Broad perspective on human rights
Orion is a global pharmaceutical company – our products are sold in more than 100 countries and our supplier network covers more than 50 countries. The life cycle of a pharmaceutical, from R&D to patient use, is long and involves a large number of people whose rights must be protected. Orion considers human rights with a broad perspective – all the way from the ethics of our R&D to patient safety during the use of medicines.
The salient human rights impacts in Orion's value chain include:
| Labour rights | Occupational safety | Privacy and data protection | Pharmaceutical availability | Patient safety | Environmental impacts that create impacts on people | |
| Orion employees | x | x | x | |||
| Subjects in clinical trials | x | x | ||||
| Employees in the supply chain | x | x | ||||
| Patients | x | x | x | x | ||
| Local communities | x |
Strong commitment to internationally recognised human rights
Orion is committed to respecting all internationally recognized human rights. Our activities are governed by the International Bill of Human Rights and the core conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). We promote human rights in our own operations and expect all our partners to do the same. We do not accept the use of child or forced labour in any form.
We carry out continuous work to promote human rights. Our approach is governed by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises. We are constantly learning and developing in this area. We strive to systematically improve our own work on human rights, but we also understand that achieving change requires collaboration. As a member of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI), an international network of pharmaceutical companies, we can promote human rights in global supply chains, along with other issues.
Human rights risks are assessed as part of the sustainable procurement process
The promotion of human rights is part of the objectives of Orion's Sustainability Agenda, and our Code of Conduct, which guides the daily work of Orion employees, outlines our way of operating in regards to respecting human rights. We use a wide range of training and internal communication ensure that our employees are familiar with the principles of the Code of Conduct. We also take human rights into account in our risk management processes for procurement and other activities.
From a human rights perspective, the most serious risks in Orion’s value chain relate to the global supply chain. We seek to promote human rights in our supply chain primarily by requiring our business partners to commit to Orion’s Third Party Code of Conduct. We also take human rights risks into account as part of our responsible procurement process. We carry out assessments of our suppliers and agree on necessary corrective measures and monitor their implementation.
We raise awareness of human rights among our suppliers and partners as part of an ongoing dialogue. We address human rights issues in sustainability self-assessment questionnaires of our suppliers, through sustainability audits and through other inquiries. We also support our partners by providing human rights training through the PSCI.
Identifying misconduct through our whistleblowing channel
As part of our due diligence process, we collect notifications from our stakeholders about our human rights practices. Orion has a whistleblowing channel which our own employees and also other stakeholders can use to report violations related to human rights. We investigate all notifications reported through the channel quickly and impartially and, when possible, confidentially. We take measures to end the activities that are in breach of our ethical operating principles on a case-by-case basis and in the most appropriate manner for the situation in question. Orion annually reports human rights violations reported to the whistleblowing channel as part of its non-financial reporting.
