In 2022, Asia Cement initiated a process of human rights due diligence, making it a cornerstone of their strategy for sustainable management. The scope of investigation includes Asia Cement's own operations (including subsidiaries), suppliers, community residents, and customers. 

The human rights due diligence regularly reviews the status of human rights management by following the principles set forth in international human rights and laws and regulations. Due diligence is conducted at least once every three years to discover major human rights issues, review management performance on human rights issues, formulate improvement plans and remedial and preventive measures, and publicly disclose due diligence reports. 

Asia Cement conducts due diligence in accordance with the procedures specified in “OECD Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct”. 

 

 

Human Rights Risk Assessment

Asia Cement devises questionnaire questions for each stakeholder category, and conducts risk identification of various related issues. The company evaluate the high-risk issues for each stakeholder based on the possibility of human rights issues and the severity of the issues.

 

Mitigation and preventive management measures

Employees 

Risk Scenario Description 

Management mitigation and preventive measures 

 Establishment of Mitigation Plan for the Number of Operating Locations 

Right to health: Employees do not receive adequate operational train-ing and safety education, or work overtime in a high-pressure envi-ronment without providing legal health measures, which has a nega-tive impact on employees' physical and mental health. 
  1. We put in place an occupational safety and health management plan, as well as the goal of zero workplace accidents and various management performance indicators.
  2. We put in place plans to prevent abnormal working hours and workload, work causing musculoskeletal hazards, and illegal workplace infringement.
  3. We put in place a health management plan.
  4. New recruits receive general education training and professional training suitable for their roles as required by law before reporting for duty. During their service years, they are also given on-the-job occupational health and safety education and training at prescribed regular intervals.

All Site 

Work and labor conditions: Unfair or non-compliant working environ-ment or labor conditions will deprive employee of basic rights at work (such as working hours, wages, health and safety, equal pay for equal work, etc.). 
  1. By adhering to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Occupational Safety and Health Equipment and Measure, and other applicable laws and regulations, we put in place a good occupational health and safety management mechanism and provide employees with safe and legally compliant machinery and equipment to ensure their health and safety.
  2. We manage working hours in accordance with the law, and do not allow force labor or overtime work.
  3. We put in place a salary scale, by which all employees get equal pay for equal work.
Maternal protection: Employees are entitled to have the access to reasonable facilities and maternity leave during periods of pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. At the local level, we always comply with national laws dealing with any work-related and temporal restric-tions for pregnant employees. We have further taken reasonable mea-sures to protect pregnant employees from engaging in dangerous work. 
  1. We have devised the Operational Procedures for Protecting Maternal Health of Female Workers, by which occupational safety personnel and medical staff assess the workplaces and working environments for any hazard, put in place control measures, and implement improvement plans. Interviews and health guidance are given by registered nurses to specific employees of concern and appropriate work and follow-up measures are arranged for them.
  2. We foster a pleasant work environment and establish breastfeeding rooms.

Contractors and Supplier 

Risk Scenario Description 

Management mitigation and preventive measures 

 Establishment of Mitigation Plan for the Number of Operating Locations 

Personal freedom and safety and human trafficking: Threats, physi-cal attacks, harassment (such as sexual harassment) or any form of illegal treatment (such as human trafficking), once occurring, will lead to adverse physical and mental effects on the workers of suppliers. We require suppliers and contractors to sign and implement social responsibility policies: Employment must be voluntary, and employ-ees must be assured that they will not be subject to coerced labor, including, but not restricted to, involuntary overtime work and imprisonment. 

All Site 

Freedom of speech and expression: Suppliers have not been provided with a secure and efficient way to express their opinions, or all parties' voices are stifled through coercion, such as threatening to do harm to the personal safety, work, or life of those expressing opinions, by means of litigation, intim-idation, and threats. We require suppliers and contractors to sign and implement social responsibility policies: Unless otherwise prohibited by law, proce-dures must be in place to protect whis-tleblowers and allow them to express con-cerns without fear of reprisal. 
Freedom of assembly and associa-tion: Supplier personnel are prohibit-ed from signing up to trade unions and there are no available means for them to get involved in collective bargaining. Union representatives, participating employees, and workers engaged in legal strike are treated unfairly and unjustly. We require suppliers and contractors to sign and implement social responsibility policies: When it comes to freedom of association and labor-management negotiations, employees' rights to choose, form, join or refuse to join trade unions or other types of employee orga-nizations and their rights to participate in related activities must be respected. 

Communities and customers 

Risk Scenario Description 

Management mitigation and preventive measures 

 Establishment of Mitigation Plan for the Number of Operating Locations 

Self-determination right: 

the impact of land expropriation, construction, operations on the autonomy of local residents.

  1. "10+11" benefit-sharing mechanism for local tribes.
  2. We complete consultation and obtain consent according to FPIC principals.

All Site 

Basic standard of living: 

Improper development and construction, excessive resource consumption, and toxic/pollutant leakage from factories affect residents' access to clean natural resources (such as water, air, and land), leading to a detrimental impact on quality of life or livelihoods. 

  1. Our plants’ emissions comply with laws and regulations.
  2. Establish ISO 14001 environmental management system.

Freedom of speech and expression: 

Communities have not been provided with a secure and effi- cient way to express their opin- ions, or all parties' voices are stifled through coercion, such as threatening to do harm to the per- sonal safety, work, or life of those expressing opinions, by means of litigation, intimidation, and threats.

  1. Establish customer complaint management process.
  2. Establish community communication chan- nels.

 

Monitoring the effectiveness of  human rights policy

To track due diligence implementation, Asia Cement’s Corporate Sustainability Promotion Committee annually examines and evaluates the effectiveness of mitigation and preventive management measures every year, and reports the results to the Corporate Sustainability Committee.

 

Channels for communication and lodging grievances

In order to safeguard the rights of employees and partners in the value chain from human rights abuses or negative impacts. Asia Cement has established a Communication and Grievance Channels to ensure that employees and value chain partners have the right to file complaints, report, or lodge grievances regarding potential human rights violations. All complaints are handled anonymously. In addition, Asia Cement remedies any human rights violation or negative impact, and adopts the necessary remedial measures on the fronts of company policy and internal procedures.

Communication and Grievance Channels

  • Employee grievance mailbox:hr@acc.com.tw
  • Sexual harassment mailbox:hr@acc.com.tw
  • Community communication channels:http://quarry.acchl.com.tw/ContactUS
  • Supplier hotline:(02)27338000#6029、8594
  • Supplier mailbox:ecome@feg.com.tw
  • Unethical conduct reporting mailbox: speak-up@acc.com.tw
  • Unethical conduct reporting hotline:02-2733-8000#8195

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