Human rights management

The OMV Human Rights Policy Statement sets out our understanding of and responsibility for respecting and upholding human rights in our business environment. It has been approved by the Executive Board and serves as our guiding principle for dealing with human rights issues in all aspects of our daily business.

The overall accountability for our compliance with human rights lies with the respective business heads. Locally based human rights officers conduct due diligence at the operating facilities with the support of two human rights managers at Group level (at OMV and OMV Petrom). Action plans and mitigation measures are implemented and reported by the respective functions, depending on which aspect of human rights is in question. Thus, the Human Resources department would deal with human rights issues related to labor rights, the Procurement department is responsible for managing human rights issues in the supply chain, the HSSE department is responsible for security-related human rights issues, and the Community Relations and Development function implements OMV policy related to human rights impact on communities and indigenous peoples. Internationally recognized third-party experts support OMV in conducting the due diligence on the Company’s exposure to human rights risks.

Since 2008, we have mapped our human rights responsibilities in a comprehensive Human Rights Matrix designed to serve as the foundation for our activities in this area. We use this tool to assess our human rights challenges and activities and prioritize our actions as essential, expected, or desirable in defense of human rights. We regularly review the priorities in our Matrix and redefine them in accordance with international best practice and the latest developments in the human rights field.

The OMV Human Rights Matrix covers responsibilities in the following areas:

  • Human rights risk management in general, including compliance with national and international standards, human rights training, the grievance mechanism, and organizational structures
  • Equality and non-discrimination, including the implementation of appropriate guidelines and awareness training measures
  • Security, including preventive, defensive, and community-oriented approaches to security; clear guidelines; supervision and trainings
  • Health and safety, including OMV health and safety management as well as community arrangements
  • Labor rights, including decent wages, working hours, employee representation, and provisions against forced labor, child labor, and human trafficking
  • The right to education, including training for employees as well as support for basic education in surrounding communities
  • Property and standard of living, including land rights and poverty reduction
  • Local communities and indigenous peoples, including consultation based on free, prior, and informed consent, IFC Performance Standard 71The IFC (International Finance Corporation) Performance Standard on Indigenous Peoples recognizes that indigenous peoples, as social groups with identities that are distinct from mainstream groups in national societies, are often among the most marginalized and vulnerable segments of the population. and ILO Convention 1692The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, ILO (International Labour Organization) Convention 169, is the major binding international convention recognizing the specific rights of indigenous peoples.
  • Privacy and family life, including personal data protection and appropriate living and working conditions

OMV holds itself responsible for protecting the human rights of our employees (issues such as non-discrimination, decent wages, working hours, employee representation) as well as of the outside world, for example our suppliers, communities, indigenous people, and society as a whole. Our external responsibilities in the area of human rights include, but are not limited to, equality and non-discrimination, security, primary health care, labor rights in the supply chain (such as fair wages and working hours), education, poverty reduction, land rights, and free, prior, and informed consultation. We specifically concentrate on the impact of our activities on the human rights of vulnerable groups, such as indigenous peoples, women, and children.

According to the UN Guiding Principles, an effective grievance mechanism is a crucial instrument for ensuring compliance with our human rights commitment and a source of continuous learning for improving company human rights performance. At OMV, human rights grievances from community members and suppliers are submitted through the Community Grievance Mechanism, and then analyzed locally and at Group level. No incidents related to child labor, forced labor, violation of indigenous peoples’ rights, or other human rights violations were reported in 2019 (2018: no incidents). OMV has assessed its Community Grievance Mechanisms against the UN Effectiveness Criteria at OMV Petrom, in Austrian Upstream operations, and at the Austrian refinery in Schwechat and has started an assessment at the Burghausen refinery in Germany. This involves consulting our external stakeholders about the effectiveness of the available grievance channels. (For more information about the Community Grievance Mechanism and the assessments, see Community Relations and Development.)

OMV employees also have various channels for bringing forward issues and grievances related to human rights. For instance, the Integrity Platform is available to anyone in the Group (for more details, see Communication with stakeholders). PetrOmbudsman at OMV Petrom is where employees and management can have confidential, off-the-record, informal discussions and address issues related to the workplace. Moreover, employees can bring forward their concerns related to discrimination, employee representation in challenging environments, and maternal protection in direct dialogue with human rights managers, human resources business partners, and Works Council members.

1 The IFC (International Finance Corporation) Performance Standard on Indigenous Peoples recognizes that indigenous peoples, as social groups with identities that are distinct from mainstream groups in national societies, are often among the most marginalized and vulnerable segments of the population.

2 The Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, ILO (International Labour Organization) Convention 169, is the major binding international convention recognizing the specific rights of indigenous peoples.