We regard grievance mechanisms as a crucial tool for preventing and managing adverse impacts on our stakeholders, including workers in our value chain. In line with the UN Effectiveness Criteria, we aim to address all grievances received, whether they arise from real or perceived issues and whether the complainant is identified or anonymous. These mechanisms provide a channel for identifying potential or actual adverse impacts, resolving grievances, and offering remedies to rights holders where we have caused or contributed to a negative impact. We recognize that these mechanisms do not impede stakeholders’ rights to access judicial or other remedies. Each value chain worker’s reported grievance is investigated with a commitment to confidentiality, data protection, protection against retaliation, equal treatment, objectivity, and impartiality. Wherever OMV has caused or contributed to a negative human rights impact, we take remedial actions to counteract or mitigate it, e.g., through financial or non-financial compensation, restitution, restoration, rehabilitation, or other remedial actions. We engage with the affected rights holder while implementing the proposed remedy and ensure that the remedy is rights-compatible and does not lead to secondary harm. The following channels are available for our value chain workers to raise their concerns: the SpeakUp Channel (on our Integrity Platform) and our Community Grievance Mechanisms. These channels were both established by OMV. Both of these channels are protected against retaliation, employing methods such as whistleblower protection, as legally required by OMV through our Code of Conduct. They are communicated through training sessions, meetings, and events, and are publicly available on our website and at site locations (e.g., CGM). During audits, interviews with blue-collar workers are conducted to assess their trust in these grievance channels.
SpeakUp Channel
Our general approach to and process for remediating an identified material negative impact related to value chain workers is through the provision of grievance mechanisms. OMV has therefore established the SpeakUp Channel, which is technically part of our Whistleblowing Integrity Platform and provides our value chain workers and other stakeholders with a secure platform to confidentially and, if necessary, anonymously raise concerns regarding serious work-related misconduct, including discrimination, harassment, unequal employment opportunities, and any violations of work-related human rights (such as forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking), and have them addressed. OMV launched communication activities addressing our business partners in 2025 to enhance access to the SpeakUp Channel for value chain workers. These activities included the presentation of this grievance channel in meetings with contractors, and we also initiated the distribution of information posters at operational sites. For details on the process through which we support the availability of the SpeakUp Channel, as well as our approach to tracking, monitoring, and ensuring effectiveness, see S1-3 Processes to Remediate Negative Impacts and Channels for Own Workers to Raise Concerns.
Community Grievance Mechanisms (CGMs)
For issues related to human rights, such as inadequate working conditions, or for any other concerns associated with OMV’s operations, any external parties, including value chain workers, can utilize the locally available Community Grievance Mechanisms (CGMs). These mechanisms are developed in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Effectiveness Criteria and applicable national regulations on grievance procedures, and are available at our operational sites to enable the reporting of grievances, identification of potential adverse impacts, resolution of issues, and provision of remedies where OMV has caused or contributed to a negative impact. The CGMs, managed by community relations teams or focal persons, are available at our sites to handle grievances from external stakeholders. In accordance with OMV’s Code of Conduct, business partners shall, to the extent permissible by law, also have an accessible and effective grievance mechanism (or other mechanism in accordance with the applicable law) in place for their own workers and other stakeholders to report any breaches of human rights. During human rights monitoring activities (e.g., on-site checks), we assess the accessibility of workers’ grievance mechanisms. We aim to resolve all grievances promptly. Depending on the severity and type of issue, response times can range from within 24 hours for urgent cases to a maximum of 45 days for those requiring detailed investigations. Our approach aligns with Ipieca’s best practice and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights Effectiveness Criteria, ensuring our grievance mechanism is legitimate, accessible, predictable, equitable, transparent, rights-compatible, continuously improving, and based on dialogue. For details on the process through which we support the availability of our CGMs as well as our approach to tracking, monitoring, and ensuring its effectiveness, see S3-3 Processes to Remediate Negative Impacts and Channels for Affected Communities to Raise Concerns.