Modern Slavery awareness forms part of our broader strategy on empowering our people, ensuring we maintain our ethics and standards, promoting equality and fairness in all that we do.
We recognise that we supply sectors that are known to be high risk for infiltration by Modern Slavery gangs and therefore recognise that we need to continue to do more to maintain control, structure and discipline in all facets of our business to remain at the forefront.
We have learnt from Slave Free Alliance about significant cases in the UK that have affected the Recycling, Food, Warehousing and other sectors and this has increased our awareness of the risks posed to our reputation and the welfare of our workforce.
Our priorities fall into a number of different areas:
Compliance
The team that faces our temporary workers are regularly trained on our policies and procedures in relation to Modern Slavery.
Regular refresher training and spot checks are completed to ensure ongoing awareness.
Quarterly appraisals, regular seminars, external training, online training and additional communication all help to ensure our staff remain aware, diligent and empowered to challenge any concerns.
Our Head Office team remain impartial from any Account Manager, reporting directly into the Financial Controller. Additional verification helps to reduce our risks further.
We have invested in our CRM system to ensure we can prevent duplicate records, bank details and other information from being entered. Regular due-diligence reports are circulated to ensure we continue to monitor this.
This is reviewed weekly and in monthly Board Modern Slavery Statement – March 2020 Meetings by the Leadership team.
Awareness
We continue to raise awareness at all customer facilities, working collaboratively with our customers to ensure we provide the safest possible environment for our workers to thrive. Initiatives include:-
• Bespoke Posters in Multiple Languages
• Confidential Whistleblower Hotline
• External audits from Slave Free Alliance and other organisations
• Toolbox Talks, Seminars and Training for all staff
• Digital Learning content
• Unannounced and Random Auditing
Supply Chain
We set high expectations of our own business and ensure we cascade this same standard to all of our suppliers. We extend our control measures and knowledge to our supply chain to help further reduce to risks of Modern Slavery and protect our customers and workers.
Suppliers are verified, credit checked and audited to ensure compliance at regular intervals. Suppliers who are unable to demonstrate continued competency in this area are removed from our estate and black-marked against future usage.