Statement of Environmental Policy

The Company has a commitment to do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent harm to the environment

The Company will:

• Minimise the environmental effects of the company’s activities and comply with legal and statutory requirements
• Conserve energy (electricity, oils, fuel, gas etc.) within the operational capabilities of the company, and to progressively reduce energy wastage as a result of improved utilisation, insulation, servicing and maintenance of equipment, vehicle journey planning etc.
• Conserve materials and resources used in the installation and servicing of the company’s products through effective planning and process control in respect to waste management
• Avoid the use of toxic, hazardous and non-recyclable materials as far as is reasonably practicable
• Re-cycle materials where practical and encourage environmental awareness amongst our suppliers and customers, supporting their initiatives concerning environmental management
• Adopt an integrated management approach in respect to Quality, Health & Safety and Environmental management systems, and to provide the necessary resources, Information and training for our employees to ensure effective Implementation.
• Ensure environmental awareness amongst our employees, suppliers and subcontractors, and to provide a safe and suitable environment within which they can work

The implementation of this policy is integrated with the Company’s BS EN ISO 9001 Quality Assurance system.

Contractors employed by Gartec must confirm their Environmental Policy prior to starting work. Alternately they may elect to adopt this policy subject to mutual agreement.

As an essential part of the company’s integrated management system, this Policy will be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that it continues to demonstrate effective environmental protection policy and accords with current statutory requirements.

Issue date: 26th April 2016

Safeguarding Policy

To develop a safeguarding culture to ensure the safety of children and vulnerable adults who may come in contact with equipment and personnel associated with installation, service and maintenance of lifting platforms.

Specific arrangements are established and maintained in respect to:

• Effective health and safety management for the installation, service and maintenance of lifting platforms to ensure that children and vulnerable adults are not exposed to an unacceptable level of risk
• Senior management commitment to the importance of safeguarding and promoting children’s’ welfare
• A clear statement of Gartec’s responsibility towards children available to all staff and approved sub-contractors
• Clear definition of accountability with the company for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children
• Ensuring that children are protected from abuse regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or beliefs
• Provision of training on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children for all staff and sub-contractors who may come in contact with children and their families
• Provision of safe recruiting and vetting processes for all staff and sub-contractors who may come in contact with children
• Effective coordination and cooperation with clients and interested Third Parties in safeguarding and promoting children’s welfare
• Maintaining a policy of confidentiality to ensure the protection of children in the event of incident, concerns and complaints

Worksafe Policy

Gartec Ltd acknowledge our responsibility under the Health & Safety at Work Act and associated regulations and recognise our duty of care and undertake to maintain safe systems affecting the health, safety and welfare of our employees. We will ensure that no one under our control is exposed to unacceptable levels of health or safety risks at work.

Gartec Ltd operates a Work Safe Policy to protect our employees and ensure others not in our employment are not placed at risk.

Every employee of Gartec and every member of any Sub-contractor’s team working on any Gartec managed project(s), has the absolute right to decline to carry out work if they feel it is not safe to do so.

Where the operation of a machine, a site condition or a method of working constitutes a danger to the employee of another person the employee may refuse to work.

Any situation arising which leads to an individual refusing to work for Health and Safety reasons must be reported to the senior person on site as soon as possible, and no employee should continue to work until the working environment is made safe. The Operations Manager should be informed. Escalation for resolving a Refusal to Work is through the Operations Manager or the Managing Director and their decision will be final.

Managers and staff are also encouraged to report any unsafe acts or conditions, which they have witnessed through the Near Miss Reporting procedure.

Gartec Ltd will not discipline, discharge, suspend, lay off or demote an employee or impose any financial or other penalty on an employee who invokes the Refusal to Work Procedure. Full details of the procedure to be followed can be found in the Health & Safety Policy.

Quality Policy and Objectives

It is the policy of Gartec Limited:

To fulfil both customer expectations and contractual obligations through the provision of sales and support appropriate to specification.

Establish effective working relationships with key suppliers and sub-contractors,

Ensure continuity of supply of products fit for purpose and which meet statutory and legislative requirements relevant to lifting platforms.

Maintain a policy of cost-effective and consistent quality products and services and be responsive to technological and performance standards appropriate to the industry.

