Our Internal Policies

Our Internal Ethics Policies and Guidelines

In 2013, gbi established ethics guidelines which highlight accountability, integrity and impartiality, which are values that we share and strive to promote. We believe that it is essential for us to uphold the ethical standards of our profession in order to maintain our clients’ trust in us.

Upon hiring, every employee must become familiar with gbi’s ethics guidelines and complete a questionnaire on this subject that will be kept in the employee’s file.

Ethics.

Our Commitment

The consulting engineering sector plays an important role in Quebec’s economy and faces major challenges in a constantly changing business environment. Year after year and project after project, gbi has successfully held its own and carved out a unique place in the consulting engineering sector.

In this context, the demonstration of our expertise relies on the development and adoption of good governance tools aimed at highlighting the ethical principles that our firm advocates. ACCOUNTABILITY, INTEGRITY and IMPARTIALITY are values that we share and must promote.

The reputation that gbi enjoys took years to build and represents a valuable, long-term asset that we can all be proud of. Every gbi employee has an obligation to continue to conduct business in an exemplary manner every day, in a context of healthy competition based on skill.

Together, let’s embrace our guidelines, grouped into six categories.

Responsibility
towards society
and consulting
engineering

Protect the health, safety and well-being of the public while seeking solutions compatible with sustainable development principles.
Always act in a way that respects the dignity and good reputation of the consulting engineering sector.
For engineers, ensure compliance with the Professional Code (C.Q.L.R., c. C-26) and the Engineers Act (C.Q.L.R., c.l-9).
Promote the OIQ’s five key values.

Skills

Keep knowledge and skills up-to-date in terms of technological, legislative and management developments in technology and act with the required skill, caution and diligence when providing services to clients.
Ensure that employees are qualified when providing any service whatsoever.

Integrity

In all circumstances, act in accordance with the legitimate interest of the client and provide professional services with integrity and transparency.
Inform the client of any actual, potential or apparent conflict of interest that could arise in the accomplishment of a mandate.
Ensure that all managers, partners, employees and representatives comply with the laws, regulations and ethical commitments that govern them in a specific or general way.
Know, comply with, and advocate for, political finance laws and integrity in public procurement.
Refuse any remuneration or other benefit that could compromise independent judgment.
Know and comply with the specific rules of one’s business partners, particularly clients’ codes of ethics or conduct.
Inform the undersigned, in as timely a manner as possible, even when uncertain, and with no risk of reprisals from the company, of any occurrence, event or communication that runs counter to these ethics guidelines.

Fairness towards others

Request and accept fees consistent with compliance with professional standards and the exercise of professional responsibility.
Refrain from acting, intentionally or not, in a way that may injure the reputation or business of others.
Behave in an appropriate, courteous way, in compliance with all legislation that would be applicable in similar circumstances, if asked to evaluate, revise or continue the work of another firm.

Anti-corruption

Refuse to offer compensation of any type whatsoever that aims to, or could be perceived as aiming to, influence a selection process.
Support open and fair competition and refrain from entering any business arrangement that would prevent or discourage it, or that would provide an unfair advantage that could interfere with the open market.
Collaborate fully with any legally constituted organization that has investigative powers.

Governance

Obtain individual written commitments from all partners and employees indicating their intention to comply with and promote these guidelines.
Provide, herein, the undersigned’s commitment to all partners and employees that all information received concerning behaviour that could conflict with these guidelines will be handled with judgment and discretion and will be analyzed and investigated by the firm so that the necessary corrective measures can be taken, with no reprisal made against anyone who has allowed gbi to maintain its level of ethics.

Sustainable Development Policy

Our vision at gbi is to Embrace Tomorrow’s Engineering. With innovation part and parcel of our everyday approach, we are committed to addressing challenges to meet our clients’ current and future needs in an environmentally respectful way.

Our Sustainable Development Vision

For several years, gbi has applied innovative solutions to a variety of projects that highlight sustainable development principles. We are proud to be a leader in this sector, thanks to our designs and projects that focus on energy, mobility and sustainable and renewable planning, water, and interior environment quality. Convinced that every action, whether small or big, has an impact on the environment, gbi is committed to incorporating sustainable development concepts, to the best of its ability, into the projects we carry out with our clients, while encouraging its employees to make sustainable changes in their life and work habits. We believe that environmental responsibility is a collective effort, and, as such, should be reflected at each of our places of business.

Our Sustainable Development Mission

This line of thought led gbi to create an internal sustainable development committee in 2019. With the mission of allowing us to reduce our environmental footprint by proposing and developing innovative, cost-effective solutions, the committee’s communications aim at raising the awareness of all of gbi’s employees.

To ensure that best practices are adopted in our day-to-day operations, gbi has established several sustainable development goals to meet by 2022. These goals are centred on four key areas of focus that target different environmental issues:

Resource management
Sustainable procurement
Waste management
Social involvement

Health and Safety Vision

gbi is committed to providing a safe and healthy work environment for all its employees and to maintaining a sound health and safety management system for our interventions in clients’ projects and with our business partners. To do so, gbi undertakes to:

Implement occupational health and safety (OHS) best practices by using methods based on foresight, efficiency and control.
Practise a culture of zero tolerance with respect to unacceptable risks and imminent dangers in our workplaces and use all reasonable methods to keep these workplaces healthy, safe and accident-free.
Integrate our health and safety goals into our management systems at all company levels so that everyone, including management, can participate in preventing work accidents, injuries and occupational illnesses.
Ensure that everyone adopts and maintains the best safety behaviours. This devotion to safety must be encouraged among employees.
Promote the three (3) basic OHS rights of our employees: the right to refuse dangerous work, the right to know the risks inherent in their work and the right to take part in workplace health and safety prevention and safety activities.
Regularly inform all employees that responsible OHS behaviour includes the use of safe work methods and compliance with the firm’s policies and objectives and with OHS laws and regulations and that it is everyone’s business.

Contact-us

gbi asks each of its employees to contact the person responsible for ethics if you are or believe you are in a position that could be contrary to our ethics guidelines. It is also essential for any employee who is, or becomes, under investigation by the Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec to communicate it to us.

This is not a disciplinary measure, but is intended to maintain gbi’s level of ethics.