MODERN SLAVERY STATEMENT
IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE MODERN SLAVERY ACT 2018, THIS STATEMENT OUTLINES THE STEPS THAT POLY SYNTHESIS HAS TAKEN, AND IS CONTINUING TO TAKE, TO ASSESS AND REDUCE RISKS OF MODERN SLAVERY WITHIN OUR BUSINESS AND OUR SUPPLY CHAIN, AND OUR PLANS FOR REVIEW AND IMPROVEMENT.
INTRODUCTION
Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain. Poly Synthesis recognises that it has a responsibility under the Modern Slavery Act to take a strong approach to reject any forms of modern slavery and human trafficking. We are committed to promoting ethical business practices and policies that protect workers from being abused and exploited, both in our own business and our supply chain.
Poly Synthesis is committed to limiting the risk of modern slavery occurring in our business, ensuring there is transparency in our business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chain. We expect our employees and our suppliers to share our commitment to help ensure modern slavery does not exist in our business and our supply chain.
OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
We have a relatively simple supply chain. We procure goods and services needed for our business’s day-to-day operations from many contracted and preferred suppliers operating in Australia.
Our supply chain arrangements include suppliers from the following key areas:
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Raw materials – plastic sheet & pipe products
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Tools, Plant & Equipment
The goods and services procured include
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Plastic Pipe
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Tools & Equipment
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Day to day business consumables
IDENTIFYING RISKS OF MODERN SLAVERY
Poly Synthesis evaluates every supplier of goods and services. Our review of suppliers focused on the type of goods and services delivered, i.e., plastic materials, uniforms, stationery, agency staff, rather than defined by the annual expenditure.
Our operations
We believe there is no risk of modern slavery in our directly employed workforce, as the labour market in Australia is highly regulated, strict regulations apply to the nursing and aged care sectors, and the presence of unions who represent employees by negotiating employment conditions.
Our whistleblower policy and procedure details processes and communication pathways for employees, and suppliers, to disclose misconduct in our business and supply chain without recrimination.
OUR SUPPLY CHAIN
A significant number of our supplier’s operations are based in Australia. We believe these suppliers have a lower risk of modern slavery occurring in their supply chains, as their
operations are Australian based, they are required to comply with the Modern Slavery Act within their own supply chains.
However, our procurement activities do include purchasing goods and services from suppliers who provide potentially high risk products, such as, catering and food related products, uniforms, medical equipment, stationery and staffing through nursing agencies.
To establish an initial baseline understanding, for our first year of modern slavery reporting, we mapped out our key suppliers and service providers. This enabled us to undertake a risk assessment of any modern slavery risks, or potential risks, within our supplier’s operations and supply chains.
We identified a number of high-risk suppliers who are either located in or source their goods from high risk countries, for example, the procurement of uniforms and bed linen from suppliers who have manufacturing plants overseas.
High risk suppliers were requested to complete a Modern Slavery Supplier Questionnaire. The responses we received from our identified high risk suppliers indicated they have implemented adequate steps to mitigate modern slavery risks, their responses also indicated that their organisations required that their supply chains follow an ethical sourcing policy. The results of the Modern Slavery Supplier Questionnaire did not indicate the need for any further actions at this point in time.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS & CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
In our upcoming reporting year, we aim to continue to revise and develop our approach to modern slavery compliance to build capacity within our business to monitor and act on modern slavery risks. Poly Synthesis will continue to review our policies and procedures to ensure that we have sound governance processes in place to meet our modern slavery compliance requirements. Poly Synthesis will conduct reviews of policies, such as, our Code of Conduct and Whistleblower, to ensure inclusion of modern slavery clauses to increase employee awareness of the risks of modern slavery in our business and our supply chain.
APPROVAL
This statement has been approved by Poly Synthesis’ Managing Director.
Mr Sharnie Aitken
