SUSTAINABILITY
QES firmly believes that economic, environment, social responsibility and good corporate governance are the core of achieving a sustainable business. In achieving our business sustainability, the Group remains committed in achieving operational profitability whilst focusing on the environment, social and governance (“ESG”) criteria as essential elements in enabling the Group to achieve success now as well as into the future. Our Sustainability Statement (“SS”) was prepared in pursuant to Bursa Securities’ ACE Market Listing Requirements (“AMLR”) and Sustainability Reporting Guide issued. In preparing this Statement, the Group also considered the Sustainability Reporting Guide – 2nd Edition and its accompanying Toolkits, issued by Bursa Securities. The Group is committed towards ensuring that our business operations are carried out in a sustainable and responsible manner, taking into consideration of the ESG implications the Group is exposed to. This sustainability statement outlines our endeavours throughout FYE 2021 in areas where our expertise and resources can make a positive impact.
This Sustainability Statement describes the Group’s commitment towards improving its sustainability practices while also considering the concerns of our stakeholders. By focusing on sustainability, the Group focuses and highlights more on ESG to strengthen the local economy, safeguard natural resources and strengthen our bond with our community.
In line with the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda and seventeen (17) UNSDGs, the Group adopted these goals as part of our sustainability journey, where we identified six (6) UNSDGs which have a direct impact on the Group in terms of risks and opportunities over the long-term.
ENVIRONMENTAL
In line with the SDG 12.5 of responsible consumption and production, we are committed to substantially reducing waste generation through prevention, reduction, recycling and reuse. We are committed to conduct business sustainably with minimal adverse impact to the environment and in compliance to all applicable environmental laws and regulations. We also attempt to adopt the best industry practices through the management of our subcontractors. All scheduled wastes are properly disposed of by registered contractors to the approved treatment premises and disposal facilities.
In our daily operations, we are committed to recycling, energy-saving practices and undertaking measures to reduce wastage, pollution and harmful emissions. We are committed to improving the efficiency of our resources and reduce our environmental impact by encouraging our employees:-
- To recycle old documents
- To distribute all memos via email
- To disseminate all company information such as handbooks, SOP, forms using internal electronic network
- To reuse delivery boxes when necessary
- To reuse shipping, packing material when necessary
- To switch off all electrical appliances when not in use
During the reporting period, there were no incidents of non-compliance and penalties pertaining to environmental related issues. To maintain the highest standard of environmental compliance and to prevent future occurrence of incidence, the Management will continue to review and improve current environmental management system and practices and ensure that all our activities and operations comply with existing regulatory requirements
In FYE 2021, our distribution division has installed more than 1,600 analysers that are integrated in a testing program for regulatory compliance that supports a wide range of hazardous substance analysis such as RoHs and WEEE. WEEE compliance aims to encourage the design of electronic products with environmentally-safe recycling and recovery in mind.
RoHS compliance dovetails into WEEE by reducing the amount of hazardous chemicals used in electronics manufacture. RoHS regulates the hazardous substances used in the manufacture of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), while WEEE regulates the disposal of this same equipment. Some of our flagship products include SpectroGreen, Spectro Genesis, Hitachi Thermal Desorption MS (Screening Device for Phthalates) HM1000A and Hitachi XRF Analyser Series.
Despite significant progress over the past decade on improving access to electricity, increasing renewable energy use in the electricity sector and improving energy efficiency, the world is still falling short in providing affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Managing energy efficiency represents one of the biggest opportunities for the Group to reduce our environmental impact and lower our operating costs. The Group is installing new solar panel roofs at our new Corporate HQ that will be in operation from March 2022. The Group is hoping that with the installation of the new Solar PV module, we are looking at annually offsetting 237 tons of carbon dioxide, which is also saving the equivalent of:-
SOCIAL
The Group believes that carrying out training and development programmes for our employees are fundamental to our employees’ abilities to acquire the skills necessary for their career advancement and personal development. Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic in FY2021 which has resulted in physical attendance of training courses being disallowed, the Group has, through the use of virtual tools and one-on-one practical session where applicable, continued to conduct the following training and development programmes for our employees. In FYE 2021, the Group conducted a total of 191 on-line trainings in embracing the new normal
As a demonstration of our commitment to upholding the highest standards of safety, we rely on comprehensive preventive measures, and the cooperation of our employees to adhere to the best practices in their day-to-day operations. We inspect emergency preparedness equipment such as the firefighting system, fire extinguisher, medical equipment and facility, emergency exit signage and light to ensure they are available, well maintained and functioning in the event of emergencies.
