The Ethical Stone Register (ESR) is an important development for the natural stone industry. The aim is to ensure that scheme members are able to provide customers and clients with the reassurance that they take environmental, sustainability and ethical issues seriously and are prepared to take actions within their own business to tackle them.
Stone Federation considers the issue of Ethical Sourcing as something the natural stone industry must tackle head on. Recent reports in the national press (the Guardian report on the Dark Sites of Granite) have further raised awareness of an issue that we must all take a responsibility for. It shouldn’t matter if you are a quarry operator, stone importer or installer of kitchen worktops – the common linkage is likely to be the use of natural stone.
The ESR has three set levels, the higher that a company moves through the scheme the greater the amount and detail of information will be required about how they operate. While at the entry level information ‘declared’ is reviewed and assessed, by the time the next level is achieved the information supplied is then independently verified.
Stone Federation believes and will be actively working towards all members being engaged in the scheme to at least the entry or ‘Declaration’ level by the start of 2019. This, like engagement with the provision of Health and Safety information, will become a mandatory element of membership.
Members are being asked to engage now so that support can be provided and the ambition to have everyone enlisted by the end of this year can be met.
The following sections provide more information about the entry level approach and requirements of Declaration Level in the ESR.
Simply by engaging in these activities should bring business benefits – this could be by reducing costs through minimising waste or resources like fuel and electricity - but also by creating commercial advantages for participating organisations by allowing them to demonstrate to potential clients that they have practices in place that help set them apart from the competition. Very specifically in relation to the use of natural stone it aims to help demonstrate that there is understanding and knowledge of where materials were sourced from. Concerns from clients are increasing all the time about an association with products and materials used on their projects that could, for example, be linked to slave or child labour. Clients of all sizes are now making active purchasing decisions on the information they have available on the products they select. Fairtrade Coffee and the ‘FSC’ branding on timber are two examples of recognisable branding that affect purchasing decisions.
Stone Federation will be actively promoting the scheme to the wider world ensuring that the advantages of using a scheme member are known and understood; this will include a listing on the ESR website.
Declaration level is the first step in the ethical sourcing journey; while perhaps sufficient for some very small businesses it is fully expected that some clients will expect the additional reassurance from members of the ESR that achievement of Levels 2 (Verification) or 3 (Accreditation) provide through the associated independent audit and review.
On successful completion of the Declaration Level you will receive an ESR Certificate for that year (membership will run January to December). At this ‘Declared’ level the expectation is that the content of the answers provided to all questions is sufficient for acceptance by the reviewing team; responses will be reviewed and assessed and clarification sought if the answer is not appropriate or sufficiently detailed. In this respect, the questions have been carefully devised to avoid the need for a ‘not applicable to our business’ style of response.
It would be expected that documents associated with the answers to certain specified questions would be provided as evidence. These need not be long documents, for example ‘Targets / Key performance Indicators (KPIs)’ and ‘Action Plans’ can be short tables appropriate to the size of the business (see examples below).
All businesses should be considering the issues covered as part of the ESR at a scale appropriate to their activities. In some circumstances, an item raised or solution may be considered such that an answer may be “we can influence the outcome but it is out of our control” e.g. if you are in a serviced office you can't have direct control over heating or electricity use but you can influence it by turning it off in your area or having a directive in place regarding it - like a “last one out turns the lights off” policy. Equally, most offices now should have a system for recycling waste paper, batteries or computer cartridges or for the use of low energy lightbulbs. Little things make a difference and many of them are already being done but just need to be documented. Targets should always be sensible and set with a view to helping your organisation make improvements.
| Company Name: The Good Stone Co. Ltd | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | KPI | Outcome | Date / Comments |
| Better knowledge of stone supply chains | 5 supplier visits in 2018 | X – visits achieved | Visit 1 – 25/01/2018 to FancyStone Ltd. |
| Achieve Level 1 in ESR | Submit documents by February 2018 | Level 1 achieved | Assisted in tender return. |
Example Target/KPI schedule for supply chain management
| Company Name: The Good Stone Co. Ltd | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome desired | Action required | Responsible Person | Date to be completed | Date completed | Comments & Review Date |
| Reduction in electricity used | "last one out turns the lights off" policy. | F. Bloggs | 01/02/2018 | 20/01/2018 | 01/04/18 - Energy bill reduced in first quarter |
| Improved Recycling levels | Introduction of recycling bins in offices | J. Doe | 01/02/2018 | 25/01/2018 | 01/04/18 - 15 printer cartridges recycled so far. |
Example Action Plan as part of Environmental management
These are all important issues and should be taken seriously. Stone Federation reserves the right to make spot checks on the submissions made by an organisation and also to remove them from the scheme and remove them from the ESR website should they be found to have made a false declaration or in any way brought the scheme into disrepute.
To register your company on the ESR click here or use the button on the right hand side of the page.