The Health and Safety policy is based on the application of the requirements of relevant standards – OHSAS 18001:2007 and other international standards – in compliance with national and international regulations.
For Health and Safety, Hitachi Rail STS undertakes to:
Hitachi Rail STS is very mindful of the safety of all its employees while travelling for work purposes. Therefore, it has implemented a specific policy for business travels and has adopted initiatives to promote employee welfare in workplaces. The Travel Security policy was implemented to minimise the exposure of its international business travellers and assignees to medical and security risks.
-20.3%
Reduction of Injury frequency index
(number of injuries / hours worked x 200,000)
-59.6%
Reduction of Injury severity index
(number of injuries / hours worked x 200,000)
Hitachi Rail STS offers equal opportunities beginning with the recruitment process, ensuring equal treatment while considering individual skills and abilities.
Over the course of employment, Hitachi Rail STS undertakes to create and maintain the necessary conditions to further expand upon employees’ abilities and expertise on an equal opportunity basis, through a policy based on the recognition of merits and equal opportunities and the provision of specific refresher and specialisation courses. As such, employees are required to cultivate and draw on new expertise, abilities and knowledge, while executives and function heads must devote the utmost attention to enhancing and developing the professionalism of their workers.
In the pursuit of company objectives, workers must be aware that ethics are of immense value to the Company and accordingly, no conduct is tolerated that, although it may appear in the abstract to benefit Hitachi Rail STS, is in violation of the law, current regulations, the organisational, management and control model or the Code of Ethics.
The employees of Hitachi Rail STS are represented in the following tables. They are broken down by gender, geographical location, professional categories, degree/diploma, age and company seniority.
The People Care concept has a broad application within Hitachi Rail STS and applies to employees’ wellbeing as both professionals and individuals. The basic concept is linked to the Total Reward strategy, based on tangible and intangible measures to improve staff satisfaction. It is no coincidence that People represents one of the Company’s five values in its identity: people are at the very heart of the Organisation, demonstrating the Company’s aim to create a working environment where employees can continuously gain experience, develop skills, forge relationships and find motivation.
Hitachi Rail STS’s focus on people can be first seen in the way it guarantees a comfortable and motivational working environment by actively supporting, through its corporate processes, relationships between managers and employees and relationships between colleagues. Furthermore, there are various support services available in different countries for both part time and full time employees and, in some cases, their families as well. Flexible schedules, arrangements with entertainment and sports centres, benefits such as health insurance, employee scholarships, corporate welfare and celebrations of successful projects are some of the tools used.
Hitachi Rail STS follows an extensive policy to manage initiatives that support employees. This policy includes a series of benefits allocated and used on the basis of an employee’s professional position and the social and cultural customs in their respective countries.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy provides a wellbeing plan to its employees through a dedicated portal, “Easy Welfare”. In line with the provisions of the national labour agreement for the industry, offers numerous services and possibilities that have enabled beneficiaries to access the tax and social security benefits provided by current law. The contribution to the welfare plan offered to employees in 2017 was EUR 100 per employee, with a phase-in process that will reach EUR 150 in 2018 and EUR 200 in 2019.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers its employees supplementary health insurance cover. These policies cover a wide range of medical needs (e.g. specialist examinations, hospitalisation, medical services, etc.) and vary according to each employee’s professional position (executives and middle managers, white and blue collars have different limits of indemnity). In 2017, in line with the provisions of the 26/11/2016 renewal of the Collective Labour Agreement for the Metal/Mechanics and Systems Installation Industry, all employees (excluding those on probation) received supplementary health insurance coverage for themselves, any physically dependent relatives and cohabitants. Employees may decide whether to take out these additional policies. Should they decide to do so, a monthly contribution is withheld from their payslips to cover part of the cost, while the Company bears the residual amount.
Hitachi Rail STS France offers a supplementary health insurance plan which covers employees and their families and which has been made mandatory through a Company agreement.
