Modern Slavery Risk Assessments
- Identify and rectify unethical labour practices
- Promote transparency and accountability
- Minimise legal and financial risks
- Competitively priced
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Compliance Chain's Modern Slavery Risk Assessments
According to the latest Global Slavery Index, there are an estimated 136,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK alone. However, it’s not just the UK that has victims of modern slavery – almost 50 million people around the globe are trapped in modern slavery, with it affecting every country.
Modern slavery involves trafficking and slave labour, among other forms of exploitation. Generally, it’s women, migrants and younger children that are affected most by modern slavery. Common signs of exploitation can include:
- Working in unsafe conditions
- Paid poor salaries or not being paid at all
- Being physically or verbally abused
For example, a worker from Barbados began working for a construction company in the UK. He was exploited heavily and became a victim of modern slavery. The company he was employed by treated him poorly, threatening violence and failing to prioritise safety on their work sites.
As the premier industry standard in supply chain compliance, Compliance Chain empowers you to qualify contractors during the procurement process. By ensuring adherence to robust modern slavery policies, we help your company maintain ethical supply chains. Our modern slavery assessments ensure that potential suppliers comply with the Modern Slavery Act, preventing modern slavery from infiltrating your supply chain.
What is a Modern Slavery Risk Assessment?
What is a modern slavery risk assessment? A modern slavery risk assessment is a risk identification and management tool.
It’s been designed to help public sector organisations and principal contractors to work efficiently with suppliers while improving protection and reducing any risk of exploitation in supply chains.
Modern slavery assessment tools evaluate the likelihood that either goods or services procured by a company are produced through slave labour. Essentially, the goal of a modern risk assessment is to accurately identify any potential vulnerabilities in a certain company’s supply chain.
It’s in place to identify human trafficking, forced labour, and exploitation. In many cases, global businesses that have complex supply chains have a higher risk of modern slavery.
This is due to factors such as economic disparities or poor legal protection as a whole. To help uncover potential human rights risks throughout your supply chain, we advise creating a modern slavery risk assessment template. This can be used to capture any key risk indicators – as shown below.
Potential Challenges
The UK government’s Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT) helps identify potential risks by categorising suppliers based on how they respond to certain questions regarding their general practices.
Several factors make it difficult to know if modern slavery has occurred. From complex supply chains to a lack of transparency – it can sometimes be hard to see if modern slavery is prevalent.
Key Risk Indicators to be Aware of
Location can play a vital role in assessing the risk of modern slavery across regions within the UK. There are several regions with known issues in relation to both human trafficking and forced labour.
Typically, areas with higher levels of unemployment, large populations, or poverty are more exposed to modern slavery. These vulnerable regions are likely to accept construction work that may have exploitative conditions.
This is often down to needing employment and having limited alternatives to consider. Although The UK has shown the strongest government response globally to modern slavery, in 2022, roughly 17,000 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the UK’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM).
Larger cities in the UK are prone to modern slavery – including places like London, Manchester, and Birmingham. This is usually due to being high-risk areas, because of an increasing population with more foreign-born workers. Other key factors could include high numbers of people without qualifications in their trade, and having more sectors that pose a high risk, such as construction.
Specific products used within the supply chain could be associated with modern slavery. If certain goods are being sourced from regions that are known for modern slavery, including child labour or other harmful forms of exploitation, they should be assessed carefully.
Common materials sourced through modern slavery could include brick, cement, and timber, to name a few. Modern slavery is prominent in the construction industry – despite the UK government trying to tackle the issue. Back in 2021, the construction industry was responsible for 20% of incidences of labour exploitation, as reported to the Modern Slavery Helpline.
When a supply chain is more complex, there’s usually a higher risk of modern slavery occurring. Complicated supply chains that have numerous tiers of suppliers often don’t allow for full visibility.
Lack of visibility across the supply chains could potentially cause you to miss signs of exploitative behaviour. The further down the supply chain you get, the chance of modern slavery increases.
This emphasises the importance of assessing not only first-tier suppliers but also both second and third-tier suppliers. Doing so will allow you to gain a clearer understanding of any potential risks that could arise.
At Compliance Chain, our effective supply chain management allows for third-party accreditation and helps enhance efficiency and transparency.
Analysing past data can be helpful while looking for incidents of modern slavery within a supply chain.
It allows you to review supplier’s modern slavery statements, giving you extra insight into any potential risks that could occur. Understanding the steps that your suppliers have taken is key to reducing the chance of risks affecting your next project.
Fatigue, injuries, poor general health, and few safety measures can be clear indicators of modern slavery. When workers are exploited, health and safety likely won’t be prioritised how it should be. Construction can be a dangerous industry to work in, with construction fatalities being 70% worse than five years ago.
Compliance Chain is one of 27 registered SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) members with the ability to perform SSIP assessments. We prequalify subcontractors and principal contractor members against health and safety requirements – supporting them to ensure consistency in line with premier industry standards.
How to Fight Modern Slavery in Supply Chains
At Compliance Chain, we offer modern slavery assessments through our Social Value Management Solution – all of which are competitively priced. You can rest assured knowing we conduct thorough testing on potential suppliers and contractors- minimising any legal and financial risk through non-compliance with anti-slavery regulations.
By choosing Compliance Chain, you’ll have the best chance of highlighting any concerns regarding modern slavery and future-proofing your site. You’ll have an in-person visit from lived-experience experts who have been subject to modern-day slavery and know exactly what to look out for.
You’ll also be equipped with vital information on modern slavery through our app. Our thorough risk assessments, visibility, and transparency provide you with recommendations to prevent and rectify your sites, ensuring your working practices are ethical.
To find out more about our modern slavery assessments download our brochure here and a friendly member of our team will get in touch today.
Modern Slavery Assessments
Market-leading technologies, expertise and an unbeatable price. It’s time to future proof your sites with our Modern Slavery Assessments, available exclusively for users of our Social Value Management solution. Download our brochure to learn more today.