we assess over 85 human rights criteria. The Review process covers areas such as policy implementation, safety across the employee and contractor value chain together with employee diversity, discrimination, freedom of association, forced labour, and fair payment. Performance data is also collected on employee development across different categories and types, including employee training, career development and employee engagement. Data is also collected around community engagement and the types of initiatives in place across the Group. The results of the Health and Safety, Environment and Social Reviews are included in the report to the SESR Committee.As part of our CRH Health and Safety, Environment and Social Reviews, a human rights assessment is conducted annually. In addition, our operating companies also complete individual human rights assessments and have systems in place to ensure compliance with human rights best practices. Where issues are identified, mitigation plans are put in place to ensure steps are taken to bring these companies up to CRH best practices within a specific time frame. Labour practices We embrace and comply with local wage and working time laws. Our operating companies offer entry-level wages at or above the minimum wage, with companies having policies in place to ensure a living wage.Policies or procedures are in place at our operating companies to prevent excessive working hours. Human rights due diligence is completed across our value chain, including our suppliers, our operations and all CRH acquisitions. Where deficiencies are identified, for example in Health and Safety standards, improvement plans are put in place together with the relevant investment needed to ensure the safety of employees, contractors and the communities where we operate.Across the Group in 2022 there were 29 acquisitions. Due diligence was carried out and included our Health and Safety audit programmes and Human Resources checks. As a result of these processes, specific plans are put in place to improve Health and Safety standards as required. Measures are taken to ensure the new acquisitions align with the CRH Life Saving Rules. In some cases this may involve the installation of further machine guarding, improving access to heights and pedestrian vehicle segregation. These remediation plans help progress our ambition to have a culture of safety and wellness working towards zero harm across all CRH companies. The performance of these companies is tracked through the specific health and safety audits and the Annual Review process, with these acquisitions reporting performance in 2022. Every year we carry out detailed Health and Safety, Environment and Social assessments of all our operating companies as well as, where possible, associates and joint venture partners. These annual assessments are referred to as the Reviews and the key objective is to verify the implementation of the CRH Health and Safety, Environment and Social policies and to review performance against our salient human rights issues.
As part of our Sustainability reporting, CRH’s approach to stakeholder engagement is reviewed as part of an independent assurance process for adherence to the AA1000 AccountAbility principles of inclusivity, materiality, responsiveness and impact.
Due diligence processes Outcomes Internal due diligence
In 2022, we found zero cases of forced or compulsory labour and no employees or contractors under the relevant legal age working at any location among our businesses (zero cases reported in 2021). The Social Review also found that all migrant workers have similar legal protection to other employees and all companies permit trade unions, with 20% of CRH employees being members of trade unions (20% in 2021).
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Measuring effectiveness and year-on-year progressWe monitor compliance with our human and labour rights policies in relation to issues, such as modern slavery, across all CRH companies and review labour practices annually. Within our supply chain, we increase our assurance and due diligence response in accordance to the risk we identify for the spend area. Methods we prescribe in our SCoC include:Due Diligence
External due diligence
3rd party onsite audit Partners providing audit and improvement plans as part of supplier site visits.
Industry partnership schemes For specific commodities we partner and collaborate with organisations dedicated to improving standards across industry sectors.
3rd party desktop audit Independent review of data submissions from suppliers to an industry standard.
Identify and assess human rights across vulnerable groups, including forced labour, child labour, freedom of association, equal pay, discriminationWhere issues arise, put in place mitigation plans to remediate and prevent reoccurrencesMonitor through audits, CRH 24/7 Hotline, engagements, trade association networkCommunicate internally and externally to promote best practice and prevent human rights abuses Mitigation Partners
Know Your Supplier Acknowledgement of CRH SCoC and Application Programming Interface (API) links to key external data points to identify any sanctions implications, financial health, adverse media or prosecutions of companies.
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Global direct sourcing audit summary Like most international businesses we source goods and materials from best value countries. The human rights and modern slavery risks within these countries vary and our Global Direct Sourcing (GDS) team, based in Shanghai, work to ensure that all of these suppliers meet our expectations.
Audit critical gap trends Unsuccessful Multiple or unresolved issues leading to review and exit. Inconsistent Outstanding issues that are being worked on to meet our minimum standards. Meets Compliance with the audit conditions required to meet our SCoC. Exceeds Compliance with the audit conditions required to meet our SCoC with some areas of good practice and innovation. Leads Compliance with the audit conditions required to meet our SCoC and consistent delivery of best practice and value through innovation.
