Our environmental and social commitment
Roke improves the world through innovation. It’s what drives our employees to deliver their best and why our partners, in Defence, Government and Industry trust us to solve their most technically challenging, mission critical problems.
Together, we are building a safer and secure world by designing, combining and applying emerging technologies in innovative ways that keep people safe and secure, while delivering value.
Continually improving our sustainability performance plays a key role in the way we run our businesses today and plan for the future, as we manage our environmental, social and governance (ESG)-related risks.
In 2021, we continued the process of gathering and validating data to identify gaps within our knowledge. We actively engaged with our key stakeholders including customers, suppliers, employees and investors to better understand their concerns and priorities. We also conducted a mapping exercise to identify those areas and activities which align to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to set appropriate near and longer-term targets, where our actions can have the greatest impact.
Our approach is focused around:
- Establishing a strong and proactive safety and wellbeing culture
- Reducing our environmental impact
- Investing in and respecting our people
- Conducting our business with integrity
Health and Safety
Keeping our people safe, healthy and supporting their wellbeing is our number one priority. We’re committed to ensuring that all aspects of Health, Safety and protecting the Environment are effective and managed in accordance with statutory requirements, associated regulations and recognised best practices in our sector.
We provide and maintain a safe and healthy working environment by:
- Identifying hazards and implementing controls through an effective and practical risk assessment process
- Ensuring equipment is suitable for our work, is compliant with recognised standards and is inspected, maintained and serviced regularly
- Providing appropriate information and training for all employees, visitors and contractors to carry out their tasks and work safely
- Consulting and working with our employees on all aspects of safety and environmental matters to deliver continual improvement
- Acting on any safety concerns, near misses and incidents, identifying improvements and implementing controls to protect people.
- Roke’s HSE management systems are certified to International standards ISO45001: 2018 (Occupational Health and Safety) and ISO 14001: 2015 (Environmental). We are also one of the first companies to be certified to the International standard ISO45003:2021 (Psychological Health and Safety at Work), demonstrating our commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and ensuring decent working conditions, and the health and wellbeing of our people
Environment
We have managed our carbon footprint and reduced this through ‘Green tariffs’ for electricity by 70%. Our remaining carbon footprint is mainly from fuel oil usage, from April 2022 use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) will reduce this further. We are ‘Zero to Landfill’ and our waste practices ensure that all waste produced is recycled or recovered both on and off-site.
We manage circa 400 trees at our Romsey site which are subject to preservation orders and invest in continual management of these and the local environment and eco systems. We have several projects under consideration to further reduce our environmental impacts as we balance this with organisational growth plans.
People
We value and support all individuals and proactively seek opportunities to ensure diversity and inclusion across our business. We encourage and support employee focus groups that represent Rokies from all walks of life including ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community, women in Roke, neurodiversity and the veteran’s community.
We hold an Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) Silver Award, and we are ISO45003:2021 certified, to ensure our management systems are effective and aligned with international best practice.
We also work closely with local schools and colleges to inspire young people to take an active interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to ensure the UK continues to be competitive in the development of cutting edge technology.
Ethics and Business Conduct
We’re committed to conducting our business in an ethical and responsible manner at all times, and in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. To achieve this we are developing an inclusive culture where everyone does the right thing and takes personal responsibility for their actions.
Good governance and ethical behaviour underpin our evolving sustainability agenda and ensures that we operate safely, responsibly and in compliance with current legislation in all our jurisdictions. We have put in place the necessary policies and procedures to enable us to operate with integrity and transparency, and to the highest ethical standards. These include:
- An enhanced Operational Framework covering subjects from ethical supplier management to competition law compliance
- A published Code of Conduct
- Anti-bribery and corruption policies and procedures
- A comprehensive Whistleblowing Policy
