CRIST S.A. statement about alleged North Korean workers
January
2019
STATEMENT
In reference to the media publications regarding the alleged employment of North Korean employees by CRIST S.A., we would like to point out that those informations are not true. Our company is acting in accordance to Polish, EU and International law respecting the rules of convention 29 of Internal Labor Organization, concerning forced or compulsory labor, maintaining the highest standars of business ethics in relations with our suppliers, cooperators and workers.
In fact, in the local market, there was a company ARMEX Sp. z o. o., which specialized in steel work. They used to work for many companies including CRIST. Under the cooperation agreement all our suppliers and cooperators are obliged to provide the legality of the employment and compliance with rules and regulations of CRIST “Code of Ethics and Good Conduct in Business”. The ARMEX company was obliged to follow those rules and was under the control of Polish State Labor Inspection. However when CRIST learned about the possibility of irregularities in regards with employment of ARMEX workers (some of them where from North Korea) it ceased its cooperation with ARMEX in July 2016.
After ending our cooperation with ARMEX, we extended our control procedures for all our subcontractors. Regarding some of the accusations of allegedly heavy working conditions in our shipyard, we reject them fully. CRIST S.A. has implemented INTEGRATED POLICY OF QUALITY, ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH AND SAFETY which is based on PN-EN ISO 9001:2015, PN-N 18001:2004, PN-EN ISO 14001:2015, PN-EN ISO 3834-2:2005, EN 1090-1:2009/A1:2011. Our Integrated Management System is certified by Det Norske Veritas in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 standard. We are regularly inspected by the Polish State Labor Inspection, certification societies and we are subject to external audits of our clients.
With regards,
Management Board Office
CRIST S.A.
