Ethical business certification for Mabey's UK construction services business
Mabey Group’s UK construction services business has become one of the first companies in the country to gain independent certification to ISO 37001, a management system designed to uphold ethical business.
ISO 37001 is only achieved by those companies that can demonstrate an anti-bribery management system is in place to prevent bribery and corruption risks.
The certification was awarded by LRQA to Mabey’s UK Hire business, based in West Yorkshire, which designs and provides temporary works solutions including bridging, propping and monitoring services.
The award comes just a few months after sister company Mabey Bridge, which manufactures and exports modular bridges around the world from its factory in Gloucestershire, also gained ISO 37001 certification.
Mabey UK Hire CEO Gordon MacDonald said: “No organisation is immune from the risk of bribery but our customers, who are contractors and government departments, deserve to know their suppliers have effective anti-bribery and corruption management systems in place. “We are determined to work to the best ethical standards and think this challenging benchmark should be adopted more widely. Having ISO 37001 would improve the quality of management across the construction and infrastructure industry if it was a requirement in major contracts. We have all seen how other standards such as ISO 9001 for quality management and ISO 14001 for environmental management have raised the bar. Companies are just expected to have these in place now, and so should be the case for ISO 37001.”
Infrastructure organisations around the world, including the World Federation of Engineering Organisations, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, the European Construction Industry Federation and the European International Contractors Association, have been calling for public sector clients and contractors to help fight bribery and corruption by adopting the new ISO 37001 standard and promoting an ethical business culture.
Following extensive reviews of Mabey’s business processes, certification was provided by LRQA, a leading independent professional assurance services organisation.
David Derrick, UK&I’s Area Operations Manager at LRQA said: “Following Mabey Bridge’s ISO 37001 certification last year, this achievement for Mabey’s UK construction business demonstrates a clear commitment to preventing bribery and corruption. Achieving ISO 37001 demonstrates that organisations are managing their bribery risks with effective processes to make them more resilient and competitive.”
