Corporate Social Responsibility at Element

Making Tomorrow Safer Together:

Our Purpose in Action 

Every product that impacts safety—from airplanes to medications to building materials—passes through testing that most people never see. At Element, this invisible but critical work is our purpose: Making tomorrow safer than today. 

Our People Make the Difference

Our colleagues are the heart of Element. By developing our people, fostering inclusion, and supporting wellbeing, we create an environment where everyone can thrive.

Taking Care of Wellbeing

Mental health is just as important as physical health. We've built comprehensive resources to support wellbeing across our organization. 

Our Employee Assistance Program provides confidential support for both personal and work-related challenges, for our colleagues and their families. Regular wellbeing sessions throughout the year are available both live and on-demand.

Developing Tomorrow's Leaders

In 2024 we launched our General Manager (GM) Leadership Academy, a 12-month program committed to developing our general managers. This annual program brings together our General Managers who are critical driving forces behind Element's success. It equips our GMs to become transformational leaders, deliver excellence in customer service, and help our people thrive and feel empowered. 

Our Women’s Accelerator Program develops outstanding women who will shape Element’s future, with external coaches, internal sponsors and structured L&D sessions. This program furthermore supports our target of 30% female leadership representation by 2025.

We also welcomed the first cohort to our Sales Leadership Academy, a 12-month training program to build our next generation of sales managers and directors.

We celebrate great work through our Element Long Service Awards. Our goal is simple: make sure people feel valued for their contribution and service. We also launched a new career development framework, providing colleagues with an easy-to-follow structure for driving personal and professional advancement.

Creating a Truly Inclusive Workplace

We've established Colleague-led, Operating Board-sponsored Resource Networks that bring together underrepresented community members and educate allies. Our Colleague Resource Groups are Pride, Disability Empowerment, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), Women and Intersectionality. They organize focus groups and scheduled events throughout the year, creating a sense of belonging and inclusion and helping us attract, develop and retain diverse talent. 

Our inclusion calendar features events that educate, celebrate, and build community. Key highlights of the calendar include:  Black History Month, International Women's Day, Neurodiversity Awareness & Training, Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Pride events, Juneteenth, Disability Pride Month, World Mental Health Day, Celebrating Cultures Day, International Day for Men, and International Day of Persons with a Disability. We also conduct inclusion training which covers training such as unconscious bias, psychological safety, and being an upstander.

Safety: Core to who we are 

Safety isn't just what we do – it's who we are. Our safety culture ensures that our colleagues, customers, and communities are protected in everything we do. We have ten safety standards that outline our key deliverables. Our first standard is “Start with Safety,” where every meeting begins with a safety moment. We measure our safety performance and have dedicated safety leadership at every location, which ensures consistent standards across the business. Our Group-wide SHE system has a strong focus on workplace safety and is supported by the roll out of 5S and daily safety, quality, delivery and cost meetings. We take time for safety and hold an annual Safety Improvement Week to challenge our labs to further improve safety at their location. The safety program is driven by our team members at their locations and is designed to drive engagement and proactivity. 

Whistleblowing 

We provide a confidential whistleblower service, which is managed by a specialist third party provider, across our global business, giving all colleagues and third parties the opportunity to raise concerns. The service encompasses a telephone hotline and web-based reporting facility and is available in relevant languages in all countries in which Element has a presence.   This service may be used to report potential incidents of wrongdoing including fraud, bribery & corruption, discrimination, bullying or harassment, supplier labor practices, modern slavery, tax evasion, breach of competition laws, health, safety and quality matters and environmental concerns. Any whistleblowing reports are reviewed and investigated appropriately 

Making a Difference in Our Communities 

We encourage all colleagues to take up to 12 hours of annual volunteering leave every year to support their local communities. This commitment creates a positive impact while providing opportunities for personal and professional growth. 

Our teams make a difference in diverse ways – here are just a few recent stories:

Our commitment to the environment 

Just as we invest in our communities, we're equally committed to protecting the environment that sustains them. Our environmental pledges include reducing our environmental impact through sustainable business practices, including sourcing over 20% of our electricity from renewable sources and installing solar panels at select facilities. Through our Safety, Health and Environmental (SHE) program, we've built a culture where environmental responsibility is part of how we work every day, while maintaining compliance with local environmental laws wherever we operate. We also help our customers achieve their own sustainability goals through our specialized environmental testing and verification services, supporting the transition to a more sustainable future together.