As a major player in the rail freight industry, we take numerous actions to contribute to the respect of climate issues
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is defined by the European Commission as the voluntary integration by companies of social and environmental concerns into their business activities and their relations with stakeholders. In other words, CSR is the contribution of companies to the challenges of sustainable development.
CSR is a major issue at Ermewa, and we are convinced of its benefits for our company, for our partners and for society in general. The ISO 26000 standard defines CSR around 7 pillars. Click on the boxes below to know more.
Principle 1 : Organizational governance
Ethics charter
We are responsible towards civil society, our group and our shareholders, our partners, our staff.
Safety, Quality and Environment policy
- We have implemented a group Safety Management System (SMS), created a group Safety Management Committee and adopted a common event management method in order to provide optimized feedback,
- We keep controlling and improving compliance with procedures and regulatory requirements related to safety, quality and the Environment, communicating internally on the performance of the Safety Management System,
- We asses the risks of all our operations by using relevant indicators,
- We have signed the ERA declaration: "European Rail Safety Culture". We commit ourselves to raising awareness and promoting a positive safety culture in the railway industry,
- Our annual ‘Safety and Environment report’ provides a comprehensive view of our initiatives and results.
Principle 2 : Human rights
Anti-Corruption Code of Conduct to reinforce our mutual trust, transparency and respect while establishing principles usually dependent on common sense and practice.
Gender equality action plan
Whistleblowing guide
Principle 3 : Labor pratices
Urgency-accident-damage Procedure (Emergency plan to all impacted employees)
Provision of skills development trainings as well as safety trainings
We implemented a training structure for our employees to maintain the high level of expertise and safety required in the Rail freight business.
Principle 4 : The environnement
- Circular economy policy: we maintain, reuse, refurbish and recycle our materials.
- Continuous improvement of sites and equipment to reduce environmental impact
- In line with EU legislation, we are helping to reduce environmental noise by changing the type of brake blocks. Most of our wagons are already equipped with LL composite brake blocks (low noise, low friction), which are lighter and just as effective as cast iron blocks. Their performance has enabled us to design new compact braking systems.
This programme is co-financed by a European Union grant.
Principle 5 : Fair operating practices
IT Chart (policy on information security) : Regulations on information systems (management of the ownership of computer equipment)
Third party procedures :
Due diligence (periodic corruption risk assessments performed),
Know our partners (third party anti-corruption due diligence program for suppliers,
Code of conduct for suppliers : Our suppliers are all recognised for their ethical management. We evaluate them by means of audits and inspection criteria.
Principle 6 : Customer
- Contracts,
- Wagon technical flyers & use instructions,
- Maintenance program,
- Communication on our actions : conferences, videos, social networks (Youtube, LinkedIn) and corporate website, corporate brochure,…
Principle 7 : Community involvement and development
- Ermewa gets involved and supports health causes through sports events with the association “Special Olympics”
- Donations to Necker Children's Hospital (Paris – France)
EcoVadis certification
It is a collaborative platform that allows companies to assess their CSR performance. It is internationally recognised and covers 220+ industries in 180+ countries.
This performance is assessed using 21 indicators (ranging from CO2 emissions to working conditions), compatible with legal standards, and refined by a network of experts.
It is a voluntary process and the assessment covers 4 topics: Environment, Labour and human rights, Business Ethics (fair trade pratices), Sustainable procurement.
Circular economy is in our DNA
Ermewa SA is an example of a successful circular economy: 95 to 99% of the components of our wagons are recyclable.
Each year we:
– design: our experts work with our manufacturers to design sustainable wagons
– maintain: over 58,000 maintenance operations to ensure the availability and reliability of our fleet
– reuse: our specialist teams redeploy wagons at the end of their lease for new use
– refurbish: +700 wagons, extending their life by at least 10 years
– recycle: an average of 2,000 wagons to recover high quality parts and materials
To recover the waste from the scrap metal, including the waste rock (tarpaulins and wooden floors), we have initiated partnerships with recyclers. Waste rock is the part of the wagon that is usually not reused. The metals are systematically recovered.
Doing so, we give a second life to materials from our end-of-life wagons: our tarpaulins are being transformed into bags (see the video), our wooden floors into meeting tables (see the video), into Brewery furniture (see the video) or even into garden furniture.
