According to Ingeniøren, Denmark's largest consulting engineer will change its future conduct so that employees can be held personally accountable if they see or know of human rights breaches and do not report them. That is the consequence of Danwatch's revelations in February that Ramboll's partners at construction projects in Dubai recruited migrant workers under slave-like conditions.
”We will change the employment contracts globally to state that the company complies with the principles of the UN Global Compact, and that employees must note that failure to comply with the principles will lead to indictment and may be grounds for termination,” says Group CEO Flemming Bligaard Pedersen to Ingeniøren.
Promises oblige
Ramboll has subscribed to the UN Global Compact, which obligates the company to ensure that neither it or its suppliers, clients or other parties in collaborative projects contribute to violations of human rights and workers' rights. So even if Ramboll did not have employees working under reprehensible conditions, the two major building contractors, Arabtech Construction and Al Habtoor Leighton, which Ramboll worked with in Dubai, held employees under slave-like conditions without the possibility of quitting or leaving Dubai. This happened without Ramboll's employees reacting although they were aware of the conditions.
This must not happen again, and therefore Ramboll has taken a number of measures towards changing its future conduct. Earlier there was insufficient focus on collaborative partners that Ramboll is not contractually bound to. But the UN Global Compact also emphasises this relation.
”We have not focused on the issue of our obligations regarding third parties, but thought that we have no influence since we have no contract. In that respect we have learned something,” says Group CEO Flemming Bligaard Pedersen to Ingeniøren.
Will not help victims
In spite of Ramboll's admission that it has made mistakes, this will not benefit past victims, although the Global Compact states that involved corporations ought to help.
”We do not know the persons in question because it concerns construction workers working for the contractors. Furthermore, it is people who have worked in Dubai as immigrant workers from Pakistan, India or other countries in the East. So they are spread throughout the entire world,” says Group CEO Flemming Bligaard Pedersen to Ingeniøren.
Instead Ramboll is going to work towards ensuring that similar problems do not arise in the future. The company has therefore changed a number of procedures and made sure that it is easier for employees to report instances of human rights violations, and future partners will be made aware of Ramboll's ethical commitments.
