Modern Slavery Statement UK

Introduction

Schülke & Mayr UK Ltd is committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking violations in its own operations, its supply chain, and its products. We have zero-tolerance towards slavery and require our supply chain to comply with our values. 


Organisational Structure

Schülke & Mayr UK Ltd has business operations in the United Kingdom, as well as:

Germany
Poland
Brazil
France
Netherlands
Austria
Switzerland
Singapore
Japan
India
Australia
Spain
Denmark
Czechia

We operate in the Healthcare sector. The nature of our supply chains is as follows: Over 95% of the products we sell are supplied by our parent company Schülke GmbH. The remainder is made of supply from our subsidiaries in France and Brazil.


Policies

We operate internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. 

These include the following:

Recruitment and selection policy - Our recruitment and people management processes are designed to ensure that all prospective employees are legally entitled to work in the UK and to safeguard employees from any abuse or coercion.

Supplier code of conduct - We support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights as a fundamental and universal requirement. We reject all forms of child, forced and compulsory labour, as well as all forms of modern slavery and human trafficking. Child labour must not be resorted to at any stage of the supply chain.

Whistleblowing policy - A culture of openness and accountability is essential to prevent unethical conduct occurring and to address them when they do occur. The aim of the policy is to guide and encourage staff to raise concerns and how in the knowledge that all concerns will be taken seriously and investigated appropriately, confidentially and with respect.

Staff code of conduct - We are committed to conducting our business with honesty and integrity and we expect our staff to maintain high standards in accordance with our Code of Conduct, through respect for human rights, labour laws and the environment. Every employee is obliged to observe all applicable rights and regulations within the scope of his or her professional activities.

Anti-harassment and bullying policy - Schülke is committed to providing a working environment free from harassment and bullying and ensuring all staff are treated, and treat others, with dignity and respect.

We make sure our suppliers are aware of our policies and adhere to the same standards.


Due Diligence

As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains, we have adopted the following due diligence procedures: 

External supplier audits.

Our due diligence procedures aim to:
Identify and action potential risks in our business and supply chains.
Monitor potential risks in our business and supply chains.
Reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains.
Provide protection for whistle blowers.


Risk and Compliance

The Company has evaluated the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in its UK supply chain through:

Evaluating the slavery and human trafficking risks of each new supplier.

We do not consider that we operate in a high-risk environment because the number of suppliers to our business is minimal, with over 95% of our supply chain being our parent company, Schülke GmbH.

We do not tolerate slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains. Where there is evidence of failure to comply with our policies and procedures by any of our suppliers, we will require that supplier to remedy the non-compliance.


Effectiveness

We cannot say with any certainty how effective the steps we are taking have been in ensuring that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in our business and supply chains. As part of our work for the next financial year, we will be considering how best to monitor the effectiveness of the actions taken and implement KPIs where appropriate.