We are committed to ensuring that a culture of strong governance, ethics and integrity is embedded within our business and this is equally the case for our new parent company CRH plc. This is not only the right thing to do, but helps us to maintain the trust of our stakeholders and our licence to operate. It also reduces business risk.

We have a detailed Code of Business Conduct that defines the high standards we expect from our employees and our partners – including suppliers and contractors, who must comply with the code as a prerequisite for doing business with us. The Code of Business Conduct sets out expected behaviour in areas such as human rights, discrimination, the giving of gifts and hospitality, the use of social media and data protection. We encourage all employees to speak to their line manager if they feel our Code of Business Conduct is being breached in any way. We also provide a confidential ‘Speak Up’ service that allows staff, contractors, hauliers and suppliers to anonymously report concerns about a potential violation of our code or corporate ethics. Our employees continued to work in accordance with the CRH Code of Business Conduct in 2016.

Read our case study: Implementing the CRH Code of Business conduct

We have an Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy, supported by training, that applies to our employees and to our suppliers. We continued to build and roll out ‘toolbox talks’ on anti-bribery and corruption for employees at site level during 2016.

We use quarterly business risk assessments to identify and assess key risks. These assessments are reviewed, checked and challenged by our senior management team and by our Audit Committee to ensure risks are well understood and that risk mitigation actions are put in place. In addition to this action at corporate level, we carry out quarterly risk assessments at business unit and functional levels.

Now that Tarmac are part of CRH PLC, we have responsibilities to report in compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act in the US. The act was introduced to improve accounting practices and counter fraudulent practices. Extensive work to review Tarmac’s accounting systems and processes was undertaken during 2016 to ensure that our already robust work practices lived up to strict expectations imposed under SOx.

Read our case study: Tarmac achieves compliance with The Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002

The Modern Slavery Act was introduced in the UK in 2015. This important piece of legislation requires businesses to make public the steps being taken to ensure that slavery and human trafficking do not exist in their supply chain.

Throughout 2016 we have worked hard to review our procedures and working practices to manage any potential risk in our business. Through the formation of an internal working group, we have raised awareness of the legislation’s requirements among employees, suppliers and customers and developed further actions to manage risk in our supply chain.

Read our cases study: Modern Slavery in the Supply Chain

We’ve also worked closely with our parent company CRH PLC to release our first Modern Slavery Statement.

Read our Modern Slavery Statement

Our sustainability strategy forms an integral part of our vision and is central to the long-term success of our business. We have processes to govern implementation of the strategy and to report on progress.

Our Executive Committee is responsible for the setting and delivery of our sustainability strategy, with actions and programmes delegated to business units and functions who receive support as needed from our central sustainability team.

The Executive Committee reviews progress against our sustainability commitments on a quarterly basis. We undertake a formal annual review of our strategy, working with our External Sustainability Panel, to ensure it continues to be relevant, appropriate and sufficiently ambitious. Our External Sustainability Panel met twice with senior members of the Tarmac during 2016.

Learn more about our External Sustainability Panel

Will be reviewing our sustainability strategy in 2017, as part of a planned commitment to review our commitments, goals and key performance indicators, ensuring that they continue to reflect the size, shape and current needs of our business.