In order to achieve continual improvement our alms and objectives will Include:

To operate a Quality Management system in accordance with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001 recognising the contribution that all personnel make to quality, and to provide the necessary information, resources and training to enable them to achieve and maintain the required standards

To maintain a policy of integrated management incorporating quality, health & safety and environmental protection based on dear definition of procedures assigned to key personnel with clearly defined roles and responsibilities

To ensure that the company’s policies are understood, implemented and maintained, the Directors and staff are advised of their responsibilities for the implementation of our Quality Policy by training, access to the Business Policy Manual, Process Documents and Work instructions referenced within it.

Statement of Health and Safety Policy

The Company is committed to do all that is reasonably practicable to prevent injury and ill health to employees, contractors and others affected by hazards associated with its work, including the identification and control of risk.

The Company will allocate resources, as far as is reasonably practicable, to create:

• Healthy and safe working environment, conditions and practices
• Methods and procedures to ensure that operations can be carried out safely and without risk to health
• Arrangements for employees to co-operate with the Company and receive necessary training and instruction
• Comply with health, safety and environmental statutory requirements applicable to Gartec
• Carry out risk assessments of activities, processes and substances potentially harmful to health in order to establish and maintain safe working procedures.

The Company will seek advice on health and safety matters when necessary.

Company employees have a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to:

• Work safely
• Report any hazards, unsafe acts and incidents
• Use the personal protective equipment provided for their safety
• Cooperate with the implementation of Health and Safety Policy and Procedures for their safety and the protection of others affected by Gartec activities.

Employees must comply with this statement. Neglect of responsibilities associated with maintaining the company’s Health & Safety Policy will be considered as gross misconduct and dealt with in accordance with the company’s disciplinary procedures.

Contractors employed by Gartec must submit their Health and Safety Policy and confirmation of safe working procedures for approval prior to starting work. Alternatively, they agree to comply with Gartec’s Health and Safety policy by mutual agreement.

The Company will as far as reasonably practical:

• Use processes that are legislated and operated to minimise the release into the environment of substances or articles which are likely to cause ham.
• Provide products which are safe and of minimum risk to health for those who use or dispose of them.

Graham Parr, Managing Director (MD), has overall responsibility for health and safety and environmental matters within the Company.

His deputy in these matters will be the Safety, Health, Environmental and Quality Manager. Other specific responsibilities are allocated to competent persons within the organisation and confirmed in safe working procedures.

Tax Strategy Publication

Aritco Group (“the Group”)

Tax Strategy Publication

Year ended 31 December 2017

The Group regards this publication as complying with its duty to publish its tax strategy for the year ended 31 December 2017 in accordance with current tax legislation.

It is the Group’s policy to comply with HMRC rules concerning all forms of taxation while taking advantage of accepted and efficient practices for minimising the cost to the business. The group does not take part in any tax avoidance schemes. The Group takes specialist advice from its external tax advisers as and when appropriate.

The company secretary (who is a chartered accountant) takes overall responsibility for ensuring the UK entities compliance with all taxation rules and regulations, and reports back to the Group’s Board of Directors as appropriate. He keeps in close contact with the Group’s external tax advisers and also monitors the actions of the internal teams under him on a regular basis. He has in place a detailed set of systems, procedures and controls covering all aspects of how the business is run from a financial point of view, including tax matters where relevant, to ensure that the Group’s level of tax risk remains at acceptable levels.

Corporation tax is a significant cost to the Group and it instructs external tax advisers to advise on corporation tax matters.  Advantage is taken of group relief for losses, capital allowances on eligible capital spend and other statutory reliefs where applicable. The group also carefully examines all potentially disallowable expenditure for items such as business entertaining to ensure the correct disallowance of the relevant amounts are identified.

With regard to PAYE and National Insurance, the Group operates standard practices for its payroll. In the case of benefits in kind these are carefully monitored and reported to HMRC in the normal way. The Group also has in place a PAYE Settlement Agreement whereby it is able to pay tax on behalf of an employee if it wishes to reward the employee without the employee bearing additional tax thereon.

With regard to VAT, the Group has in place detailed practices whereby transactions are carefully examined by its internal accounting team who is well versed and trained to ensure the correct VAT treatment.  The Group also has to account for VAT on both the Partial Exemption Method and the Capital Goods Scheme. One specialist in the Group carries out these calculations on a quarterly basis so as to ensure the correct disallowance of the relevant amounts.

The company secretary keeps in regular contact with the Customer Relationship Manager at HMRC for a discussion about any relevant matters that may have come to light during the year and any new regulations which might have an impact on the group and aims to hold a meeting with that person at least once a year.