Our people are our most valuable asset. We are fully committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for all team members, visitors, contractors, and clients. As a small team, safety is a shared, daily responsibility.

Management commits to providing necessary resources, tools, and training, maintaining all equipment in a safe condition, and regularly reviewing this policy as our team grows. Employees commit to taking reasonable care of their own health and that of their coworkers, reporting any hazards, near-misses, or injuries to management no matter how minor.

Core Safety Rules & Procedures

• Housekeeping: Keep your workspace clean and free of clutter. Ensure walkways, fire exits, and electrical panels are never blocked.
• Equipment Use: Do not operate any machinery or specialized tools unless properly trained and authorized to do so.
• Ergonomics: Adjust your chair, monitor, and keyboard for neutral posture. Take brief stretching breaks every hour.
• Lifting Safely: Bend at the knees, keep the load close to your body, and lift with your legs—never your back. Ask a teammate for help if needed.

Incident Reporting & First Aid

• First Aid Box: Located in the closet of the main office. Checked and restocked monthly.
• Designated First Aider: Derev Setyan is our trained first aid point of contact.
• Reporting: Fill out the Incident Report Form within 24 hours of any event. Management will investigate to prevent recurrence.

Emergency Procedures (Fire & Evacuation)

• Alert others immediately and pull the fire alarm if available.
• Evacuate the building calmly via the nearest safe exit. Do not stop to collect personal belongings.
• A manager will conduct a roll call of all employees to confirm everyone is safely out.

At Merit, we believe that respecting human rights is fundamental to how we conduct business. This policy applies to all employees, freelancers, and business partners working with or on behalf of Merit. We align our practices with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ILO Core Conventions.

Our Core Commitments

• We maintain a workplace free from discrimination based on race, gender, nationality, age, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or political opinion. All hiring, promotion, and compensation decisions are based solely on merit and qualifications.
• We have a zero-tolerance policy for any form of harassment, bullying, or intimidation. Every team member has the right to work where their personal dignity is respected.
• We ensure fair wages meeting or exceeding local legal minimums, alongside reasonable working hours and compliance with national overtime and rest-day laws.
• We strictly prohibit any form of forced labor or child labor within our operations.
• We respect employees' rights to join organizations or communicate openly with management without fear of retaliation.

This policy applies to all employees, job applicants, contractors, vendors, and clients. It covers actions occurring in the office, at remote workspaces, during work-related travel, and at company-sponsored social events.

All employment decisions—including hiring, promotion, pay, training, and termination—are based solely on merit, competence, and business needs. We strictly prohibit discrimination or harassment based on any legally protected characteristic.

Prohibited Behaviors

• Discriminatory Behavior: Treating an employee less favorably in terms of opportunities, pay, or working conditions based on any protected characteristic.
• Harassment: Unwelcome verbal, physical, or visual conduct relating to a protected trait that creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

If you experience, witness, or become aware of any behavior violating this policy, report it immediately to Derev Setyan, Senior Administrator. You do not have to confront the individual directly before filing a report.

Merit maintains an absolute zero-tolerance policy regarding child labor, forced labor, modern slavery, and human trafficking across our own operations and throughout all stakeholders.

Definitions

• Child Labor: Employment of any person under the local legal minimum working age, or under 15 (whichever is higher), excluding legal, safe, and supervised youth internships that do not interfere with schooling.
• Forced Labor: Any work extracted from a person under threat of penalty or where the person has not offered themselves voluntarily.
• Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking: The enrolment, harboring, or transporting of people through force, coercion, or fraud for the purpose of exploitation, including debt bondage or withholding identification documents.

Within Our Own Operations

• Age Verification: Mandatory age verification for all employees, interns, and freelancers using official government-issued identification.
• Voluntary Employment: All employment contracts are transparent, written in a language the employee understands, and entirely voluntary.
• Freedom of Movement: We do not hold original employee identification documents or withhold wages to restrict freedom of movement.

Any employee, contractor, or external partner who suspects a violation of this policy must report it immediately to Derev Setyan, Senior Administrator. We guarantee zero retaliation for good-faith reporting.

We commit to providing safe, legal, and fair terms of employment for every individual on our team, and to fully complying with all local labor laws.

• Working Hours: Standard hours are equal with legal standards. We strictly enforce rest periods, meal breaks, and maximum legal working-hour limits to prevent fatigue.
• Wages: All compensation, including base pay, overtime, and mandatory benefits, strictly meets or exceeds local statutory minimums and is paid reliably and on time.
• Leave Entitlements: Employees are entitled to paid annual leave (PTO), sick leave, and parental leave in accordance with local regulations.

In a small company, minor misunderstandings can quickly impact team morale if left unaddressed. We encourage addressing conflicts timely, constructively, and without fear of retaliation. All policies are approved by management and reviewed annually.