Indigenous, Environment, Social, Governance

Message from our CEO

Strad’s foundation is built around our Core Purpose, Going Beyond, and our Guiding Principles. Every decision we make and action we take for our people, our operations, and the business we conduct, is intentionally rooted in our Core Purpose and Guiding Principles.

Strad’s Guiding Principles

In 2021, Strad formalized our sustainability commitment with the completion of our Indigenous, Environmental, Social, Governance (IESG) report. It is an important resource in demonstrating our ongoing dedication to sustainable business practices and achieving meaningful goals.

For Strad, Indigenous relations goes beyond simple consideration of a stakeholder group – it’s part of who we are, and how we operate and spreads across all Environmental, Social and Governance aspects of our business. Making a difference through strategic partnerships that support the unique and diverse priorities of Indigenous communities is at the core of Strad’s ESG efforts.

At Strad, everything starts and finishes with Going Beyond. On behalf of our senior leadership team, I want to recognize the tremendous contribution of our employees who bring their heart, their intelligence and deep industry experience to work every day. Their relentless passion for Going Beyond is the engine that propels Strad consistently forward.

Sincerely,

Andy Pernal

Our Approach to IESG at Strad

Strad’s IESG strategy is managed by our Sustainability Working Committee. This Committee is composed of individuals from across our business to provide a diverse perspective on Strad’s efforts on ESG topics, and to support the activation of our approach to IESG throughout our business. The Committee provides updates to Strad leadership with specific details of our efforts to ensure effective management of our IESG priorities. Strad follows a content gathering and approval process to ensure this report accurately reflects our practices and performance.

We have been embedding sustainability principles into how we do business, our decision-making processes, and our everyday activities since Strad’s inception in 2006. In 2021, we took an essential step in this journey with the completion of our first formal materiality assessment to inform our future sustainability work and to shape and prioritize the content of this report. We enlisted IESG-focused third-party guidance and referenced both the GRI and SASB Standards to complete our assessment in three stages: topic identification, prioritization, and validation.

Strad’s Approach to Sustainability

Going Beyond With Our People

Strad believes that as it delivers value-added services to its customers, it must Go Beyond by being mindful and supportive of our communities and partners. To thrive over the long-term, we are of the view that companies must understand and serve the needs of their stakeholders. Strong, meaningful, long-lasting relationships are essential to advancing the business opportunities that we pursue as a company. We will Go Beyond so that every group we work with shares benefits in ways that matter most to each community.

Indigenous Relations

In the spirit of reconciliation, Strad acknowledges that we are headquartered, and live, work, and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Stoney Nakoda Nations (Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Wesley), Métis Nation (Region 3), and all the people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

As we set out to provide transparency on Strad’s ESG practices, performance, and goals, we felt a strong desire to amplify our commitment to and belief in Indigenous Relations as a core, enduring component of our belief in Going Beyond. Our team demonstrates this belief each day they are on the job, and we have made the choice to highlight our commitment through the release of our first Indigenous, Environmental, Social, and Governance report, and have officially named our Indigenous Relations program ‘ENIGOK,’ an Ojibway word meaning “Going Beyond.”

Additional information on Strad’s commitment to Indigenous community engagement can also be found in our Indigenous policy document.

We believe Strad can make a difference by going Beyond Me through strategic partnerships that support the diverse priorities of Indigenous communities. We seek to cultivate authentic, meaningful, and mutually beneficial long-term relationships with the Indigenous Peoples that are connected with our operations.

Key performance highlights:

In 2022:
- Client projects that represented 78% of Strad’s Canadian revenue included Indigenous partners
- Strad completed annual Indigenous training
- Achieved Bronze Certification Level under the Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) Program with Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB)
Strad is an active member of several Indigenous organizations in Canada:

Health and Safety

Strad’s approach to health and safety, Beyond Safe is embedded in our culture and designed to ensure that our people share a common duty to prevent injuries, illnesses, and to protect the environment. Beyond Safe is not a stand-alone training program – health and safety is a mindset and a core responsibility for every Strad employee. We strive to attain Beyond Safe through a relentless focus on prevention and by continuously improving our practices through close collaboration between our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we operate.

Strad’s Safety Commitment:

Working safely is the only way to work.
All employees share a common responsibility to prevent injuries and occupational illnesses.
Safety and health are assessed as part of every employee’s total job performance.
Employee training is essential to prevent personal injuries and accidents, and to protect the environment.

Strad’s success is driven by our people, and we strive to provide a safe, happy, and healthy working environment for all team members, where everyone is treated equally and with respect. The well-being of our employees is fundamental to our organizational focus on enabling responsible development that is supported by meaningful relationships. It’s a crucial component of our ability to meet the evolving needs of our customers and deliver strong business results.

Key performance highlights:

In 2022:
- 98% of full-time employees in driving-related roles completed driver training
- Strad employees completed 6,300 hours of health, safety, emergency response training
Certificate of Recognition (COR) certified (Energy Safety Canada) to December 17, 2024

Community Investment

Strad embodies Beyond Work by being a responsible and contributing member of the communities in which it operates, striving to make a positive impact as a local employer and through community investment. Strad and our employees must do as much as we can to be partners in the social and economic development of our communities. We endorse and encourage our employees to participate in their local communities over and above company-led initiatives, both through their commitment of time toward community-led activities and Strad’s provision of tangible financial support.

