Our business partners
Our relationships with our suppliers are based on mutual trust and respect. We have a defined Business Code of Conduct and Ethics, to which we hold both ourselves and our suppliers accountable. Imerys’ purchasing processes are based on objective supplier selection criteria with the goal of ensuring fair treatment and opportunity.
We are exacting in the selection of our suppliers and we evaluate our partners on a wide range of criteria, including health and safety as well as other Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards, performance metrics, joint innovation, contribution to our operation and total cost of ownership.
Code of conduct
At Imerys, we consider our suppliers to be key business partners. Acting in accordance with Imerys’ Supplier Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Standards is a prerequisite for working with our Group, as is applying similar standards of integrity, respect and environmental responsibility within the supplier’s own operations and supply chains.
Imerys’ suppliers must always comply with all applicable laws and regulations, and as business partners we expect our suppliers to go above and beyond this compliance in the countries in which they operate. We ask our suppliers to take positive steps to assure employee health and safety, invest in talent development, promote diversity and inclusion, respect human rights and the rights of local communities, actively reduce the environmental impacts of their operations and take necessary actions to reduce the impacts of climate change associated with the supplier’s own value chain.
The Supplier ESG Standards are based on the fundamental principles of Human Rights, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1948), the Fundamental Conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2011), the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact (2000) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).
Focus on safety
Nothing is more important to Imerys than the health and safety of our employees and the people with whom we work. Imerys’ emphasis on health and safety also extends to our suppliers, including contractors.
We require that our suppliers comply with all applicable occupational health and safety regulations and implement a health and safety management system in line with recognized international standards. In addition, suppliers must comply with all applicable Imerys environmental, health and safety policies and protocols while undertaking any work on Imerys’ sites.
Suppliers must identify, assess and mitigate all health and safety hazards associated with their own operations and should work to encourage this within their own value chains. We actively encourage our suppliers to develop a proactive health and safety culture within their operations in the pursuit of a shared ambition to maintain a safe and incident-free workplace.
Purchasing terms & conditions
Learn more about our purchasing policy in our General Terms & Conditions (GTC) document.
