We respect human rights

Elenia respects all internationally recognised human rights. We are committed to complying with the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and the principles of the UN Global Compact initiative.

We recognise that companies have a responsibility to respect human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP), and we are committed to implementing these principles in our operations.

A key human right in Elenia’s operations is ensuring a safe and healthy working environment. We are committed to promoting the safety of our stakeholders in all our operations.

We have identified that the most significant human rights impacts and risks are related to the safety of our partners’ and sub-contractors’ work sites. The safety of the working environment is essential, especially for our contracting and construction partners and sub-contractors, whose employees often work in challenging conditions on construction sites in our construction and contracting projects.

We are committed to promoting the safety of all the employees working on construction sites – both our own and those of our partners and sub-contractors – through training, appropriate safety measures and safety inspections, among other things.

How we promote safety

• We organise regular statutory safety training for all of our employees working on construction sites and those of our partners and sub-contractors.
• We provide all Elenia employees and the employees of our electricity network partners with a safety guide, which describes the electrical safety practices required by Elenia at construction sites.
• We invest in site supervision. We carry out regular inspections at construction sites to ensure compliance with the appropriate safety measures. These are reported on a monthly basis.
• We use a safety application that is widely used by all employees working on construction sites. The application includes interactive safety communication and the reporting and monitoring tools of accidents and near misses.
• We reward construction site employees for promoting a safety culture through safety incentives.
• We publish a comprehensive annual safety report on the safety of construction sites.

We are committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion in all aspects of our operations. It is important to us that everyone at Elenia works well together and conducts themselves appropriately. Promoting equal pay between genders is also a high priority for us.

We do not tolerate harassment, discrimination, bullying or other inappropriate conduct in any form in our operations. Elenia’s Code of Conduct sets the standards for conduct at work, and we expect the same from our partners.

We provide induction training to our personnel on the topic of our Code of Conduct and diversity in working life.

We apply the same principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and respect to the temporary workers and other partners who work for us.

We respect the human rights of job candidates and are committed to their realisation in our recruitment activities. We promote equal and non-discriminatory working conditions in our supply chain. We ensure equal treatment for our customers and partners. We also promote our human rights principles in cooperation with our other stakeholders.

Working with electricity networks involves safety risks. We are committed to ensuring that we identify and prevent not only risks related to the work performed by workers at our construction sites but also the safety risks for people who move, stay and live in the vicinity of the construction sites. We take a comprehensive and proactive approach to preventing electricity-related hazards.

We continuously safeguard the smooth running of our customers’ everyday lives, for example, by preparing for various disturbances, such as difficult weather conditions and disruptions in the electricity distribution caused by them. We also take care of managing the balance of electricity production and consumption in electricity distribution.

Ensuring a safe and healthy working environment is a key aspect of human rights in Elenia’s operations. Elenia is committed to respecting and promoting the human rights of the company’s own personnel and its stakeholders in all of its operations, in accordance with internationally recognised human rights. We require the same from our partners. We promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

We are committed to preventing accidents and hazardous situations in line with the principles of the Zero Accidents forum. Our goal is for everyone who works for Elenia to get home safely at the end of each day.

We have recognised that our most significant human rights impacts and risks are related to the on-site safety of our partners’ and subcontractors’ employees. The safety of the working environment is essential particularly for our partners and subcontractors, whose employees often work in challenging conditions at our sites.

We are committed to promoting the safety of all the employees who work for Elenia – including our own employees and those of our partners and subcontractors – through various means, including training, appropriate safety measures and safety inspections.

Elenia’s procurements consist of contracting, material, ICT and indirect procurements. From the perspective of the realisation of human rights, the most important issues are ensuring appropriate working conditions for employees working in supply chains and preventing modern slavery and child labour.

From material and ICT suppliers, we purchase medium and low-voltage cables, smart electricity meters and link boxes, among other things. Our supply chains also expand Elenia’s operations outside Finland. For our part, we want to ensure that the human rights of our procurement partners’ employees are respected and their realisation is promoted both in Finland and in other target countries.

The challenge in ensuring the sustainability of long supply chains lies in their limited visibility. We assess the human rights impacts and risks of our suppliers and supply chains, for example, through our partners’ sustainability audits.

How we promote the realisation of human rights

• We carry out sustainability audits of our suppliers annually.
• The Code of Conduct for Elenia’s partners defines the framework conditions for the sustainability of the procurement partners’ operations also from the perspective of human rights.
• The partners commit to the Code of Conduct in connection with the conclusion of a contract.

• We organise safety training to ensure that all of our employees and partners have the necessary information, understanding and opportunity to apply safe and healthy working methods in their work.
• To ensure the safety of work, we have collaborated with our partners to produce Safely Back Home safety instructions and a Safety Guide that describes the electrical safety practices required by Elenia at construction sites.
• We invest in site supervision. We carry out regular inspections at construction sites to ensure compliance with the appropriate safety measures. These are reported on a monthly basis.
• We have a health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) system that is extensively used by both Elenia’s own employees and our partners. The system features include safety communication tools, a daily risk assessment tool and the monitoring of accidents and near misses.
• We reward Elenia’s own employees and our partners’ employees for promoting safety culture by means of safety incentives. We also reward our partners annually as part of our safety campaign.
• We publish a comprehensive monthly Safety Report.