Accountability and sustainability

SOCIAL AND ETHICS COMMITTEE REPORT

In line with the requirements relating to social and ethics committees as set out in the Companies Act, King III and the criteria of the JSE’s Socially Responsible Investing Index, the group has established a social and ethics committee. The committee acts on behalf of the board and is responsible for evaluating social and ethical responsibilities and making recommendations to the board thereon. The committee has all the functions and responsibilities provided for in the Companies Act. The committee members are set out in the governance structure, and attendance at meetings is set out under board and committee meetings.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The duties and responsibilities of the committee are set out in a formal terms of reference which have been approved by the committee and the board of directors.

The main duties of the committee include:

1.	Social and economic development including Stor-Age’s standing in terms of the goals and purposes of the:
	10 principles set out in the United Nations Global Compact Principles; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s recommendations regarding corruption; Employment Equity Act; Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act; Property Sector Charter; and Department of Trade and Industry Codes of good practice.
2.	Good corporate citizenship, including:
	Promotion of equality, prevention of unfair discrimination, and elimination of corruption; Contribution to development of the communities in the company’s activities are predominantly conducted or within which its products or services are predominantly marketed; Record-keeping of sponsorship, donations and charitable giving; Values and ethics; Adherence to the code of conduct; and Overseeing the monitoring, assessment and measurement of the above.
3.	The environment, health and public safety, including the impact of Stor-Age’s activities and services, monitoring of and implementing recycling practices, reducing Stor-Age’s carbon footprint, consumption of electricity, consumption of water and disposal of waste:
	Overseeing the monitoring, assessment and measurement of the company’s activities relating to the environment and health and public safety.
4.	Customer relationships, including Stor-Age’s public relations and compliance with consumer protection laws:
	Overseeing the monitoring, assessment and measurement of the company’s consumer relationships, including advertising and public relations.
5.	Labour and employment, including:
	Stor-Age’s standing in terms of the International Labour Organization standards on decent work and working conditions; Stor-Age’s employment relationships, and its contribution toward the educational development of its employees; and Overseeing the monitoring of labour and employment practices.
The committee is further tasked with:
	Reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of the company’s engagement and interaction with its stakeholders; Considering substantive national and international regulatory developments as well as best practice in the fields of social and ethics management; Reviewing and approving the company’s CSI policy; and Determining clearly articulated ethical standards (the Code of Ethics) and ensuring that the company takes measures to adhere to them in all aspects of the business, thus achieving a sustainable corporate culture in the group.

The committee’s focus areas are reported on in the acting sustainably section.

Mechanisms to encourage ethical behaviour such as the Code of Ethics and corporate citizenship policies were confirmed as adequate by the committee in the period under review.

Graham Blackshaw

Social and Ethics Committee Chairman

13 June 2017

Driven by our Core Value of Sustainability, we believe that every single decision or action that we take today, has a direct impact on all decisions or actions which can be taken tomorrow.

It means not always taking the shortest route and not always being focused on a short-term time horizon. Rather, it means that we acknowledge that what we do today, will have a direct influence on what we can do tomorrow.

We encourage the sharing of new ideas. We believe in preparing for tomorrow, today. We know that to remain the market leader in South Africa we have to continue to nurture and encourage a culture of innovation from within and find more efficient ways to do things.

We aim to build an organisation that is resilient, which can endure and adapt through multiple generations of leadership as well as multiple product life cycles.

A sustainable
organisation is
bigger than the
sum of its parts.

Financial statements

Shareholder information

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