CSR

Businesses have the potential to workfor change and create an improved world,
and the way in which they do this can help
build better customer relationships too.
David Finney, CQP MCQI, volunteer forHumane Being and founder of The Energyof Conversation, outlines the principles ofcorporate social responsibility and explains
how to put it into practice

40 | QUALITY WORLD | SUMMER 2021

Getty.com/ Forrest9

PUTTINGTHE HEAR
BUSI

CSR

CSR ATT OF YOURNESS
CHANGE

History has taught us that if we leave change solely to governments, significantsocietal change might not occur – women may never have got the vote and wemight not have banned slavery. Campaigning from grassroots level is essential
to a continually progressive society. Laws are changed to reflect the feelings ofthe people and culture evolves as people become more educated.
We can appreciate what we have improved, learn from the past and seek tomake further improvements, by preventing future occurrence of these issues.
Sounds a bit like a QMS doesn’t it? A QMS is dependent – among other things– on effective risk-based thinking, careful analysis of data and a commitment
to continual improvement. But what about the customers? They are the central
focus of a QMS based on ISO 9001:2015, so why does the definition of quality
exclude them?

QUALITY.ORG | 41CSR
ISO 9000:2015 defines quality as
the “degree to which a set of inherent
characteristics of an object fulfilsrequirements”. The exclusion of theword “customer” here surely implies
that if we focused on customers to theexclusion of everything else, we mayend up breaking the law, damaging
the environment, or engaging in other
unethical or harmful practices. To
achieve quality, we must ensure weidentify and aim to meet the needs
and expectations of all the relevantinterested parties (clause 4.2).

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Since ISO 26000 (social responsibilitystandard) was released in 2010,
corporate social responsibility (CSR)
has been given a lot of attention.
Businesses have realised that byadopting CSR practices, they canacquire more work, build stronger
relationships, enhance theircorporate reputation and increasestaff motivation.
Twenty-first century consumers
care about where their money goes,probably more than ever before. The
2019 Aflac CSR Survey found that77 per cent of consumers surveyed
are “motivated to purchase fromcompanies committed to making theworld better,” and 49% of Americans
say it is more important for a company
to “make the world a better place” than“make money for its shareholders.”
What is influencing this? The climate
crisis and modern slavery are probably
two such factors.
Oxford Reference defines CSR
as: “Awareness, acceptance, andmanagement of the implications andeffects of all corporate decisionmaking, taking particular account ofcommunity investment, human rights,
and employee relations, environmental
practices, and ethical conduct.”This is not about initiatives that comeand go, this definition lies right at theheart of an organisation and is fullycomprehensive. We can look to others
for inspiration.
Dale Vince, the owner of Ecotricity
and Forest Green Rovers, has recently
used plastic taken from the oceans andmixed it with coffee waste to create
football shirts.
In 2006, Blake Mycoskie started
TOMS Shoes after witnessing the42 | QUALITY WORLD | SUMMER 2021

hardships of Argentinian children
having to grow up without shoes,
TOMS Shoes pledged to match every
pair of shoes sold with a new pair for achild in need (over 60 million given atthe last count).
In 2011, Levi Strauss & Co launched a
Worker Well-being (WWB) programme
to set new standards for the clothing
industry by surveying their employees
to find out what they need to
become more “engaged, healthy andproductive”. It aims to improve the livesof workers by addressing issues related
to health, financial security and genderequality. The programme runs in 17
countries and covers 190,000 workers;
in some cases it generates a 4:1 returnon investment.
In response to the frightening
statistic that one third of the world’s
food produce is wasted, Chipotle
and Intermarché pledged to sell their“inglorious” fruit and veg at a 30 per
cent discount and even ran ugly fruitand vegetable competitions.
The fashion industry has a reputationfor environmental damage, in terms ofwater usage, pollution and emissions.
Hubbub states: “It takes 2,700 litresof water to produce one cotton t-shirt
through conventionally grown cotton
and it uses lots of toxic pesticides.”The charity teamed up with the Soil
Association to promote the use oforganic cotton which, it states,“uses up to 91% less water in thegrowing process”.
Business leaders can work together
to create an improved world for people,animals and the planet. If the history ofEarth was presented as a 24-hourclock, it is estimated that humans
have been around for less than
12 minutes and make up 0.01%
of all species on Earth.
In May 2019 – after
considerable work by
campaign groups – UK MPs
approved a motion to declarean environment and climate
emergency. As if a climate
emergency was not enough tocontend with, we find ourselves in themiddle of a global pandemic which has
caused the worst economy in 300 years
and already killed more than 100,000
people in the UK alone.
When colossal events occur, weclearly need to react and deal withAbove: Campainers David Finney (left) andJane Tredgett (right) are challenging the UK
Government over its failure to address the issues
associated with factory farming.
Opposite: Free range versus caged pigs. Keptoutdoors, pigs are able to enjoy wallowing andother instinctive behaviours, but these activities
are denied to intensively reared pigs.

