Children playing on a playground in Sweden

Social responsibility and reliable partners

Lappset Group Ltd observes the principles and practices of good corporate citizenship, which are based on the ISO 26000 standard’s guidelines on economic, social and environmental responsibility.

Good corporate citizenship

For Lappset Group Ltd, good corporate citizenship means complying with laws, regulations and international conventions and recommendations as well as framework agreements with trade unions and the company’s own procedural guidelines. 

The core areas of responsibility are good corporate governance, human rights, labour market rules, environmental friendliness, fair operating models, consumer rights (such as product safety) and involving the local community and promoting its development.

It is important to note that the ISO 26000 standard does not come with certification the same way as the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 quality and environmental management standards.

We invite everyone to play and keep fit

  • We contribute to the development of society and support the well-being of people of different ages by creating products and solutions that encourage play, physical activity and social interaction.
  • Public playgrounds and exercise areas that are open to everyone create wellbeing regardless of social status.
  • Our mission is to promote the well-being of people of all ages. Several of our products also factor in the needs of people with various kinds of disabilities (Design for All, Inclusive Design).
  • We have been sponsoring recreational activities for children and young people for decades, through local sports clubs, for example. One of our principles is that we donate 1–2% of our operating profit to non-profit causes.
  • We collaborate with national associations that promote the well-being of children and young people.

Play and sports park for all generations in Rovaniemi, Finland

Play and sports park for all generations in Rovaniemi, Finland

Participation in community activities and community development

  • We contribute to regional development in collaboration with local, regional and national partners through various organisations.
  • We engage in many different forms of cooperation with universities and other educational institutions, including research, dissertations, lectures, traineeships, visits and tours as well as various collaborative projects relating to product development and service design. We also host an annual local planning competition in cooperation with our customers and grant scholarships to the best master’s thesis on landscape architecture each year.
  • We are a family business committed to a northern operating environment. Our focus is on the long term, which helps to build well-being in our community.
  • We are involved in the international Federation of Playground Industry (FEPI) and contribute to the drafting of standards that promote product safety.

We respect human rights

  • We will do our utmost to prevent the use of child or forced labour in any form within our network. As we operate in the playground and exercise equipment industry, the components for our products are largely manufactured in automated production facilities.
  • We respect the working hours and labour laws and regulations of each country.
  • We require our major suppliers to commit to the UN’s Agenda 2030 recommendations for corporate social responsibility.

Friends hanging out and playing music on the Lappset Fono Interactive DJ-booth

Friends hanging out and playing music on the Lappset Fono Interactive DJ-booth

Working practices and fair operating methods

  • We ensure the occupational safety of our personnel in accordance with occupational safety and health legislation and the Group’s OSH policy.
  • We monitor occupational safety in our production facilities on a daily basis with the help of the Green Cross monitoring and measuring system. 
  • We have an incentive scheme that covers all personnel groups.

Working together towards more responsible choices

We expect our most notable partners and suppliers to also commit to our corporate citizenship principles. As of 2015, almost half of our biggest suppliers have adopted the ISO 26000 standard’s recommendations for economic, social and environmental responsibility requirements.

Responsibility and environmental issues are raised at the negotiation phase

We address issues such as social responsibility and environmental friendliness at the very beginning of negotiations with potential new subcontractors and other suppliers. We consider it important that our supply chain reflects our values. We also conduct on-the-spot inspections to ensure that our suppliers meet our corporate citizenship requirements.

Girls playing in Flora

We expect our biggest suppliers to:

  • Abide by legislation.
  • Respect human rights.
  • Meet labour market requirements that prohibit, for example, the use of child labour and forced labour, abstain from hiring children under the age of 15 or young people who are still at school for dangerous jobs, respect the right of workers to join trade unions, abstain from direct or indirect discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender, age, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, religion, social or ethnic origin or nationality, political views or any other personal trait protected by law and treat their employees with respect.
  • Look after the health and safety of their employees.
  • Respect the environment and take environmental considerations into account in their operations.
  • Abstain from bribery or prohibited practices in their business.
  • Abstain from offering unreasonable business benefits, such as gifts or hospitality, to Lappset’s employees, representatives or their family members.
  • Abstain from money laundering or allowing others to use their funds for money laundering purposes.
  • Follow the principles of fair play with regard to their competitors.
  • Lappset has the right to carry out regular inspections of the partners included in its supply chain.