Community Social Development
Individuals, communities, and corporations should work in unison to achieve social goals, including the elimination of homelessness, food insecurity, diseases, discrimination on any basis, and the barriers to education. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a commitment to our employees and the communities they live and work in. Over the past three years, TRT has donated to CSR programs in Massachusetts that protect vulnerable individuals and families. This community assistance has been given to the Animal Rescue League, Cardinal Cushing Centers, D.A.R.E. program, Father Bill's & Mainspring Shelter, Jimmy Fund, New England Aquarium, Road to Responsibility, Rosie's Place, South Shore Leadership Scholarship, Quincy Public Schools, and YMCA Food Pantries and Disabled American Veterans (DAV). Each year, our employees choose a new non-profit to support through donations of goods and/or monetary funds. In 2023, TRT continued to support this program in its budget.
EMPLOYEES
Diversity & Inclusion
Twin Rivers Technologies' (TRT's) Diversity and Inclusion program, is a key part of our Sustainability program. Our goal and commitment is to have TRT be a company where all employees are supported professionally in order to succeed and where there are no obstacles based on race, ethnicity, nationality, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
Diversity is the presence of differences that make each person unique and can be used to differentiate groups of people from one another. In addition to race, gender, sexual preference, age, and socio-demographics, it also includes work experience, thinking style, and personality type. Inclusion is defined as the full engagement and development of all stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, communities and shareholders) associated with an organization. Inclusion enables individuals and groups to feel safe, respected, engaged, motivated and valued, for who they are and for their contributions toward organizational and societal goals. Inclusion only happens when the diversity of an organization is fully leveraged.
The goal of diversity and inclusion is to maximize the ability to identify and meet the most pressing needs our customers and communities face today. Making cultural change is challenging, but embracing diversity and inclusion will help pave the way for a bright and sustainable future by attracting and retaining the best and most talented people possible.
TRT's vision is to be the preferred partner for Naturally Based Specialty Chemicals by consistently manufacturing and delivering high quality products through a sustainable and diversified supply chain. Our mission to deliver superior value to our stakeholders is partly achieved by fostering an engaged culture that empowers our employees to achieve goals and provide an exceptional customer experience.
As we continue to apply diversity and inclusion, TRT is committed to:
- Form a diversity and inclusion (D&I) council
- Train, educate and empower employees
- Recruit and retain a diverse workforce
- Work towards the greatest possible inclusion to fully understand and develop new ideas, viewpoints, and experiences
- Achieve cultural growth in our business and within our communities
Women in Stem / Internships — Changing The Face of Stem
Building on the initiatives outlined in the 2019 Sustainability Report, the internship program aimed at supporting women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) studies has continued to grow. TTR's program targets individuals from local colleges/universities or those who are children of TRT employees currently enrolled in targeted academic programs. Our objective is twofold: to empower women in alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goals and to identify and nurture talent for potential future employment opportunities.
Women in STEM aims not only to offer professional growth opportunities for women but also to enrich TRT's diverse workforce by tapping into a broader pool of talented individuals. Interns will assist in a wide range of activities ranging from data collection and analytics to field engineering in the refinery. Paired with a TRT mentor the STEM Intern will be an integral part of programs designed to kickstart or support programs related to a wide variety of technical skills.
TRT's STEM internship is designed for candidates who have completed at least one to three years of college, offering them a platform to enhance their professional credentials and skill sets. TRT brings in candidates, one for each semester (September — December; January — May; June — August).
Qualified programs under consideration include:
- Sustainability
- Environmental Engineering
- Supply Chain Management
- Occupational Health and Safety
- Chemical Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Manufacturing Engineering
- Chemistry
- Business
We are pleased to announce that our next STEM intern will join TRT in May 2023.
Environmental Health and Safety Management System and Integration Project
TRT is in the process of developing an integrated Environmental Health and Safety Management System. This program is designed to remove overlapping and redundant systems that have been developed over the history of the organization. The goal is to streamline several processes, reduce the workload and improve efficiency throughout the organization.
