Occupational Health

A healthy workforce is an important constituent of our sustainability strategy. Our units maintain high standards of hygiene, lighting, ventilation and effective controls on noise and dust in accordance with national/international standards.

All the units are equipped with first aid medical centres and adequate medical staff. In addition, 2% of employees in each unit are trained, by expert agencies, to provide first-aid.

This year, over 9700 employees underwent preventive medical examinations, to identify any symptoms/trends of occupational illness and to ensure appropriate action to eliminate any health risks.

No case of occupation-related illness was reported in 2007-08.

HIV/AIDS

We continued to make progress on our commitment to specific programmes and actions in response to the HIV epidemic. We conducted 145 HIV/AIDS awareness programmes involving 7200 employees within our units and nearly 1200 members of communities surrounding our operations.

Human Rights - Significant Investments

During 2007-08, a major part of our total capex cash flow of Rs 2245 crores was incurred on machinery and technology which were sourced from reputed suppliers/vendors who follow internationally accepted norms and standards on Human Rights. Approximately Rs 771 crores were invested on new factories, hotels, and on modernisation.

All large contracts in ITC, for the construction of hotels, factories, and significant upgrades, included environment, health, safety and human rights’ clauses covering decent place of work, and ‘beyond compliance’ labour practices.

The various projects were managed and supervised by ITC managers, who also ensured proper Human Rights compliance. Corporate Internal Audit and Corporate EHS audited these projects to ensure compliance with our Policies and Standards.

Human Rights - Supply Chain

As a large and multi-product enterprise whose products are benchmarked nationally and internationally, we recognise our responsibility to proactively encourage high levels of ‘Human Rights’ standards in our supply chain.

Our approach to managing human rights in the following distinct categories is as follows -

• Our major businesses are vertically integrated across Divisions that follow ITC policies.
• We procure inputs for the Company’s agri-based businesses from state controlled trading platforms and the open market.
• We position our managers at all significant ‘outsourced’ manufacturing facilities (cigarettes and packaged foods) to ensure high standards of product quality and adherence to ITC’s guidelines on EHS and labour practices. Government officials also routinely inspect these units to ensure relevant labour and factory acts, which, inter alia, provide for the necessary EHS and labour practices standards.

During 2007-08, the total number of service providers' contracts was 2371 of which 977 operated within the Company’s premises. 98% of contracts on site and 96% of contracts off site included important clauses on Human Rights, Environment, Health and Safety. No contracts were cancelled during the year as a result of non-compliance with ITC’s human rights clauses.

Prevention of Discrimination at the Work Place

During 2007-08 no incident of discrimination in any of the ITC units was reported either internally or to statutory authorities.

Freedom of Association

During 2007-08 no incidents of violation of freedom of association were reported either to the concerned units or to statutory authorities. Within ITC’s operations, there are no areas where the right to exercise freedom of association and collective bargaining is at risk.

Prohibiting Child Labour and Preventing Forced Labour at Work Place

During 2007-08 no incidents of child or forced labour were reported either to the concerned units or to statutory authorities.

Diversity and Equal Opportunity

We believe that every individual brings a different and unique set of perspectives and capabilities to the team. A discrimination-free workplace for employees provides the environment in which diverse talents can bloom and be nurtured.