As of August 2022, Sansure Biotech employs about 2,600 employees at headquarter and facilities in Changsha, and offices in other city of China and overseas, comprising an almost equal proportion of males and females (about 53% male and 47% female). The R&D personnel accounted 20% of the total employees. All the employees are directly employed by the Company.
For oversea projects, the Company will create local employment opportunities in Indonesia and Philippines. Sansure Biotech plans to employ staff directly responsible for Africa region and is expected to hire more local talents to support business growth and technology transfer in Africa.
Human Resources Policies and Procedures: Sansure Biotech has corporate HR policies and procedures with terms of employment including corporate culture, code of conduct, HR rules and regulations such as working hours and leave arrangement, formalized into employment contracts in accordance with national labor requirements applicable to all its existing and future facilities. Hiring and employment practices recognize the principles of non-discrimination and equal opportunity. Child and forced labor practices are strictly prohibited in line with host country labor laws. No pregnancy tests are required when hiring. The HR related procedure management documents include performance management, training management, employee reward and punishment management system and welfare system, etc. are general consistent with IFC PS2 requirements. As per ESAP 3, the Company will update its HR policies and procedures to include a gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) prevention and redress; workers' freedom of association; and develop a formal grievance redress procedure for all workers in line with PS2.
Workers’ Organization: A labor union, with a staff representative committee and a performance management committee, is in place, representing 100% of employees. The Company holds regular meetings with union representatives and the union acts as an important channel for the voicing of employee grievances to management. As per ESAP 3, the Company will update its HR policies and procedures to include workers' freedom of association in line with PS2 provisions.
Workers Grievance Mechanism: The Company has a three-level staff grievance procedure (direct supervisor, department head and complaint investigation team) to handle anonymous and non-anonymous grievances. Anonymous grievances can be directly lodged with the chief executive officer’s office through writing to chairman's mailbox, online employee communication application tool, and the audit and supervision department. Employee satisfaction surveys and other channels for communication and feedback opportunities are also provided.
In addition, the contractor workers are included in the communication platform of the Company, such as WeChat group and workers can report to the contractor company. However, there is no documented policy and procedure for employees’ grievance and complain in place. As per ESAP 3, the Company will develop a documented formal grievance redress procedure aligned with PS2 provisions including provision of access to an appropriate, anonymous and confidential grievance mechanism for all workers including its employees, and contracted workers applicable to its projects.
Occupational Health and Safety: The Company has documented OHS management system and procedures applicable to all existing and future manufacturing sites and R&D facilities. As part of the Company’s corporate OHS management system, all Sansure Biotech’s facilities conduct hazard point identification, analysis, and risk rating, leading to corresponding mitigations and daily OHS inspection checklists. The identification and evaluation of environmental and safety risk factors are regularly carried out once a year by the general office and cooperated by each responsible department.
Training on OHS are provided to all employees such as: safety operation precautions, safety management of hazardous chemicals, personal and property safety. New employees are required to have safety education training and biosafety training prior to starting work and refresher training are regularly conducted. Personal protective equipment (PPE), and eyewash facilities are provided. The Company arranges regular health check-ups for all staff including those working at higher-risk duty stations such as those with potential exposure to chemicals. The Company also entrust external professionals to carry out OHS auditing, and to organize relevant trainings. The Company has implemented corresponding improvement measures and a series of training based on the audit results.
There have been no major accident cases and fatalities in its operations in the past three years, except one accident in 2022 that a cleaner engaged from a contractor slipped at work and fractured. After this incident, the Company implemented corresponding mitigation measures according to the results of incident investigation following the corporate control procedures for accident handling and strengthened the safety education for the contractor.
The Company has implemented COVID-19 response measures as per national requirements at all subsidiaries including undertaking all necessary health and safety precautions in the workplace to minimize potential COVID-19 infections (e.g. temperature checks, frequent sanitization of Company facilities). There is no retrenchment conducted. No staff have been placed on no-pay-leave, or had their salaries reduced due to COVID-19.
Workers Engaged by Third Parties: Sansure Biotech has a safety production responsibility agreement with contractor to promote the Company’s EHS policies, contractor’s safety operations and OHS trainings. construction safety, health safety, and L&FS training are provided by safety contractors to all the construction workers on site. Safety production staff also engages with the contractors to supervise hazard points and to ensure the implementation of relevant OHS procedures and mitigation measures. The Company has a risk identification and reporting system for any safety risk that would be identified during the project development, to be reported to the general office and relevant procedures to be updated accordingly.
The Company provides accommodation for employees in need in Changsha facilities. The dormitories for employees are suited with three bedrooms and one living room or four bedrooms and two living rooms. Male and female accommodation are separated, with provision of basic services, such as independent toilet and shared activity area. Construction worker’s accommodation is provided by construction contractors located in the industrial park. To ensure all workers accommodation will meet the health and safety standards including the provision of basic services, as part of ESAP 4, the Company will develop a worker’s accommodation standard in line with PS2 requirements and “Workers’ accommodation: processes and standards - A guidance note by IFC and the EBRD” which will be monitored by the Company, applicable to its projects.
Supply Chain: The Company has established a supplier quality management and control procedure including standardized supplier access and evaluation mechanism, rectification and penalty measures. The Company requires its suppliers and contractors to comply with its corporate ESMS by use of an EHS agreement, which includes corporate EHS requirements on different types of suppliers and contractors. The Company implements EHS checklist for its suppliers and contractors and conducts nonscheduled follow-up inspection on EHS implementation at least once a year. As per ESAP 5, the Company will update the supplier control procedure articulating its commitment to prohibit child and forced labor practices; and update a procedure to assess supply chain E&S risks for its primary suppliers in line with IFC PS2. The Company will monitor its primary supply chain on an ongoing basis in order to identify any significant risks or incidents of child and/or forced labor practices. If such risks are identified, the Company will develop processes to prevent and remedy such practices including termination of contracts if risks are not adequately addressed in a reasonable period of time.