“TWENTY-FIRSTCENTURYCONSUMERS CAREABOUT WHERE
THEIR MONEY GOES,PROBABLY MORE
THAN EVER BEFORE”

CSR
them, removing the issue as quickly as
possible – eg, a vaccine. ISO 9000:2015
defines this as “correction”, but in thespirit of the ISO 9001:2015 standard,cause analysis and corrective action isessential to preventing future recurrence.
Is this where some businesses andgovernments fall down? For instance,
what is the government doing now toprevent a future pandemic?
Change drives governments andbusinesses. Risk-based thinking ensures
we are constantly looking ahead,
conducting research to use historical
data to deal with issues and anticipate
future change – without that we are
the mercy of change, always reactive,
never proactive.

Getty.com/Artur; Matthew J Thomas; ImagePixel

ANIMAL HEALTH: THE CASE
FOR CHANGE
The Covid-19 pandemic has raised
awareness of how diseases can jumpfrom animals to humans, and how
the conditions in which animals arekept – whether in wet markets or on
farms – has the potential to affect thehealth of us all.
Two business leaders, Jane Tredgett,co-director of Results Through Training,former Board Trustee of the RSCPA
and founder of non-profit organisation
Humane Being, and David Finney,former Quality Director in the Market
Research industry and founder of The
Energy of Conversation, are challenging
the UK government over its failure
to address the issues associated withfactory farming. Their concerns overanimal welfare, the climate crisis andthe pandemic led them to challenge thegovernment to be more proactive.
Currently, most new and emerging
infectious diseases in humans comefrom animals – three in four according
to the Centers for Disease Control andPrevention (CDC) and the World HealthOrganization (WHO).
Swine flu first appeared in Mexicoand reached Britain in 2009. In Englandalone there were 540,000 cases
and 138 deaths. Avian flu has been
occurring in Britain since 2006 andfrequency has intensified in recent
years, with 12 outbreaks in 2017 and25 outbreaks between November 2020
and March 2021.
Various forms of avian flu are present
all over the world, and a particularly
lethal form of it called HPAI H5N1

is known to infect people, with a 60
per cent mortality rate. In February
2021, Russia reported cases of the firstknown H5N8 avian flu infection
in humans.
Earlier this year, Professor Robert
Bragg, a researcher at the Departmentof Microbial, Biochemical and Food
Biotechnology, University of theFree State, South Africa, told Plant
Based News: “There will be more
pandemics and there is a feelingamong some scientists that this could
just be a dress rehearsal for the real
big pandemic.” He added: “Manyvirologists, including me, have been
predicting an influenza pandemic
for many years... The bird-flu virus,
influenza H5N1, has a mortality rateof around 60–65 per cent, but it has
not yet developed human-to-humantransmission. If this virus
does develop human-to-humantransmission, we could be in for areally serious pandemic!”
Antibiotic resistance is anotherserious global health concern. It is
common to treat farm animals with
antibiotics when they get sick –typically pigs and poultry. Sometimes
it is more economic and more efficient
to treat an entire shed of animals thana few sick ones. Bacteria evolve andbecome resistant to antibiotics andthese superbugs can be transferredthrough human contact with theanimal, through the food chain orthrough animal waste.
The WHO reported that antimicrobial
resistance will cause around 10 million

