Governance and Ethics
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At Wabtec, we pride ourselves on having a culture of integrity, ethical decision-making, and compliance with Wabtec's values, safety, and accountability for employees, suppliers, and the communities where we live and work.
Our approach to ethics and compliance encompasses:
- Upholding ethics and integrity in Wabtec's business by ensuring transparency in financial practices.
- Conducting business with the highest standards of ethics and integrity and in compliance with applicable national and local laws and regulations.
- Implementing and leveraging appropriate safeguards and controls which are intended to prevent, detect, and respond to unlawful and unethical conduct.
- Advancing practices that encourage reporting instances of noncompliance and implementing corrective actions that prevent recurrence.
- Providing training to our employees and relevant third parties about the Code of Conduct, including anti-corruption, discrimination, harassment, data privacy, cybersecurity, labor and human rights.
- Promoting ethics and compliance throughout Wabtec's value chain, especially among suppliers.
Governance & Risk Management
Our sustainability governance framework begins with our Board of Directors, which through its Risk and Public Policy Committee, oversees the Company’s strategy related to environmental, health, and safety (EHS) matters, climate change, and sustainability reporting. The Risk and Public Policy Committee, which meets at least quarterly and provides oversight of:
- enterprise risk and the Company’s risk management framework;
- the Company’s compliance functions, including its hotline reporting function;
- public policy and government relations matters; and
- environmental, health, and safety matters.
Wabtec’s head of Sustainability has direct oversight responsibility for the Company’s sustainability strategy and initiatives and leads internal activities to drive progress Wabtec’s value chain. Together with the executive management team, the head of Sustainability is responsible for carrying out the business strategy and actions related to climate risk and opportunity.
Wabtec’s Sustainability Task Force meets quarterly to advance the Company’s sustainability strategy. This team includes leaders across functions and business segments, including Sustainability, Engineering, EHS, Controllership, Human Resources, Investor Relations, Legal, Operations, and Sourcing.
The governance framework is supported by Wabtec’s Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) process, which provides a routine and structured process to help identify and address the most significant strategic risks to the Company in non-siloed manners. In 2024, the Company conducted its annual global risk survey to identify the top five enterprise risks to the Company over the next three years. The risk data was consolidated into risk categories, which were ranked based on total scores and risk priority score (likelihood x severity). Risk owners were then identified for each risk category to be responsible and accountable for outlining risk mitigation strategies. Senior management provides routine updates to Wabtec’s Board of Directors, primarily through its Risk and Public Policy Committee, on the progress and development of risk mitigation strategies. Identifying and implementing action plans to mitigate climate risk are considered as part of this process. For information on Wabtec’s climate-related risk and opportunity assessment and mitigation, see Wabtec’s Climate Report released in 2024 .
Visit our Corporate Governance webpage for additional information.
Open Reporting System: Speak Up, Wabtec
Speak Up, Wabtec is our open reporting program through which potential violations of the law, Wabtec’s Code of Conduct, and/or other Company policies and procedures may be reported. Wabtec employees and any party witnessing misconduct are asked to report immediately any suspected unethical, illegal, or unsafe suspected conduct of any kind related to the Company. They are instructed to report concerns through the tool, email address (speakupwabtec [at] wabtec [dot] com (speakupwabtec[at]wabtec[dot]com)), their manager, HR manager of team members in the Legal, Finance or Internal Audit department. Each concern received is evaluated and a determination is made as to whether there is sufficient information to conduct an investigation.
Responsible Sourcing
Wabtec’s Supplier Code of Conduct, acknowledged by all suppliers at the time of onboarding, sets forth our specific expectations for sustainable procurement, including suppliers’ compliance with laws and regulations linked to environment, health, safety, labor, human rights, security, and privacy issues. We also reserve the right to audit suppliers to assess their compliance and monitor their sustainability progress. Suppliers also acknowledge adherence to Wabtec’s Human Rights Policy, Modern Slavery and Human Rights Statement, and Responsible Minerals Policy.
