Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy
SummitSkills is the sector skills council for building services engineering sector, which encompasses the electrotechnical, plumbing, heating & ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration industries. Its purpose is to champion opportunities for individuals and organisations in the sector to succeed. Its vision is of a sector in which investment in workforce development and lifelong learning is made by employers and business of all sizes and that the sector’s contribution to improved productivity and business performance is recognised throughout the UK.
To assist in the realisation of this vision, SummitSkills recognises the importance of promoting equality of opportunity and diversity throughout the Building Services Engineering (BSE) sector.
Corporate responsibility for ensuring and promoting equal opportunities and diversity rests with the SummitSkills Board. However, everyone in the sector should have an awareness of equal opportunities and diversity issues and should accept responsibility for ensuring that this policy is implemented both at a business and an individual level.
SummitSkills is committed to ensuring that everyone is treated equally irrespective of age, sex, race, disability, sexual orientation or religious beliefs or on the basis of any other factors which are visible or invisible. SummitSkills is also committed to active awareness-raising of issues and generating solutions to address them.
SummitSkills celebrates and recognises the true value of diversity and expects all those in, or associated with, the sector to:
• understand, accept and respect individual differences
• treat everyone on the basis of their merits and abilities
• promote equality of access to education, training and development
• create an environment that encourages an understanding and appreciation of the needs of others and deals with oppressive behaviour, harassment or bullying
• promote best practice in all activities such as recruitment, selection, promotion and curriculum practices
• ensure that no-one receives any privilege or less favourable treatment based on the factors listed in this policy
• listen to and learn from others both within and outside the sector
SummitSkills will adopt a zero-tolerance approach internally and will continuously monitor practices to ensure that the sector meets its commitment to equality of opportunity and diversity as determined by this policy. Legislation and practice will be monitored and this policy amended and updated accordingly.
