Diagnostic Questions

These questions are intended to help users of the Guidance evaluate a company’s progress in implementing the key steps in respecting the human rights to water and sanitation. They may be particularly helpful when read together with the Quick Guide at the start of the Guidance.

PART 3.I. Develop a Policy Commitment and Embed Respect for the HRWS

• Has the company identified water as a leading human rights risk? If so, does it have or is it
  developing a specific policy commitment on the HRWS?
• Have staff with responsibility for preventing and addressing impacts on the HRWS engaged key
  internal colleagues, specifically impact owners, in the development of the policy? If so, how?
• Have key stakeholders been engaged in the development of the policy? If so, how?
• How does the company ensure the cross-functional coordination that is needed to implement
  the policy commitment in practice?
• How does the company make clear its expectations of staff?
• How does the company make clear its expectations of business partners and other entities with
  which it has business relationships?

PART 3.II. Assess Impacts on the HRWS

• Does the company consider all relevant activities and affected stakeholder groups in assessing
  actual and potential impacts on the HRWS?
• Do the company’s assessment processes consider all three possible ways in which the company
  may be involved in a negative impact on the HRWS — cause, contribution, and linkage?
• Do the company’s assessment processes consider all relevant types of business relationships
  — including suppliers, contractors, customers, joint venture partners, government entities?
• Where the company needs to prioritize business relationships for assessment, what criteria
  does it use to do so?
• Are affected stakeholders engaged as part of the company’s assessment processes? If so, how?
  If direct engagement does not occur, how are their perspectives otherwise taken into account
  during the process?
• How does the company evaluate the severity and likelihood of negative impacts on the HRWS?
• Where necessary, how are negative impacts on the HRWS prioritized for attention?
• Do the company’s assessment systems identify risks to the HRWS early enough and at key moments
  during an activity or business relationship? What triggers an assessment?
• Do the company’s assessment systems adequately identify cumulative impacts on the HRWS?

PART 3.III. Integrate and Take Action on Impacts on the HRWS

• Does the company evaluate how it is involved with a negative impact on the HRWS — whether
  it caused, contributed to, or directly linked to the impact — when deciding what action to take?
• What kinds of actions might or does the company take in response to a negative impact on the
  HRWS? Does it engage with affected stakeholders as part of taking action?
• What kinds of steps does the company take to build leverage to prevent and address negative
  impacts on the HRWS arising through its business relationships — including through traditional
  commercial leverage, broader business leverage, leverage with business partners, or leverage
  through bilateral engagements or multi-stakeholder collaborations?
• What steps does the company take to prevent and address negative impacts on the HRWS in the
  supply chain?
• How does the company engage with state authorities to prevent and address negative impacts
  on the HRWS?

PART 3.IV. Track and Communicate Performance

• How does the company track the effectiveness of its efforts to prevent and address negative
  impacts on the HRWS?
• Does it track the effectiveness of its efforts through business relationships? If so, how?
• What quantitative and qualitative indicators does the company use in tracking its performance?
• Are affected stakeholders engaged in the tracking process? If so, how? If direct engagement does
  not occur, how are their perspectives otherwise taken into account during the process?
• At what moments and through what means does the company communicate with affected
  stakeholders about its efforts to prevent and address negative impacts on the HRWS? How does
  the company know whether or not it is effectively reaching those who need to be informed?
• Does the company report publicly on its efforts where its operations pose severe risks to the
  HRWS? How does it know whether or not this information is meaningful for the stakeholders
  who read it?

PART 3.V. Remediation and Grievance Mechanisms

• Where the company causes or contributes to negative impacts on the HRWS, does it provide
  remedy or cooperate in the provision of remedy to those who have been harmed?
• Has the company mapped the environment of external grievance mechanisms in its key operating
  contexts? If so, how is this information factored into its own approaches to providing
  remedy to affected stakeholders?
• Has the company reviewed its existing internal processes for providing remedy for negative
  human rights impacts to determine whether they can provide remedy for negative impacts on
  the HRWS?
• Do affected stakeholders have access to an operational-level grievance mechanism for addressing
  complaints about actual and potential impacts on the HRWS?
• How does the company know whether or not its grievance mechanism(s) are effective in practice?