Hitachi Rail STS Australia has consolidated the agreement with Medibank Private and RT Health (a fund established in Australia to offer specific support to workers in the transport industry), providing access for employees to an excellent and comprehensive health plan at very competitive rates, as well as a range of special membership benefits such as shorter waiting times and free gifts.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers its employees insurance for work and non-work related accidents covering accidents both in the workplace and outside the workplace, for all employees, seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The cost of this policy, which covers all employees, is fully covered by the Company.
The same policy is offered in France, Australia and China to all white-collar workers. It is not offered in the US, as this kind of cover is included in the Company’s life insurance policy.
Hitachi Rail STS Australia offers salary continuance insurance to employees who work more than 15 hours per week. The policy provides for the assignment of 75% of their income for a maximum of two years if the employee is unable to work due to illness or injury.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers executives the chance to have an annual medical check-up with the full cost covered by the Company.
In China, these check-ups are offered to all employees.
In Spain, the Company is contractually obliged to offer periodic health checks to all employees as this is an established workers’ right; similarly, all employees are required to see a doctor when it becomes necessary to assess the effects of working conditions, to establish whether the workers’ health could present a danger to themselves, to other workers or to other parties associated with the Company, or when otherwise provided for by law.
In Italy, France, China, Malaysia, Australia and the US, Hitachi Rail STS offers an accident insurance policy covering any accidents or first aid and medical care (as well as luggage and personal item coverage) to employees working abroad (either on a business trip or under secondment). The costs of this policy are fully covered by the Company. Hitachi Rail STS China has also begun offering this policy.
Hitachi Rail STS provides life insurance to its employees. The costs of this policy are fully covered by the Company.
This policy is offered to Hitachi Rail STS executives in Italy and Spain, and to executives and all full-time employees in the US (Company life insurance, accidental death & dismemberment & LTD insurance).
In France, in line with local legislation, a supplementary health insurance plan is in place which covers employees and their families, the conditions of which are specified in the Company agreement.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers certain categories of employees’ access to company cars on a policy similar to a lease. The car may also be used for personal reasons and may be used by employees and their family members or close friends with prior notification to the Company.
Employees pay a monthly contribution, while the Company pays the remaining amount. Company cars may be assigned to executives and middle managers with high profiles in Italy and Spain, and to Hitachi Rail STS executives in the US. They are also offered in France and China. In Australia, company cars are assigned to employees exclusively for business purposes, while key executives receive a car allowance as part of their remuneration package.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers executives with company cars a fuel allowance up to an annual limit. The costs are fully covered by the Company.
Hitachi Rail STS offers housing to employees seconded in the medium to long-term. The cost of the housing is fully covered by the Company.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy offers employees the possibility to obtain corporate credit cards linked to the employee’s bank account at special terms agreed by Hitachi Rail STS and the bank.
The credit cards available to Hitachi Rail STS employees are Visa and American Express. The costs of Visa cards are fully covered by the Company, whereas employees contribute to a small portion of the costs charged by American Express.
Hitachi Rail STS also offers its Italian employees the possibility to open current accounts under special terms with selected banks. Furthermore, bank branches and ATMs are located at some of the main offices of Hitachi Rail STS US, making it easier and more efficient for employees to access the main banking services.
In Spain and Australia, credit cards are linked to the employees’ bank accounts and only offered to people who travel frequently for work to cover business expenses. In France, credit cards are also linked to employees’ bank accounts and are provided to all employees who require one to cover travel expenses.
Hitachi Rail STS offers its employees the possibility of joining professional associations (e.g. Register of Engineers). The cost of membership is fully covered by the Company.
This benefit is offered to executives of Hitachi Rail STS Italy and the entire workforce in the US, but is not provided to employees of Hitachi Rail STS France where the benefits are granted on a case-by-case basis.
