Ethics

Ethics is about taking responsibility. At SINTEF, we face ethical challenges every day at work, in our business activities and in our contact with colleagues, clients and business partners. We may be faced with real dilemmas that force us to make difficult decisions.
Our ethical guidelines are there to help us in these situations and to act as our compass. The guidelines are reviewed every year to make sure that they stay up to date with developments in society and with those challenges facing SINTEF today.

By putting ethics even higher on SINTEF's agenda, we are aiming to create a corporate culture in which we can openly discuss our ethical dilemmas. To support this work, we have established a SINTEF Ethics Council and appointed an Ethics Representative. These will help with advice and guidance, and will ensure transparency in our ethical decisions, even if those decisions are the wrong ones.

Ethics at SINTEF are the responsibility of its managers. However, SINTEF needs every single person to take personal responsibility and to deal with everyday decisions in an ethically responsible way.

1. Whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous will do so.
2. The person or persons who are the subject of the whistleblowing will be given an opportunity to present their version of the case as soon as possible.
3. The person or persons who are the subject of the whistleblowing will be able to present their version to the relevant fora in SINTEF.
4. The whistleblower will be given clear information about what will happen, feedback during the hearing and will be notified of the results of the hearing.
5. If the hearing requires the whistleblower to come forward, the latter may choose to do so, or to withdraw the disclosure.
6. If the whistleblowing is in relation to illegal conduct, this is of public concern and the case will necessarily have to be pursued. Anonymity will still be ensured as far as possible.

SINTEF became member of UN Global Compact in January 2009.

SINTEF is a private, non-profit research institute, which is organised as a foundation with subsidiaries. Through its first-rate solution-oriented research and knowledge generation, SINTEF creates significant value for its Norwegian and international clients, the public sector and society as a whole.

As SINTEFs direct activities by themselves is performed in accordance with the UN Global Compact principles, this COP will mainly describe the content of our research activities for our clients and how the results from this research may have an impact on the global environment and society in a way that will support the ten principles.