Human rights strategy

KACO is a company with a medium-sized culture that is aware of its responsibility towards respecting human rights and protecting the climate and the environment. Our values are based, among other things, on the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). We have set out these Guiding Principles and other principles in our Code of Conduct, which KACO and its suppliers and contractors (hereinafter referred to as “Suppliers”) in the KACO supply chain are committed to upholding and implementing, and which guides their business activities.

KACO’s management oversees the implementation of and compliance with this “Statement of Principles on Respect for Human Rights”.

KACO meets its responsibility for people and the environment through appropriate and effective risk management for the above-mentioned protected goods by taking the following measures:

• The preparation of a risk analysis is a natural part of management. The identified risks are minimised through preventive measures that cover the entire company as well as our direct suppliers to a reasonable extent and after prioritisation has been carried out.
• Immediate risks to people and the environment in the direct supply chain are addressed through measures implemented without delay. In the case of serious and immediate hazards to people and the environment, we work with the direct supplier to develop an action plan to reduce and, if necessary, eliminate the hazard.
• If the action plans are not implemented or do not lead to the defined goal, we reserve the right to terminate the business relationship with the direct supplier as a last resort.
• Our suppliers are carefully selected, also on the basis of their preventive measures for the protection of human rights and the environment.
• Our expectations of our employees (f/m/d) and our suppliers are set out in our Code of Conduct. Our employees (f/m/d) are regularly trained on the contents. The Code of Conduct is communicated to our suppliers and is also available to them on the KACO homepage.
• Complaints about human rights violations or disregard for the environmental standards of our organisation can be forwarded to KACO at any time. The whistleblower system is accessible to KACO employees (f/m/d) as well as to all suppliers in our supply chain and all business partners via the KACO website www.kaco.de.
• If we receive information about violations of our guidelines through this whistleblower system, these are examined and evaluated in accordance with internal regulations and, if necessary, measures are worked out together with the corresponding supplier.
• A report is communicated annually to the management, in which the risks, the measures introduced, the effectiveness of the measures and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the system are presented. This report is archived for at least 7 years.
• All the measures described are additionally checked once a year and on an ad-hoc basis for their appropriateness and are constantly developed further.