Carphone Warehouse 2006 Annual Report Download - page 23

Disability discrimination
To ensure that we are offering disabled customers
the ability to obtain goods and services in just
the same way as any other customer we have
a special needs section on our retail website
(www.carphonewarehouse.com), dedicated phone
numbers for our customers, customer care packs
containing magnifying glasses and easy-grip pens
and billing in a number of formats for the visually
impaired. Our corporate website complies with the
Royal National Institute of the Blind’s “See It Right”
accessibility criteria and priority level 1 criteria of
the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines.
Induction loops have been provided to all stores,
and drop counters are now fitted in new stores
as standard. Over 90% of our UK stores are fully
accessible for wheelchair users. To assist customers,
we have published a list of stores with access
difficulties on our website, with suggested
alternative stores in the area.
Adult content
We continue to take the risks associated with adult
content seriously and have introduced a code of
practice in the UK to apply to all Carphone Warehouse
branded web channels. As well as clearly classifying
content as suitable for adults only, we include
prerequisites to purchasing – such as only selling via
credit card to ensure that a customer is over 18. This
year we aim to introduce guidelines to address the
risks associated with children accessing the internet
via mobile and to advise parents on how best to
set up mobile technology to prevent such access.
Environment
Our stores have a requirement to ensure that all
packaging and store waste is returned to our
warehouses to be recycled and re-used. The UK
The Group is implementing an online recruitment
system and is also committed to putting in systems
to measure diversity across the Group. Gender and
race are now voluntarily recorded via BackChat to
enable us to monitor inclusion and recruit and promote
to specific audiences that we feel are under-represented.
Regulatory and social responsibilities
We continue to operate in a relatively low impact
industry and our meetings and discussions with
Group businesses on social, environmental and
ethical matters give us confidence both that the risks
to our business in these areas are relatively low, and
also that controls are in place to ensure compliance
with new laws and regulations where necessary.
Below we have identified the key regulatory and social
risks currently affecting the Group. We have aimed to
focus our update on areas where there has been a
change in regulation or our approach during the year,
or where new regulation is on its way. In other areas
such as mobile phone crime and safe driving, there
has been no material development, and our approach
to these social issues is addressed in previous years’
annual reports.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive &
Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances
Due to further industry consultation, the
implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic
Equipment (WEEE) Directive has been delayed to later
in 2006. However, we are confident that we have the
processes in place to ensure compliance with the
objectives and obligations set out in the directive
when they are finalised.
The Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous
Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment
Regulations 2005 Directive will be in force in the
UK on 1 July 2006 and a working group has been
actively ensuring compliance in line with this date.
Governance continued www.cpwplc.com 19
BackChat, our annual employee
survey, enables us to measure the
impact of actions taken to improve
the working environment
PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
AND OUR CUSTOMERS
MAJOR REVIEW OF
CARBON EMISSIONS
Governance