On Jan. 16, fastener distributor Fastenal released its first Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, the company announced.

The report recaps the Winona, Minnesota-based company’s progress in multiple ESG aspects during 2021 and “marks a significant step forward in the company’s ESG journey,” Fastenal said.

The report was produced with reference to the Global Reporting Initiative standards and aligns with the ESG disclosure and reporting frameworks established by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board and the Taskforce on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

“Our culture centers on a core belief in people, and our strategy centers on reducing resource consumption in our customers’ supply chains — principles we believe create a natural alignment of our growth goals and the ESG priorities of our stakeholders,” said Dan Florness, President and CEO of Fastenal. “The Fastenal ‘Blue Team’ is working hard to be a force for positive change — in our business, for our customers, and across global supply chains – and we’re proud to share their story in this inaugural report.”

In MDM’s Top Distributors List for 2022, Fastenal ranked No. 7 among industrial distributors, and was listed among the top gases/welding equipment, JanSan and safety distributors.

Highlights from Fastenal’s inaugural ESG report include:

• Improvement to Fastenal’s workplace safety ratings, the TRIR (Total Recordable Incident Rate) and EMR (Experience Modifier Rate), both of which are significantly better than the industry average and contributed to Fastenal being named one of America’s Safest Companies by EHS Today, the company said.
• Structural changes to Fastenal’s brick-and-mortar footprint and use of fuel within its captive transportation fleet, “setting the stage for lower relative emissions and reduced future resource consumption.”
• Investment in additional resources and new roles focused on coordinating and bringing visibility to ESG-related activities throughout the organization.

The company said it plans to publish annual ESG reports moving forward.