In 2023 we brought the SDS authoring program and SDS management systems online to improve our library of production SDSs and to better manage the SDS library of chemical on site. This has already delivered dividends to our customers with updated, GHS compliant documentation. Our people also have better access to the system for information from mobile devices in addition to more classical pathways.
Additionally, this project brought a new incident investigation and corrective actions tracking system to the organization. In particular, the corrective actions tracking will ensure that identified actions are completed to reduce recurrence. By deploying this system our investigations, corrective actions and documentation through the entire investigation process will be available for review, auditing purposes and for our people to use the learnings from the investigation when designing new projects and procedures.
Next steps include the deployment of a ISO14001 / ISO18001 compliant EHS management system for all regulated activities on site. This will replace spreadsheet-based systems now in place, improve communications, accountability, and resource use. In conjunction with that system a new Management of Change package will also be adopted. This too will replace an existing in-house and standalone system. These packages are expected to be installed by the end of 2024.
Safety & Health
At TRT, our employees work together to foster a safe work environment that is both physically and psychologically safe. The importance of safety is emphasized every single day. Our employees are at the core of TRT's success as a continuous operations facility. Our safety efficiency is driven by our employees. As a team, our employees with managers across all departments, continuously share behavioral observations and near misses. Every action counts. Mastering safety aspects of our work effectively has made a big difference to our production as well as to our employees and contractors. Safety is the sum total of the numerous parts, and TRT is approaching safety from many different angles to ensure that even the little things are considered. This has made all the difference.
Training
TRT has made effective training a top priority in the last year. By provide more hands-on, in-person training, TRT has captured the needs of our employees that has greatly improved our safety culture and our overall morale. TRT's goal for training is to customize it to our facility and our people. TRT's training program has brought our departments together to set realistic goals, build accountability and meet our company objectives. TRT's well-crafted employee training program has greatly improved both personal leadership skills and career skills while building our overall success. Training is not a one-way experience here at TRT. TRT's training has evolved to be more employee focused by giving them a chance to share their concerns, best practices and ideas. This has encouraged not only individual growth but more collaboration between departments, leaders and teams.
TRT's goal for 2024 is to build on our employee talent training at all levels of our company. TRT's leadership is committed to providing a well-designed training plan to support optimize time and resource and boost employee engagement. More importantly, TRT's training plan will include regular check-ins with our employees from managers to foster supportive relationships and improve accountability. TRT will add more versatility to its training to drive growth and improve performance. Lastly, TRT has encouraged active participation in our training program from all of our employees by offering training in-person during all shifts and having peer-to-peer trainers.
Heath & Wellness
While life got back to mostly normal in 2022, TRT has implemented several long term changes to continue to protect the health and wellness of our employees, contractors, customers and vendors. Non-essential personnel can work remotely one day a week as business allows and many meetings are still held virtually to allow for social distancing. We continue to employe a team to maintain safe, separate and clean workspaces for employees working in the plant. These efforts allowed us to maintain social distancing through occupancy limits, while giving the management team the ability to support those employees who were required be on site to do their jobs.
2022 afforded us the opportunity to host an in-person Wellness Fair. The fair was held outside of our on-site fitness center and had vendor set up for Fidelity, Delta Dental, hpi, CPI-HR, RX&Go, TRT'S Committees ( Charitable, Rewards& Recognition & Wellness). This was a great opportunity for employees to have questions answered and learn more about the benefits offered by Twin Rivers Technologies. Wellness Workdays offered free Biometric Screenings for Employees. Screenings were completed by a qualified health professional and determined the individual's total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, body composition, Body Mass Index (BMI) and A1c.
Screenings were confidential and free of charge to employees. A Healthy Balance was onsite and in the fitness center, for guidance on the equipment we have and will be setting up appointments for individual fit tests, and more. All employees who attended were entered into a drawing to win a smartwatch.