In Hitachi Rail STS Australia and China, the Company refunds membership costs to engineers and managers if they have been approved by HR. In Italy, the Company is carrying out a project with the Register of Engineers to organise training courses at its sites so employees can earn the credits needed for membership.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy, France and US provide a canteen service at all main offices (e.g. Genoa, Pittsburgh, Les Ulis, Tito, etc.).
In France, employees contribute to the canteen costs through deductions in payslips, whereas in the other offices services are paid for directly. This service is provided under special terms which are regulated by agreements between Hitachi Rail STS and the companies that operate the canteens. In Italy, meals are covered by the Company.
Hitachi Rail STS’s expansion in markets and its current organisational model require the presence of its personnel in many different countries, which often present challenging safety conditions and weak healthcare and welfare systems. To mitigate critical issues arising from travel and relocation abroad, Hitachi Rail STS has implemented a system at all sites to ensure adequate protection from outside events.
Hitachi Rail STS Italy employees have set up recreation centres, referred to as “CRAL”. These are a form of free association of workers and are structured as separate entities from the Company.
Employees who join the CRALs pay a fee deducted from their payslip. Membership entails a contribution by the Company. CRAL members may participate in a number of activities (sports or other) and take advantage of discounts at partnering shops (bookshops, opticians, etc.).
In Australia, the creation of the Health and Wellbeing Committee has led to significant improvements in employees’ work-life balance. The Committee – a work group formed of volunteers from various departments and supervised by a local HSE manager and the vice chairman of HR – meets once a month to discuss initiatives and measures to improve employees’ wellbeing and, with the support of the Company, promotes events and initiatives on health issues in connection with local traditions. Recently, the Health and Wellbeing Committee has reached new horizons, succeeding in offering employees at the Perth office access to a “silent room”, a space designed to be available to all employees at any time of the working day for use as a relaxation area.
This room serves as a mixed faith silent space for silent prayer, meditation and yoga, a place to rest if feeling unwell and a space to perform first aid and annual skin and health checks. Meanwhile, employees at the Brisbane office have access to the “square”, a covered outdoor space just outside the office equipped with picnic tables at which to eat or read and a tennis table for those who want to relax during their lunch break.
Hitachi Rail STS India Social Committee is an employee engagement initiative with an objective to plan, organize and implement social events for the company throughout the year. The idea was to bring more engagement and enthusiasm to the workplace, ensuring entertainment and participation in staff events, enriching employee interactions, networking between different office locations in India and much more.
The primary objective of Hitachi Rail STS’s internal communication is to involve all employees in order to connect people, establish departments, set processes in motion and interact with the systems by defining connections that give the Company added value. This involves gaining an understanding of what Hitachi Rail STS colleagues are doing around the world in order to better define future identity, priorities and goals, as part of a communication process aimed at reinforcing the sense of belonging and participation in order to achieve organisational well-being and the creation of a better work environment within a large network where knowledge and experience can be shared.
In-house communications are promoted through various activities: in-house communications campaigns to support the communications requirements of the various internal departments; meetings where colleagues have the opportunity to request additional information on topics of particular interest; the use of screens at office entrances, which are currently available at all Italian offices, where each day the Company publishes internal bulletins (campaigns by various departments to promote events or initiatives) and external notifications (including press releases, stocks and weather reports). Another important in-house communications management tool is the Intranet.
Use of the Intranet as a strategic internal and organisational communication tool has intensified considerably. Today Hitachi Rail STS is able to quickly share the most important corporate news throughout the Company.
In 2018 and in the first quarter of 2019, around 273 contents including articles and videos concerning the major initiatives and successes of Hitachi Rail STS around the world were published, as well as the Hitachi Ltd newsletter and notifications from Top Management. As regards internal communications, and to ensure ongoing cultural training on CSR and Sustainability topics, about 50 articles were circulating, including the following most important
The internal communications project We Care About Us was launched in 2018. It came out of the need to relate and communicate the benefits and opportunities that the company offers to colleagues. The project lasting one year evolved in two stages. The first was implementation of an agenda/almanac collecting the key information, and the second focused on the writing of essays published on the Intranet on a monthly basis. A new section entitled “We Care About Us” was created to support the project. It can be consulted on the Our Countries>Italy page, which is updated with contents, announcements, and additional information on the single subjects.
