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Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement

Introduction

Despite modern society’s many advances, the twin blights of slavery and human trafficking remain one of the last lingering threats to a civilised society.

This updated statement sets out Numatic International Ltd’s outright opposition to all such practices and emphasises our commitment to constantly auditing our activities and suppliers in order ensure that all forms of modern slavery are eliminated from our business and supply chains.

Our Supply Chain Manager has overall responsibility for monitoring our suppliers and our Supply Chain Verification Program. Her team works with suppliers at every point of contact to ensure that our stringent standards are met.

In addition, all staff have a responsibility to be alert to the risks in our business and in the wider supply chain. A mandatory reporting process is being developed, and all concerns - however small - will be reported up the line. Management at all levels will commit to acting on those concerns.

This statement relates to actions and activities during the financial year 2017 / 2018.

Our structure

We are a manufacturer of domestic and industrial vacuum cleaners, janitorial and cleaning trollies and floor care machines. Numatic has its head office in the United Kingdom and has subsidiaries in France, South Africa, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Portugal and Germany.

Our UK business – based in Chard in Somerset - is organised into 8 business units: sales warehouse, sales offices, manufacturing shop floor, manufacturing office, research and development, IS, administration and field sales and services.

Supply chains

We work with companies from all over the world in bringing our diverse range of products to the consumer. Our supply chains are predicated on our requirement to source raw and processed materials principally related to the manufacture through vacuum forming of parts which are subsequently assembled into final product at our UK site. Our suppliers range from small local manufacturers and service companies to multi-national businesses and we demand the highest of standards from them all, not only in the quality of the products and services they deliver to us but also in the conditions that they are made in.

Controlling and identifying risks

Within our own operations, the risk of slavery and human trafficking is controlled as a result of our strict policies and procedures, the oversight built into our operations, and the knowledge and skills of our staff.

Externally, our Supply Chain Verification Program ensures risk assessment on the basis of a number of factors including risk indices pertaining to human rights, the level of supply chain control, external governance factors and levels of political stability. Without exception, we expect all of our suppliers to commit to the highest possible standards in their employment practices. If they are found to be failing then we will challenge them, and if they are then still unable to meet our stringent standards we will source product elsewhere.

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

We are committed to ensuring that modern slavery and human trafficking are not tolerated in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our modern slavery policy sits alongside our corporate responsibility policy and reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships.

In addition, we have a solid structure of existing policies and procedures which support our commitment and are relevant to preventing human trafficking and modern slavery. These include:

  • Our Supply Chain Verification Program which has been updated in 2018
  • Works rules
  • Whistleblowing policy
  • Equal Opportunities policy
  • Positive work environment
  • Security
  • Bribery

High risk activities

The main risk to the implementation of this policy is geographical. In order to minimise this, the Supply Chain Team maintains consistent contact with suppliers who are aware that they may be challenged at any time.

Our effectiveness

Modern slavery is a regular agenda item at our senior management team meetings. Any breach of this policy will be treated as a non-compliance and will remain as an agenda item until it has been fully dealt with. Any learning points will be fed back to the supply chain team and incorporated into their processes.

During this financial year we:

  • Provided the opportunity for all staff who have any contact with our supply chains to complete training on modern slavery.
  • reviewed our supply chain verification program to ensure that all potential suppliers’ employment practices are fully audited before they enter the supply chain.
  • Ensured that all suppliers are challenged on a regular basis to ensure that they meet our exacting standards.

We will continue with the above during this financial year.