Modern Slavery Statement
What is the Modern Slavery Act 2015?
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”) seeks to address the role of businesses in preventing modern slavery occurring in their organisations and supply chains. It applies to businesses of a certain size, which are required to publish a statement setting out the steps they have taken to ensure that modern slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in their business or supply chains.
Who are Eschmann Technologies Ltd?
Eschmann is a British manufacturer supplying medical products and services to clinical professionals worldwide, both direct and through our network of trusted distributors.
We were first established in 1830 and started life manufacturing elastic gum instruments in central London. After establishing the Eschmann brand in surgical instruments, we went on to use our experience to manufacture operating theatre tables, electrosurgery, surgical suction units and autoclaves.
Today, we are proud to manufacture autoclaves and surgical suction devices in Lancing, West Sussex, the same business park Eschmann was located in over 70 years ago.
Our Commitment
Eschmann Technologies Ltd and its associated companies are committed to the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility and ethical conduct.
This voluntary statement has been published in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps taken by Eschmann Technologies Ltd to prevent modern slavery and human trafficking in its business and supply chains.
We have never and will never knowingly engage in modern slavery in any of its forms. We have clear processes in place in terms of recruitment and payment of all employees.
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 once in our employment.
Our Supply Chain
Whilst not directly affected, we recognise that we may form part of a larger business’ supply chain and therefore believe it is important to be able to satisfy any due diligence requirements.
Our supply chain is limited, and we procure goods and services from a restricted range of UK and overseas suppliers. We currently work with suppliers of packaging and materials who are based in Europe, the US, China and the UK.
Relevant policies
We operate the following policies that describe our approach to the identification of modern slavery risks and steps to be taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking in its operations:
- Whistleblowing policy - We encourage all our workers, customers and other business partners to report any concerns related to the direct activities, or the supply chains of, our organisation. This includes any circumstances that may give rise to an enhanced risk of slavery or human trafficking. Our whistleblowing procedure is designed to make it easy for workers to make disclosures, without fear of retaliation.
- Employee code of conduct – set out in our Employee Company Handbook, our code makes clear to employees the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing our organisation. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour.
- Supplier/Procurement - We are committed to ensuring that our suppliers adhere to the highest standards of ethics. Through our due diligence process, suppliers are required to demonstrate that they provide safe working conditions where necessary, treat workers with dignity and respect, and act ethically and within the law in their use of labour.
- Recruitment of workers - We use only reputable employment agencies to source labour and always verify the practices of any new agencies before accepting workers from that agency. We also carry out appropriate right to work checks.
Due Diligence
We undertake due diligence when considering taking on new suppliers, and regularly review our existing suppliers. Our due diligence and reviews include:
- mapping and creating a risk profile for each supplier in the supply chain to broadly assess particular product or geographical risks of modern slavery and human trafficking;
- reviewing on a regular basis all aspects of the supply chain based on the supply chain mapping;
- conducting supplier assessments through the organisation's own staff.