deaths a year by 2050, stating that thebiggest driver is the “misuse/overuse[of antibiotics] in humans and animals”.
Despite the rising demand for plantbased food, animals are still farmed
intensively in the UK, where there has
been a rise in mega farms (massiveindustrial-scale farms with huge
numbers of animals). One has 23,000
pigs, while another has 1.7 million
chickens. Around 20 dairies in the UK
house between 700 and 2,000 cows,
mostly kept indoors with their foodbrought to them. Over 16 million hens
are kept in colony cages, which are
not much better than the now-banned
battery cages they replaced. Nonfree-range sows are confined in metal
farrowing crates for up to 12 weeks
after giving birth. Mutilation of beaks,
tails and horns without anaesthetic
is common practice, as is the early
separation of young from parent. It
is well documented that intensive
animal agriculture is a contributor toclimate change, through methane fromcattle and nitrous oxide from animal
waste, fertiliser and pesticides (whichare estimated to be 28 times and 300
times more potent than carbon
dioxide, respectively).
Mackenzie Aime of Food & Water
Watch emphasises that the next
serious disease could happen
anywhere: “As people point fingers at
the dangers of ‘wet markets’, it’s easy
to overlook the closer-to-homeproblem of factory farms,” she says.
“Our next zoonotic pandemic could
easily come from a factory farm.”

QUALITY.ORG | 43CSR

Tredgett and Finney have set upa campaign called SCRAP Factory
Farming and aim to launch a legal caseto force the government to addressthese issues. The aims of the campaign
are to persuade the government toabolish factory farming (or developa plan to do so) and to generateawareness of the issues. In addition,
there is a long-term aim to set a legal
precedent for other countries to follow.
SCRAP was created as an acronym tosummarise the key issues:•••••

Suffering
Climate chaos
Ravaging the planet
Antibiotic resistance
Pandemics and disease

There were many challenges to taking
on this project. Tredgett and Finney
needed a strong legal team, funds
to cover legal costs and extensive
research, plus PR to gain support
and generate publicity. There weremultiple risks, with the two largest
being financial. What would happen if
the funds could not be raised? What
were the financial implications oflosing the case? These risks provided
opportunities. Tredgett approachedhuman rights QC Michael Mansfield,who also has a reputation forsupporting animal rights. His response
was quick and decisive: an immediate
yes and a CrowdJustice fundraiser
was launched.
The legal team presented a casethat was spearheaded by health risks
and supported by the abhorrent
treatment of sentient animals and theongoing damage to the environment.
They sought to demonstrate that byallowing factory farming to continue,
the government was not adequately
protecting its citizens or animals.

OPERATION AND EVALUATION
Once the campaign was underway,
daily operational activities werefocused on communications. Detailed
operational and communication plans
were drawn up by the wider team withweekly videoconference meetings.
The team of volunteers included media
and press specialists who were able
to help fine-tune the key messages.
As this legal challenge on the impacts

44 | QUALITY WORLD | SUMMER 2021

of factory farming was a world first, it
quickly gained a great deal of attention
and the campaign’s reach grew tothe point where positive messagesof support were coming in fromindividuals and organisations acrossthe world.

The objective is to present achallenge to a regime that Humane
Being, and its legal team, believes is
not adequately protecting people,animals and planet. The Humane Being
campaign goal is for the government tophase out factory farming in the UKby 2025.

Four key performance indicators were
set to demonstrate the campaign
was working:• Responses from the government.
• Messages from interested parties.
• Social media hits and shares.
• Funds being raised.
These are all actively monitored as
the campaign continues to growin momentum.
At the time of writing, the Humane
Being legal team (Hackett and Dabbs)
received a response (on 25 May 2021)
from the DEFRA legal team to theirLetter Before Action (submitted on 26April 2021). The response has been
deemed unsatisfactory by Humane
Being and their legal team and a court
application has been made to seek
permission to apply for a judicial review.
The government’s decision to facilitate
the continuation of factory farming
presents health risks to UK residents(eg, spread of disease and antibiotic
resistance), a lack of protection foranimals (eg, mutilation and confinementin cages, crates and crowded areas),and damage to the environment (eg,emissions and pollution).

Above: The legal team believe
the case is unique.
Below: Free range versus cagedchickens. Outdoor birds have an
active life with plenty of space,rather than overcrowded andunnatural conditions.