By analysing distributed economic value, Hitachi Rail STS studies the flow of resources directed towards its employees, suppliers, service providers, lenders, public authorities and the communities in which it operates.
The value generated by the Group as at 31.03.2019 amounts to approximately EUR 1.48 billion (+2.8% compared to the previous year), while the value invested by the Company – mainly consisting of self-financing, amortisation and depreciation, – is EUR 146.6 million (+63.4%).
| ECONOMIC VALUE GENERATED AND DISTRIBUTED (figures in EUR k) | 31.03.19 | 31.03.18 |
|---|---|---|
| Economic value generated | 1,479,723 | 1,440,028 |
| Revenue | 1,414,025 | 1,380,318 |
| Other revenue | 45,466 | 30,084 |
| Financial income | 20,232 | 29,626 |
| Economic value distributed | 1,333,125 | 1,350,313 |
| Operating costs (procurement, services and investments) | 919,185 | 936,441 |
| Employee remuneration | 351,283 | 334,537 |
| Shareholder remuneration | – | – |
| Lender remuneration | 26,781 | 42,563 |
| Public administration remuneration | 35,056 | 35,902 |
| Donations and sponsorships | 820 | 870 |
| Economic value invested into the business | 146,598 | 89,715 |
| Depreciation, amortisation, impairment losses and adjustments | 36,404 | 23,320 |
| Self-financing | 110,194 | 66,395 |
€ 1.33billion
was distributed and divided among the following stakeholders as shown below
Customer satisfaction is central to Hitachi Rail STS’s strategy: the ability to understand customers’ needs and expectations and meet them is the most important valueupon which it bases its company culture. In general, each customer is assigned a specific contact at Hitachi Rail STS, generally the Project Manager overseeing its contract.
The Project Manager is responsible for ensuring the customer is satisfied, responding to any issues that might arise over the course of the contract.
Customer Satisfaction activities take place at various stages and are carried out using different tools to accurately monitor the level of customer satisfaction and project status until the completion of the project. These tools include:
Actions to mitigate risks and increase opportunities linked to the quality, timing and costs of projects include:
Hitachi Rail STS communicates with its customers and the market in general in order to contribute to the creation of value, improving the way in which the brand is perceived by the many professionals who participate the decision-making process regarding investments and the main operating activities.
For Hitachi Rail STS, the trade fair is one of the most important sales and marketing tools, where privileged contact is made between the exhibitor company and the stakeholder. It is a strategic tool for being in the front line and for building customer relations.
The following trade fairs are of particular note:
| Month | Event | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2018 | 26-28 UIC ERTMS World Conference |
Milan |
|
| April 2018 | 16-19 European Transport Research | Vienna | |
| May 2018 | 22-24 RSSI | Omaha, USA | |
| September 2018 | 18-21 Innotrans | Berlin | |
| November 2018 | 6-8 CBTC World Congress | Paris | |
| 7-9 Rail + Metro China | Shanghai | ||
| 27-28 AusRail | Canberra | ||
| February 2019 | 26-27 Middle East Rail | Dubai |
The advertising campaign implemented by Hitachi Rail STS aims to define the Company’s identity, constructing an increasingly consolidated and instantly recognisable brand identity and aiming to promote the brand’s values through a slogan. The advertising campaign that brought the best results was the one implemented in collaboration with the Cristoforo Colombo airport of Genoa.
