Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement
OPENING STATEMENT FROM SENIOR MANAGEMENT
MDA is dedicated to preventing modern slavery and human trafficking from taking place within its business and supply chain and we place the same expectation on our suppliers.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act and sets out the steps that MDA Ltd has and continues to take to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within our business or supply chain for the foreseeable future.
STRUCTURE AND SUPPLY CHAINS
MDA Ltd is a small business who employs 10 office staff and a maximum of 5 fitters and laborers. As part of the flooring industry the organisation recognises its responsibility to take a robust and proactive approach to slavery and human trafficking in both corporate and supply chains.
As a socially responsible company MDA Contracts respects and supports the protection of human rights as outlines in S54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. This commitment is demonstrated by our efforts, which are voluntary, to confirm all the requirements of the Social Accountability Standard SA8000. We will strive to meet and exceed these requirements in respect of the following aspects of standard.
- Child Labour
- Forced & Compulsory Labour
- Health & Safety
- Freedom of Association & Right to Collective Bargaining
- Discrimination
- Disciplinary Practices
- Working Hours
- Remuneration
- Management System
In addition, we have expanded our management systems to include the standards and procedures required to discharge our responsibilities in respect of the above standard requirements. This includes a robust internal auditing program, supplier evaluation and support which is driven by our supplier commitment policies, supplier requirements, procedures and centrally through our code of conduct policy.
POLICIES RELATING TO SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The following policies exist within our organisation which demonstrate our opposition to Modern Slavery:
These are robust which allow us to promote and seek continual improvement both from an internal perspective and externally through supply chain influence with a focus on the ethical sourcing of goods and services. The setting of these improvement targets and objectives will be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, times and will be reviewed on a regular basis.
Looking ahead to 2023-2024 we have set ourselves the following targets, which have been primarily derived through BES 6002, which focusses on activity to minimise risk of modern slavery with our business and supply chain.
- Develop a clear whistleblowing policy to protects any whistle blower from harassment or victimisation, ensuring it is widely publicised.
- Expand scope and depth of internal auditing ensuring that labour providers and recruitment processes are included in all audits – specific attention to agency workers. Act upon nonconformances or observations identified, implement on going risk/ Due diligence and periodic reviews of action plans and findings.
- Formalise the review of ethical labour standards and relevant legislation and implantation of change by UK Management / Social Performance Team.
DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES RELATING TO SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
As part of our efforts to monitor, manage and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our business or supply chains, we adopt the following due diligence procedures. Our processes aim to:
- Identify, monitor and manage areas of potential risk in our business and supply chains.
- Scrutinise any identified areas of risk within out business and supply chains
- Adopt a zero-tolerance
- Approach to slavery and human trafficking throughout the organisation and out supply chains.
- Provide support and protection from detriment or disadvantage to any person who, in the public interest raises genuine concerns amounting to a protected disclosure.
RISK AND COMPLIANCE
Our organisation regularly evaluates the nature and extent to which our business and our supply chains are exposed to the risk of modern slavery occurring. The following list of risk management activities and/or procedures demonstrates our commitment to compliance.
We shall make the policy visible throughout the company to all internal stakeholders (Directors, Management, Supervisors and Staff). The policy is also displayed prominently on our website and is, therefore, freely available to any external stakeholder. Communication and training are key components of our social accountability strategy, and we will ensure that the policy is documented and maintained and that our employees receive training about what we are trying to achieve. This involvement will support a positive change in our culture which will be to the benefit of our stakeholders.
We do not consider that we operate in high-risk sectors or locations because Modern Forms of Slavery are not prevalent in the countries.
We ensure our suppliers are aware of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. If upon discovery of a breach of our polices relating to slavery and human trafficking, we will terminate any relationship with the relevant supplier with immediate effect.
TRAINING
We ensure that all employees are aware of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. Detailed below are examples of the training programmes we have in place to enable our employees to identify and repot any potential breaches of the organisations anti-slavery and human trafficking policies.
The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) has produced a range of videos by sector on spotting the sings of modern slavery, which may be informative for any public sector on spotting the signs of modern slavery, which may be informative for any public sector worker which will soon be shown as part of in-house training.
FURTHER ACTIONS, APPRIVAL AND ENDORSEMENT
Following our review of our actions this financial year to prevent slavery or human trafficking from occurring on our business or supply chains, we intend to take the following further steps to tackle slavery and human trafficking.
Looking ahead to 2023-2024 we have set ourselves the following targets, which have been primarily derived through BES 6002, which focuses on activity to minimize the risk of modern slavery with our business and supply chain.
- Develop a clear whistleblowing policy to protect any whistle blower from harassment or victimisation, ensuring it is widely publicised. This may in conjunction with raising the profile of our internal SA8000 employee representatives.
- Expand scope and depth and internal auditing ensuring that labour providers and recruitment processes are included in all audits – specific attention to agency workers. Act upon any nonconformances or observations identified, implement on going risk / due diligence and periodic reviews of action plans and findings.
- Formalise the review of ethical labour standards and relevant legislation and implementation of change by UK Management/Social Performance Team.
This statement is made in accordance with section 54(1) of The Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes MDA Contracts Ltd.’s Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements for the financial year 2022