Audit performance Environment20222021Labour Practices 100% of Corrective Action Plans have been completed Unsuccessful Critical Gaps Base Standard Good Excellent
Wage and benefitsHealth & SafetyWorking hours
UnsuccessfulCritical GapsBase standardGoodExcellent
B a s e li n e
P e r f o r m a n ce
54%4%29%13% 2022 24 audits 48% 20% 14% 8% 4%
49% 25% 17% 9% 6%
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Conflict minerals reporting
Section 1502 of U.S. Dodd Frank Act requires U.S. publicly-listed companies to check their supply chains for tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold, if they might originate in Congo or its neighbours, take steps to address any risks they find, and to report on their efforts every year to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The EU Conflict Minerals Regulations require importers to establish strong company management systems, identify and assess risk in their supply chains, design and implement a strategy to respond to identified risks, carry out an independent third-party audit of supply chain due diligence and report annually on supply chain due diligence. CRH is committed to responsibly sourcing all its products and raw materials, as outlined in the SCoC and in-line with applicable legislation*. Our objective is to ensure that our direct suppliers are not using tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold (3TG) minerals from sources that directly or in-directly finance or benefit armed groups in Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas (CAHRAs). CRH has identified over the last ten years that a small portion of our product portfolio included components which contain 3TG and this had minimal impact on our supply chain. Purchases from suppliers of these components represented less than 1% in 2022 (2021: approximately 2%) of CRH’s cost of raw materials and goods for resale.In 2022, all these products related to certain glazing products within our Building Envelope business which was divested on the 3 May 2022. In this context up to the date of divestment we identified a total of 3 suppliers from whom float glass with trace amounts of tin on the surface in the oxide form was purchased (the “Identified Suppliers”). This float glass, which the Group purchased from suppliers, was used by the Building Envelope business prior to its divestment and was made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal, typically tin. Trace amounts of tin remained on the surface of the float glass in the oxide form. Assessment of conflict minerals in our supply chain Due diligence and mitigation measures we have in place to develop a conflict-free supply chain include:• Continuous inquiries across our business to ensure we have appropriately identified and assessed the risk relating to the use of 3TG in the Group’s products.
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Very Good Very Good Excellent Case study Demonstrating performance throughout the value chain Concrete is the world’s most widely used building material. We continue to demonstrate the sustainability credentials of our products to our clients and customers by achieving responsible sourcing certification of our products.Increasingly our customers are looking to us to provide solutions and insights into our shared responsible supply chains. To tackle this, CRH continues its active membership of the Concrete Sustainability Council (CSC). As a founding member, CRH works to bring together major players Excellent and stakeholders across the industry to develop a global responsible sourcing certification system for concrete and its direct industry supply chain. Ethical labour and business practices are a key element of the CSC scheme and it is aligned with the BES 6001. The CSC and BES 6001 are the dominate responsible sourcing certification schemes in many markets and provide credits to the major building sustainability certification schemes BREEAM ® and LEED ® .
CASE STUDY
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To ensure a strong “Speak Up” culture at CRH, we provide an independent, confidential way to report concerns through a “Hotline” facility. The Hotline is hosted by a third party, is available 24/7, offers multi-lingual services, and allows for anonymous reporting. The CRH Hotline is available for employees, customers, suppliers and other external stakeholders to raise any good faith concerns they may relate to compliance with our CoBC or other CRH policies or possible violations of local laws. CRH investigates all reported concerns and takes appropriate action in response to investigation findings. For more information about Speaking Up at CRH, please see our Speak Up Policy on crh.com here.In 2022, a total of 369 concerns were raised globally and 22 proven incidents resulted in disciplinary action. For more information see pages 60-61 in the CRH 2022 Sustainability Performance Report, available on crh.com here.CRH does not tolerate retaliation and is committed to ensuring that anyone reporting a reasonably-held concern will not be negatively treated. In addition, an employee suspected of retaliation against a person who has reported a concern will be investigated in accordance with disciplinary procedures.
All policies are available online for employees and the CoBC and SCoC can be downloaded from crh.com. All in-scope employees are trained annually in the CoBC and the training is available in 21 languages.Procurement teams are continuously trained in responsible sourcing issues, tools and techniques. In 2022, we expanded our Modern Slavery e-Learning across the Group. This training was developed to increase employee awareness of the potential of modern slavery to occur and the steps to take to report any issues that can help stop modern slavery. We also provided updated training in key sustainability areas including climate change and Inclusion & Diversity. This training forms a key part of meeting our target of 95% of employees receiving training in the reporting year. At CRH, we take a holistic approach to training. Our front line leadership and senior management development programmes include strategic modules covering the spectrum of human rights issues, including health and safety, developing an inclusive workplace and leading with integrity. We are working to ensure our commitment to human rights is integrated into all levels of the business.
CRH encourages employees and partners within its supply chain to also “Speak Up” TrainingSpeak Up process
Code of Business Conduct
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CRH plc Stonemason’s WayRathfarnhamDublin 16D16 KH51Ireland www.crh.comRegistered Office 42 Fitzwilliam Square Dublin 2D02 R279IrelandCRH ® is a registered trade mark of CRH plc. CRH2266 Page: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18