Modern slavery statement

Modern slavery steps within our business

We have continued to work consistently with the labour providers by conducting regular checks on temporary workers’ documents and interviewing them. We identified a need to empower migrant workers in situations where their language skills and/or mental background were not enabling them to voice any concerns. To address this, we have used our own diverse workforce to interview and facilitate full communication between workers and labour providers.

We have also put together a pack of leaflets containing relevant information, and then translated the pack into all relevant languages for the temporary workers (if any). Finally, we have continued to raise awareness, train, and set expectations among labour providers as to their responsibilities in reference to Modern Slavery and ethical trade, while closely monitoring their progress.

Although no Modern Slavery issues were identified during such checks, we have supported the temporary workers in becoming fully aware of their rights and being able to voice their concerns, regardless of their nature.

In addition, we had our own premises audited against the ETI base code again (full audit and follow-up), as well as against the customer’s bespoke ethical code. NCs were swiftly addressed by a dedicated, high-profile, cross-departmental team with visibility.

Modern slavery steps within our supply chain

Due diligence monitoring is in place via our supplier questionnaire and a bespoke internal audit for suppliers. Our Vendor Questionnaire Selection was further reviewed and streamlined to ensure that all relevant ethical questions are included.

In addition, we put together a Modern Slavery pack consisting of a presentation and videos as part of our training and awareness program.

Moreover, we moved to use a market-leading third-party audit company for our bespoke internal technical/ethical audits on the supply chain. As part of these audits, we enhanced Modern Slavery checks by implementing a dedicated set of questions aimed at assessing supplier awareness of forced labour and checking for any occurrence on the ground. 14 internal audits on quality and social compliance were carried out during 2017, in addition to external third-party ethical and technical audits requested by our customers.

All these initiatives have contributed to raising the human rights / ethical trade profile within our business at all levels, with a particular focus on Modern Slavery. We have dedicated extended time and resources and as such expanded on current knowledge and experience in this area and we will continue to do so.

We will also adopt and implement a Human Rights policy. We will continue to drive cross-functional awareness of Modern Slavery within our business, championed by the Board of Directors, in order to identify and eliminate potential risk areas within our own business.