Modern slavery is a heinous crime and a morally reprehensible act that deprives a person’s liberty and dignity for another person’s gain. It is a real problem for millions of people around the world, including many in developed countries, who are being kept and exploited in various forms of slavery. Every company is at risk of being involved in this crime through its own operations and its supply chain.
At KRL Group Limited, we have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are fully committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operation and supply chain. We have taken concrete steps to tackle modern slavery, as outlined in our statement. This statement sets out the actions that we have taken to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to our business, and to implement steps to prevent slavery and human trafficking during the financial year 2021.
Our business and supply chains
KRL Group is a private limited company, with its head office in Kingston Upon Hull. KRL was formed over 35 years ago and operates successfully throughout the region and across the UK.
Our primary operations are centred on the supply, maintenance and management of office print solutions, document solutions and workflow automation.
Our suppliers are all UK based, though the onward supply chain extends world-wide.
We have a relationship of trust and integrity with all our suppliers, which is built upon mutually beneficial factors. Our supplier selection and on-boarding procedure includes due diligence of the supplier’s reputation, respect for the law, compliance with health, safety and environmental standards, and references.
Supplier profiling
In the past year, we conducted a profiling of our supply chain by taking into account:
The business services rendered by the suppliers
The presence of vulnerable demographic groups
A news analysis and the insights of labour and human rights groups
This profile helps us to determine our suppliers on an ongoing basis.
Policies
KRL Group Limited operates the following policies for identifying and preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operations:
Handbook codes of conduct – our code encourages employees to do the right thing by clearly stating the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing the business. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour.
Purchasing Code – our Purchasing decisions are influenced by our stance on modern-day slavery and the people-centric ethose of our business.
Supplier due diligence
KRL Group Limited conducts due diligence on all new suppliers during on-boarding and on existing suppliers at regular intervals. This includes:
Assessing risks in the provision of particular services
Auditing the suppliers, and their health and safety standards, labour relations and employee contracts
Requiring improvements to substandard employment practices
Sanctioning suppliers that fail to improve their performance in line with our requirements
We require all suppliers to attest that
They don’t use any form of forced, compulsory or slave labour
Their employees work voluntarily and are entitled to leave work
They provide each employee with an employment contract that contains a reasonable notice period for terminating their employment
They don’t require employees to post a deposit/bond and don’t withhold their salaries for any reasons
They don’t require employees to surrender their passports or work permits as a condition of employment
Awareness
KRL Group Limited has raised awareness of modern slavery issues by putting up posters across our facilities and sending an email that is focused specifically on modern slavery to all our staff, which explains:
Our commitment in the fight against modern slavery
Red flags for potential cases of slavery or human trafficking
How employees should report suspicions of modern slavery
Training
In addition to the awareness programme, KRL Group Limited has rolled out a fresh e-learning course to all employees and supplier contacts, which covers:
Various forms of modern slavery in which people can be held and exploited
The size of the problem and the risk to our organisation
How employees can identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking, including unrealistically low prices
How employees should respond if they suspect slavery or human trafficking
How suppliers can escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant people within their own organisation
What external help is available for the victims of slavery
What terms and guidance should be provided to suppliers in relation to slavery policies and controls
What steps KRL Group Limited will take if a supplier fails to implement anti-slavery policies or controls
An attestation from employees that they will abide by KRL Group Limited’s anti-slavery policy
Measuring how we’re performing
KRL Group Limited has defined a set of key performance indicators and controls to combat modern slavery and human trafficking in our organisation and supply chain. These include:
How many employees have completed training?
How many suppliers have rolled out an awareness and training programme that is equivalent to ours?
What staff feedback have we recieved?