As with the rest of the world, TRT continues to review our current practices in an effort to ensure that our employees are safe, and the needs of our customers and shareholders are met.
Our Customers
Customer satisfaction continues to be a top priority for us. Our commitment to sustainability is consistent with the sustainability commitments of our customers. We, along with many of our customers, have embraced the concept of environmental and social performance and will continue to drive this platform throughout our industry, from suppliers to finished goods.
Many of our customers are large global companies that have embraced the concept of environmental and social performance, and expect their suppliers to do the same. This reinforces the business value of our programs and involves all levels of the organization in the commitment to achieve our goals.
In 2018, to ensure that we remained competitive in the marketplace and are able to service our customers, we became REACH certified. REACH is a regulation of the European Union, adopted to improve the protection of human health and the environment from the risks that can be posed by chemicals. It also promotes alternative methods for the hazard assessment of substances in order to reduce the number of tests on animals.
Our refined glycerin has been Safe Quality Food (SQF) Level 2 certified since 2015. We are recognized by the SQF Institute, a division of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), as a HACCP Based Food Safety Plan Supplier. In 2019, we worked to achieve SQF Certification for our Kosher and Halal Fatty Acids. This certification reflects the goal of our food safety management system to improve business processes, increase efficiencies and reduce risk. To receive this level of certification we must:
- Meet a number of strict SQF safety and sanitation requirements
- Develop and maintain a high level of sustainable Good Manufacturing Practice (GMPs)
- Develop and follow a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HAACP) program to ensure food safety
- Develop a food safety risk analysis while providing continuous SQF training for all its employees
SQF certification is recognized worldwide, informing customers that they are doing business with a company who adheres to the strictest food safety and sanitation standards. It gives consumers a sense of confidence knowing they are buying products from a company who is recognized for producing safe food products. This certification gives external validation to the internal safety commitment to which we have always adhered.
Being SQF certified builds confidence between TRT and our partners. Having a recognized single-audit system in place eliminates the need for duplicate, costly audits from other sources. The SQF program has been implemented by more than 5,000 companies operating in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, South America and in the United States. In addition, SQF Certification meets the safety standard of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
Furthermore, to receiving this certification, we expanded our product line offerings to include coconut only products. These products are certified as being Palm Free, which is becoming an increasingly requested option during this widely controversial time. Many companies are choosing to eliminate non-sustainable palm oil due to the effects harvesting has had on the workers in the palm oil industry and the deforestation in the rainforests of southeast Asia. Because of this and the ever-evolving natural specialty chemical industry, TRT is also a RSPO registered site and offers Mass Balance product options.
Sedex is a not for profit membership organization which is dedicated to driving improvements in ethical and responsible business practices in global supply chains. In 2019 Twin Rivers completed a Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit or SMETA. The SMETA is intended to provide transparency for Sedex's four governance pillars of Labor, Health and Safety, Environment and Business Ethics. TRT passed the SMETA with no findings or corrective actions and the outstanding comment in the SMETA about TRT was ...“Excellent environmental standards are maintained. A full and comprehensive sustainability program is in place”. The results of the SMETA are available to TRT's customers.
OUR COMMUNITIES
Charitable Donations:
TRT is an active participant in the local and regional community. Our Charitable Donations committee works to ensure that we are able to give to local charities that are important to our employees.
In November of 2023, our employees participated in a food drive for a local YMCA food pantry, donating over a dozen boxes filled with non-perishable goods. Additionally, as part of a fundraiser, our employees raised $400 for Disabled American Veterans. With a matching donation from TRT as well as a generous donation from an employee who is a veteran, we were able to make a $1200 donation to DAV!
In the spring of 2023, several employees donated time along with TRT donated materials to build raised garden beds at a residential home for individuals with developmental, emotional and behavioral challenges run by Road to Responsibility.
Planet
Performance
