Corporate Social Responsibility

“Corporate Social Responsibility” has been defined in so many ways, it is increasingly difficult to be certain what it means.  For Kedrion it is a matter of understanding that we do not exist or operate in a vacuum. Everything we do, every decision we make, impacts the people around us: in our workforce, in our community and in the world.  And further, all our actions and all our policies have environmental impacts as well.

OUR VALUES

A corporation is not a person, but a corporation is run by people and it affects people. And Kedrion’s business is people.  The very nature of our enterprise is to help people live more full and healthy lives.  This commitment extends to how we conduct our business, that is, in ways that are consistent with our mission:  to benefit people, to “keep life flowing”.

It would be contradictory – indeed, hypocritical – to be in the business of making people’s lives better if our business practices were in the short or long term detrimental to life and wellbeing.  And in fact to be totally consistent, those business practices – how we conduct our work from plasma collection to derivative distribution, from research to marketing, from labor relations to energy use – should, whenever possible and practicable, benefit the well-being of the people and the communities (as well as the planet) where they live.  Now, tomorrow and in the far future.

Our principles

Kedrion began as a relatively small family company, intimately connected to the community where we and our workers were born, live and work.  “Social responsibility” for Kedrion has not been just a matter of good business; it has been a matter of being a good neighbor.

This is still rather vague and idealistic and that is probably at least somewhat inevitable, but it might help to give examples of the many areas and activities where such a vision is made manifest:

  • Ensuring that our workers are treated well and compensated fairly
  • Providing a safe and comfortable workplace
  • Minimizing the environmental impact of our processes and activities and finding ways to improve the environment where we work
  • Ensuring that whoever operates for and on behalf of Kedrion adheres to recognized principles of best practices, as well as to federal and state laws and regulations
  • Being an active good citizen in the communities – physical and human – where and with which we work
  • Encouraging all partners and collaborators to observe socially responsible practices and contractually obligating partners and collaborators to conform to our social responsibility principles
  • Ensuring Corporate Compliance and Social Responsibility is prominently considered in all business transactions and decisions.

We believe social responsibility must be expressed pro-actively, that is, it is not enough simply to “do no harm”; we should be looking for and identifying opportunities to do positive “good” in the world, from our plants and facilities to the global environment.

It is not enough to donate money to worthy causes; we should look for causes we can establish and support in all the communities where we work – including the global one.

For us at Kedrion, Corporate compliance and Social Responsibility are commitments.  A promise.

Our standards

We measure our performance at Kedrion by continual reference and evaluation against a number of voluntary standards and guidelines, such as:

  • Our own ideals, principles and goals, including the Kedrion Biopharma Comprehensive Compliance Program
  • CGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practices)
  • The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises
  • The ILO Principles (International Labor Organisation)
  • The SA8000 Standard
  • The OHSAS 18001 Standards
  • The EMAS Regulation
  • The ISO 14001 Standards
  • The ISO 9001 Standards
  • The ISO26000 Guidelines
  • The Global Compact’s Ten Principles regarding human rights, labour, the environment and the fight against corruption