AusRAIL, Canberra (Australia)
AusRAIL is the most important railway trade fair held in Australia. The event hosts over 400 exhibitors and stages the leading stakeholders of the rail transport industry. Hitachi Rail STS participated in this edition of AusRAIL to promote its skills in the field of automation thanks to the ATO (Automatic Train Control), ETCS L2 (European Train Control System) and GoA4 (Grade of Automation level 4) technologies applied to execution of the AutoHaul® project in Australia.
Innotrans (Berlin)
Hitachi Rail STS attended the most important international trade fair in the Rail sector with a high-impact stand shared with colleagues from Hitachi Rail S.p.A. Visitors and experts had access to special areas dedicated to meetings as well as an advanced virtual reality device made available by the Company, which enables users to explore driverless Hitachi Rail STS stations throughout the world.
In view of the increasing importance of the supply chain’s social and environmental aspects, Hitachi Rail STS has drawn up new criteria to assess and monitor its suppliers and to define a new action plan to assist them in improving their sustainability.
Hitachi Rail STS’s supplies include:
Orders by suppliers’ geographic location were as follows:
Supplier vetting and the process for the purchase of assets, goods and services are carried out in accordance with the principles of the Code of Ethics and internal quality procedures, as well as current health, safety and environmental regulations.
In order to increase integration and improve the management of suppliers along the Supply Chain, a new unit called Supply Chain Quality was created, and it comprises three bodies: Supplier Qualification & Monitoring, Quality control and Incoming Inspection. The qualification process is interdisciplinary and based on the opinions of several units involved therein under the guidance of this new body. This includes the technical, procurement, quality and HSE departments.
Furthermore a cloud-based qualification IT platform was implemented to globally standardise and centralise management of the qualification process and supplier documentation in a single database. The digitalisation of this process led to greater control in addition to allowing the data management methodology to be further developed in an extremely vaster way in view of additional improvements to the system for monitoring activities carried out by the qualified suppliers.
The supplier questionnaire was further consolidated, focusing on the following HSE aspects:
The questionnaire is sent to all new suppliers during the qualification phase.
Hitachi Rail STS conducts an initial mapping of its supply chain with respect to compliance with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria. Indeed, the standard purchase order model includes general supply conditions and compliance with the Code of Ethics; furthermore, when vetting new suppliers, Hitachi Rail STS gathers information on their compliance with quality, hygiene, health and safety in the workplace standards and their environmental policies and requires certification according to standards ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001. These characteristics are considered preferential requisites and contribute to assigning the score for qualification.
The results of the mapping were as follows: ;
The mapping of the supplier base, made easier by centralising the process management at global level and its digitalisation, is one more step taken in a specific Supply Chain sustainability policy. The main guidelines of this policy are:
the extension of periodic monitoring activities to critical and A Class suppliers.
The economic benefit of working with Hitachi Rail STS can be measured by considering the intensity of its suppliers’ workforces. Accordingly, the following should be considered:
Therefore, the labour intensity factor of Hitachi Rail STS’s orders is roughly 58%: approximately EUR 542 million is paid to suppliers to cover their labour costs.
Hitachi Rail STS, applies policies in order to uphold and promote human rightsin every context in which it operates, by creating equal opportunities for its people and fair treatment for all – regardless of race, nationality, political creed, religion, gender, age, minority status, disability, sexual orientation, personal or social condition – and always respecting the dignity of each individual and each employee.
Hitachi Rail STS does not allow nor tolerate the establishment of employment relationships, even by external collaborators, suppliers or business partners, violating the existing legislation on child, woman and immigrant labour, and carefully controls the risks associated with the employment of forced labor. In addition, the company, requires its contractors and subcontractors to ensure the same attention to this issue, with the goal to eliminate such illegal behaviours.
The main instrument through which Hitachi Rail STS guarantees its commitment to respecting human rights is the Code of Ethics, to which members of the governing and controlling bodies, executives and employees – including those of the companies directly or indirectly controlled by STS – comply. This also extends to all those who enter into contractual relationships which require the observance of certain obligations specified by the Company.