Key performance highlights:

As of the end of 2022:
- Strad operates in a total of 24 communities
- Strad was actively involved and provided financial support in 100% of our host communities

Supply Chain

Strad is committed to Beyond Routine with each of our main supply chain partners as we know that each link is essential to the long-term strength and success of our business. We believe our IESG strategy supports and lends further credibility to our customers’ own IESG initiatives through the close alignment of our goals and our team’s consistent measurement and management of Strad’s performance against the goals we have established.

As a company, we are in a unique position to bring sustainable value to our supply chain. As we work with suppliers and customers to enhance our current services and introduce new ones, we’re steadily investigating how we can generate mutual efficiencies, and to this end we make specific and deliberate efforts to understand and manage the environmental and social impacts of our procurement decisions. Strad’s ground protection solutions are essential as our customers seek to complete major capital projects while minimizing the risk of detrimental impacts to the environments in which they operate, while keeping employees safe during their workday. In these ways, Strad’s focus on environmental protection and job site safety ensures close alignment between our goals and the goals of our main supply chain partners. We continue to partner with suppliers who share our values and align with our strategic objectives — seeking opportunities to reduce environmental impacts, ensure safe working conditions, support the communities where we work and live, and collectively contribute to economic growth.

Key performance highlights:

As of the end of 2022:
- 100% of operational suppliers (excluding administration) were assessed for their approach to safety
- 100% of Strad’s supplier costs were incurred with local suppliers
- 1.1% of Strad’s total supplier spend was with Indigenous suppliers

Going Beyond in our Operations

At Strad, Going Beyond powers a culture of continuous improvement and a constant search for innovation, cost savings, and sustainability. We understand our operations have an impact that goes beyond our company and extends mainly to the impacts of our end customers. This linkage is key to our future – it means we must always be mindful of our environmental footprint, and that of our key partners.

Financial Stability

Strad is committed to financial stability and a long history of service through its commitment to Beyond Expectations. Positive economic performance is a vital element of our success. We measure our economic performance through sustainable profitability, efficiency, and innovation. Strad is proud to be 100% employee-owned, and we recognize the connection that employee ownership creates between our employees and the long-term value of our business.

Land Preservation

Like our approach to Safety, our goal within Strad is to Go Beyond any compliance requirements that we must adhere to as a business. Our approach to land preservation is that only by striving to Go Beyond compliance levels of performance are we able to truly minimize our environmental footprint and ensure our business practices aim to leave the land in its original state once our work with our clients is complete. Strad’s matting as well as our operational procedures are designed to minimize land disturbance, ensure protection of indigenous flora/fauna, reduce noxious weed transfer, and maintain ground and surface water protection, all while maximizing jobsite safety.

Key performance highlights:

Within 2022:
- 2,056 trees were planted through Tree Canada’s National Greening Program
- Strad’s mats proven as highly effective for the environmental protection of sensitive lands

Responsible Materials and Waste Management

Strad is developing strategies to reduce waste and exploring opportunities to integrate a circular approach in our operations and across our value chain. Waste reduction and management across our operations is an integral part of how Strad conducts its business.

Key performance highlights:

Within 2022:
- Strad’s matting protected a total of 506 kilometers of land
- 100% of mats are made using renewable and recyclable materials

Good Governance

Strad is committed to Beyond Me with its governance frameworks that ensure transparency, objectivity, and fairness in the management of our company and earn the trust of our stakeholders everywhere we operate. Strad has always focused on virtuous governance and the social impact of our operations. Strad’s Code of Conduct (link) sets the basis for our workers’ health and well-being, acts as a guide for our responsible business practices, and encourages our employees to minimize our impact on the natural environment.

Key performance highlights:

Within 2022:
- Attained 100% employee acknowledgement of core governance polices:
  - Code of Conduct
  - Health & Safety Policy

Emissions Reduction

Strad is committed to carrying out its operations in a manner that reduces harmful impacts on the environment. We believe that the most effective strategy for Strad to combat climate change is to reduce our overall use of energy, and to ensure that the energy we are required to use produces the lowest possible amount of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Strad is committed to reducing its corporate GHG emissions intensity and the air emissions from our operations through operational excellence, and by reducing the fleet miles required to deliver services to our customers.

Key performance highlights:

Driving intensity of $116.20 / km (defined as revenue per kilometers driven)
Office intensity of $1,467 / sq ft (defined as revenue per square foot of office & shop space)

IESG Performance Data Table

In 2021, we took an essential step in our journey with the completion of our first formal materiality assessment to inform our future sustainability work and to shape and prioritize the content of this report. We enlisted IESG-focused third-party guidance and referenced b¬¬oth the GRI and SASB Standards to complete our assessment in three stages: topic identification, prioritization, and validation. We have identified a total of nine IESG topics that are material to Strad’s business. A summary of Strad’s performance according to its material IESG factors can be found below.