The inspections are carried out on a monthly and quarterly basis. In conducting these inspections, we aim to prevent, if not eliminate incidents, injuries and illnesses arising from unsafe or unhealthy work conditions and processes.
Our emphasis on employee’s health and safety well-being can be witnessed through the establishment of our inhouse Occupational Health, Safety & Environment Policy which comprises the: –
• Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) Emergency Response Team
• Emergency Response Team
• Monthly Fire System Maintenance
• Safety & Health Committee
The aim of these teams is to ensure that we provide an accident-free workplace environment across our workstations to all our employees. We ensure all employees are familiar and well-versed with the plan to minimise safety incidents in the event of emergencies. As the below table shows a list Occupational Health & Safety training that was conducted for the FYE 2021.
• ALM100-In House Radiation Safety Awareness Training
• Contractor Safety Passport System – High Risk Work
• Fire Drill Demonstration – Theory and Practical training
• New Hires Orientation
At the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, QES took various preventive measures to ensure minimal disruptions in the running of the Group’s operations. To safeguard our operations and employees, we enforced strict procedures throughout the companies such as:
• Weekly self-testing of all employees with test kits given to all employees monthly
• Temperature checking and facial recognition scanning
• Face masks were given to all employees
• Social distancing demarcation marked clearly around the office
• Work from home and rotational work from home policies were imposed accordingly
• Encouraged digitalisation of paperwork to minimalize employees contacts
• Daily sanitization of the office and factory
In December 2021, Selangor was affected by flash floods that damaged the homes of many including some of our employees were also affected by it. The Management decided to provide a one-time relief for the affected employees to help them rebuild their homes just in time for the holidays. A total of RM34, 500.00 was distributed to aid 23 employees affected by the flood
In FYE 2021, the Group contributed a total of RM 8,268.00 in total to Fundraising for Flood Victims in Selangor and Fund Raising of Oxy-meters for PgCare Alliance by Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA).
GOVERNANCE
Semiconductor wafer manufacturing innovation using materials such as silicon carbide (“SiC”) and gallium nitride (“GaN”) gave impetus to improve Electric Vehicles (“EV”) performance. Indirectly, we need to develop new equipment to meet our customers’ demands on automation and fast inspection of these new design of IC chips. By working closely with customers, our manufacturing division has researched and developed the all-new Post Die Attach Inspection System – PDA 1000V. The automated vision inspection system is designed to handle and automatically inspect the new power switches (IGBT or MOSFET) based on SiC and GaN materials.
In light of the pandemic, the Group has launched a series of webinars with the cooperation from Suppliers to target specific industry markets. The webinars were widely promoted on all social media platform and has been generating positive responses from our current and new target audience.
- High Precision Elemental Analysis of Precious Metal Alloys in Refineries, Jewellery Manufacturing and Hallmarking
- Cement Industry Quality Assurance and Production Monitoring with X-ray Fluorescence
- Elemental Analysis: A Live Expert Webinar
- Elemental Analysis of Precious Metals Using SPECTROLAB S
- 10 Benefits for Routine Labs from Improved ICP-OES Technology
- Analysis of Fuels and Additives Using ICP-OES and ED-XRF
- Analysis of Slag, Ferro-Alloys and Refractory Materials Using ED-XRF
- Using X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry for Compliance Screening & Quality Control of Multilayer Structures in the Electronics Industry
- Lithium-Ion Battery Material Analysis With ICP-OES
- Analysis of Food Using ICP-OES
The Group recognises that corporate governance is fundamental to its long-term business and is unreservedly committed to applying the practices necessary to ensure corporate transparency, accountability, performance and integrity which are vital for stakeholder’s trust and confidence. The Group will continue to observe high standards of corporate governance which is stated in the Corporate Governances Overview Statement in this Annual Report. The Group has also formalised and incorporate the following:
• Code of Ethics and Conduct
• Anti-Corruption and Bribery Policy
• Whistleblowing Policy
• Corporate Governance Report
• Board Charter
For further information, documents on our policies are published on our corporate website at https://www.qesnet.com/investor-relations/corporate-governance/
