CSR travels abroad: no busman's holiday for UK construction?

In the past decade the UK’s top construction contractors and consulting engineers have developed an extensive array of policies and procedures associated with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This reflects the onus on companies and their personnel to behave in a transparent, accountable and ethical manner. This position paper explores how UK constructors CSR principles are enacted abroad. It explores some of the challenges that companies have when operating within different legislative and cultural climates. This is explored through two case vignettes which reveal that, despite extensive international
legislation and guidelines associated with CSR, challenges remain in reflecting UK practice abroad. Nevertheless, there are examples of where UK firms have taken voluntary action to ensure that their ethical standards are not compromised, even when working in very different socio-economic contexts. It is suggested that enforced international minimum standards could provide a way of ensuring adherence to ethnical treatment of workers in the future. The role of key international agencies in enforcing such standards is discussed.