In March 2016 Estra S.p.A. began the process of designing an integrated risk management model inspired by internationally recognised enterprise risk management standards such as the CoSO Report, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission, and ISO 31000. The Estra Group's ERM model is intended to support its management in identifying major company risks and in defining methods for organising the risk control system. It is a tool used in support of strategic planning processes and generally serves as a competitive lever that contributes to decision-making processes. ERM provides a transversal analysis of all company processes aimed at assessing the efficiency of controls and the efficacy of the various activities, and thus supports the management with the restructuring of significant processes as necessary. The following steps are taken periodically as part of the integrated risk management system: validation of the risk management model, updates of the mapping of processes, identification and assessment of risks and the measures taken to contain them, assessments of the overall risk level and identification of appropriate monitoring and management strategies.
Environmental risks have always been absolutely central for energy sector operators. This is due to the strong link with economic, social and environmental development issues especially, but not exclusively, and their impact on local communities. It has been shown that the effects of climate change can have a significant influence both on the value of company assets and the energy system overall, and this has given rise to a new category of risks. This category, which is linked to the increasingly frequent occurrence of extreme meteorological events that can cause damage to infrastructures and electricity service continuity, has highlighted the need for operators in the sector to take action to reinforce infrastructure systems and implement prevention and mitigation solutions. The Estra Group is perfectly aware of this scenario; however, since it is not an electricity distributor, it is not in a position to take concrete action to mitigate the risk of the electricity service being interrupted. Conscious of the fact that measures to reinforce and maintain infrastructures, as well as to prevent and mitigate potential risks caused by such infrastructures possibly being weakened, may contribute to enhancing medium-long term environmental performance, the Estra Group has drawn up policies and improvement actions designed to prevent potential environmental risks.
The general stagnation of the economic situation, accompanied by geopolitical instability, has certainly not helped the structural rationalisation and development processes pursued by the Estra Group, whose business consolidation and growth actions have, on the contrary, had to go through the implementation of numerous safeguards against the main social risks to which its activity is continuously subjected. In greater detail, the “Sale of natural gas and electricity” SBU (subject to a process of gradual liberalisation accompanied by a highly intrusive regulatory framework) is threatened with a potential increase in the number of competitors, to include large businesses currently operating on foreign markets. In this sense, strong competition in terms of price and high levels of variability, fuelled by the constant openness to new supply methods, have driven the Estra Group to work towards the development of supply chain integration policies, which have distinguished it throughout the course of its evolution. At the same time, the emerging demands for new services in the energy and telecommunications sectors have been driven by factors that characterise the changes to the current scenario. In this sense, the need to encourage lower energy consumption (partly through more widespread use of renewable sources and the exploitation of the potential offered by information technology) have driven the “Energy services” and “Telecommunications” ADA to take frontline action towards tackling opportunities and risks directly linked to the diversified development of the respective growth strategies. In reference to the prevention of risks linked to a possible gap in supplies from Estra Group companies and, more specifically, to the prevention of risks relating to potential unexpected interruptions to the service, attributable to problems relating to raw material supplies and infrastructural malfunctions, the Estra Group performs ongoing monitoring of levels of compliance with current legislation and standards dictated by Italy’s competent authorities. However, alongside all this, the Estra Group strives to constantly improve its performance by focusing on the integration of all phases of the marketing chain and by adopting policies designed to increase service quality standards, in which strategic infrastructure management is one of the key aspects.
The Estra Group is well aware of the strategic importance of its human resources — an essential element in the creation of value and in improving internal processes. In light of this, and with the objective of tackling the risks linked to inadequate development of the professional skills and abilities of its personnel, the Estra Group runs training and refresher courses that involve employees at every level of the organisation, promoting methods for the selection and inclusion of new employees that are strongly oriented towards educational and/or professional knowledge already acquired and the specific role they will play, while keeping a constant focus on making the most of trained talents, as demonstrated by the incentivisation and career growth mechanisms reserved for the Group’s most deserving employees.
As regards the risks linked to health and safety in the workplace, all the companies with employees have prepared risk assessment documents in order to:
• identify the methods adopted by the organisation for pinpointing hazards;
• identify the occasions when it is necessary to draw up or review a risk assessment;
• identify the methods used to control the identified and assessed risks, using the tools provided for by the Occupational Health and Safety Management System and the Occupational Health and Safety technical and organisational prevention and protection tools.
What is more, Estra, Estracom, Estra Elettricità, Estra Energie, Estra Clima, Centria and Gergas have obtained OHSAS18001 management system certification.
Respect for human rights is one of the Estra Group’s core founding values and features heavily in its Code of Ethics. In this sense, the Estra Group guarantees respect for the human rights of its workers and protects the rights of its suppliers’ employees by including social protection clauses in its offer requests and subsequent contracts. Since its foundation, Estra has never recorded any episodes linked to the violation of human rights. At present, it has not identified any risks to this regard.