Wabtec has implemented a variety of procedures and tools, including assessments and audits, to monitor supplier quality and reduce the risk of supplier non-compliance in areas such as labor rights, working conditions, environmental requirements, and other sustainability-related topics.
We regularly audit suppliers in high-risk countries using the supply chain risk management tool to enhance our understanding of risks to our supply chain. We use those findings to lessen the impact of disruptions, drive operational efficiencies, and accelerate integration synergies.
Visit our Supplier Resources webpage for additional information.
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Cybersecurity and data privacy are critical to maintaining a secure environment for our products, data, and systems that effectively support our business objectives and customer needs. The Company has adopted a comprehensive approach with respect to acceptable use, risk management, data privacy, education and awareness, security incident management and reporting, identity and access management, third-party management, security (with respect to physical assets, products, networks and systems), security monitoring and vulnerability identification. The Company also maintains a global incident response plan and regularly conducts exercises to help with our overall preparedness. The Company takes measures to improve and update our cybersecurity program, including independent third-party assessments, penetration testing and scanning of our systems for vulnerabilities. The Company partners with assessors, consultants, auditors, and other third-party service providers and advisers to assist in monitoring cybersecurity risks.
Cybersecurity and data privacy risks are overseen by the Risk and Public Policy Committee of the Board. The Company provides frequent reports to the Committee, including information about cyber-risk management, the effectiveness of the Company’s cybersecurity framework, and benchmarking the Company against its industry peers.
Check out Wabtec’s Product Cybersecurity webpage and our Privacy Policy for additional information.
Our Policies
Responsible Business Practices
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Code of Business Conduct & Ethics
Our Code of Conduct is the cornerstone of how we do business. We encourage employees to report any compliance or integrity concerns immediately if they see or suspect unethical, illegal or unsafe conduct of any kind – or behavior that just doesn’t seem right. Employees are encouraged to raise concerns to their manager or supervisor, human resources, legal, compliance or internal audit. For anyone who is uncomfortable or wishes to remain anonymous, they may report anonymously by phone or electronically through Wabtec’s Speak Up Integrity Hotline. Regardless of reporting channel, all reported concerns are taken seriously and thoroughly investigated. We do not tolerate retaliation against any employee who reports wrongdoing.
Supplier Code of Conduct
The foundation of our approach to sustainable procurement is our Supplier Code of Conduct. Wabtec business units utilize standard terms and conditions for suppliers that incorporate Wabtec’s Supplier Code of Conduct and set specific expectations regarding suppliers’ compliance with laws and regulations related to environmental, health, safety, labor, human rights, security, and privacy. Wabtec uses a variety of assessment tools to evaluate supplier risk, based on several factors including geography and alignment with international standards for human rights, the environment, health, and safety.
Responsible Minerals Policy
Wabtec’s Responsible Minerals Policy outlines our commitment to avoiding and eliminating the use of minerals that directly or indirectly finance or benefit armed groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or adjoining countries. The Responsible Minerals Policy and accompanying set of guidelines, support the due diligence process related to eliminating the use of conflict minerals in our products and ongoing engagement with suppliers on this topic
Modern Slavery/Human Rights
Wabtec’s Human Rights Policy, issued in 2020, outlines our commitment to respecting human rights wherever we operate. The Human Rights Policy prohibits any form of forced, involuntary, or child labor in our operations. The Policy includes specific commitments to undertake ongoing due diligence to identify, prevent and mitigate any adverse impacts of our activities and provide access to remedies through effective reporting mechanisms.
Gender Equity at Wabtec
We are committed to fair pay and strive to be market competitive while ensuring internal equity across our organization. We regularly conduct global pay equity assessments and compensation reviews. We are actively working to hire, promote and retain women in the workplace, through mentoring, coaching, and training. We’re committed to increasing the number of women in all areas of our business and look carefully at all career opportunities.