Getty.com/PeopleImages; George Clerk

THE SCRAP CAMPAIGNCSR

CSR IN A QMS
How can your organisation tap into
your employees’ sense of individual
social responsibility (ISR) and weave it
into your CSR? Here is a step-by-stepguide based on Annex SL. What do you
care about? What will you focus on:
children, people, animals, planet, or a
mix of them all?

STEP ONE
Revisit context and reimagine yourfuture by broadening your review ofissues and interested parties. Somequestions that may be useful are:• What aspects of our work are
currently impacting negatively on
the environment?
• What aspects of our lives are
currently impacting negatively on
the environment?
• Are activities in our supply
chain impacting negatively on
the environment?
• Are there any aspects of our work
impacting negatively on people
or animals?
• Are there any aspects of our lives
impacting negatively on people oranimals?
• Do the activities in our supply chain
have any negative social impacts?
• Is there any forced labour in oursupply chain?
• What do our interested parties
expect of us?
Everything we eat, wear or use has
an impact on the quality of the world.
The production of non-organic andnon-sustainable cotton can devastate
local communities and wildlife habitats
by causing drought and pollution(eg, Kazakhstan). Around 80% of theworld’s soya bean crop is fed to farmedanimals resulting in deforestation inSouth America.

incorporate social and environmental
objectives. Ask employees about theirpassions. Calculate how much time you
could give employees each week tofocus on voluntary work.

STEP THREE
Revisit risks and opportunities andplan actions to create a broader set of
benefits to a wider set of interestedparties. Weigh up the risk of ‘losing’x hours a week to voluntary work
against the gains of staff experiencing
a deeper sense of fulfilment and tohelp them feel less isolated, especially
if working remotely. There may be
additional opportunities to use thegreat work your staff can get involved
in to promote the business and attract
more clients.

“IT IS ESSENTIALTHAT WE DO
NOT ISOLATEOURSELVESIN OUR WORK
BUBBLE WITHOUT…
MEANINGFULCONNECTIONS”
STEP FOUR
Consider resources carefully toensure there is a strong and effectivebalance between customer care andextracurricular activities. Maybe arota system could be useful. Thismight be a good time to increase (oraugment existing) actual or virtualcommunications by organising
workshops and including CSR/ISR inline manager appraisals and catch-ups.

STEP TWO
Revisit key policies and extend
statements to incorporate broader
intent. Maybe the quality policy is
focused so much on the customer thatit ignores the world around us. Extend
business and quality objectives toSTEP FIVE
Integrate socially responsible
activities into the working week.
Environmentalist and animal welfare
politician, Jane Smith, has consulted
with companies in these areas, suchas working with bank employees tospring clean the outdoor areas of a
wildlife hospital; an IT department hada team building away day assemblingsheds and coops for a farmed animal
sanctuary; one company went on a‘face mask litter pick’; another team
had a ‘tree enrichment’ day of applying
good soil and planting seeds aroundthe bases of neglected trees in theirlocal town; an engineering company
spent a morning applying mesh to grids
so toads don’t fall down them during
their spring migrations. It’s importantthat these kinds of activities are notone-off projects, but become part of
the working week. The added value for
employees is that it brings them closer
to nature and is something that canbe done remotely as well as in a team.
Workshops could be arranged to shareexperiences, or they could be posted
on a company intranet site.

STEP SIX
Evaluate the effectiveness of activities.
Some may be obviously measurable,some less so and hence employee
engagement surveys may be helpful orif a small sample size does not facilitate
this, qualitative feedback can be justas powerful. Include CSR in team andmanagement reviews and make it an
instinctive and routine part of the plan,do, check, act cycle. Seek to continually
improve your CSR profile and link it toyour strategic direction.
An organisation does not haveto have ISO 27001 to care about
information security. An organisation
does not have to have ISO 14001 tocare about the environment. Recent
events have created some social
separation in our lives, but behind
every risk lies an opportunity, suchas spending more time in nature. Itis essential that we do not isolate
ourselves in our work bubble
without seeking to create meaningfulconnections for the greater good.
As Margaret Mead once said: “Neverdoubt that a small group of thoughtful,committed citizens can change theworld; indeed, it’s the only thing thatever has.”QUALITY.ORG | 45