Policy for the Prevention of Modern Slavery

John Preston & Co (Belfast) Ltd are fully committed to supporting human rights including our responsibilities under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. Our approach to Risk Assessments are focused on an understanding of the risks involved so that we can ensure that there is no modern slavery in our business or appointed supply chains.   

John Preston & Co (Belfast) Ltd established in 1846 is a leading medical supply business based in Northern Ireland. We operate throughout the UK and Ireland.   Members of the British Healthcare Trades Association we are follow a strict code of conduct that is approved by Trading Standards UK.   We have held accreditation to ISO9001-2015 since 1997.    We shall determine any internal or external issues that may impact on the organisations ability to deliver its intended results. We have also included a determination of interested parties those individuals and organisations that can affect, be affected by our decisions or activities – Customers, suppliers, legal and regulatory requirements.

Supply Chain Management

Our supply chain includes our product manufacturers & suppliers, transport, IT support systems, financial and other consultancy services, office supplies, infrastructure and equipment maintenance, cleaning and vehicle services.   Procurement and supply chain management is a key issue and is overseen by Head Office and a procedure is in place to review and assess supply chain performance. Our suppliers are selected and approved through rigorous methods that meet the processes to make up our ISO 9001; 2015 Quality Management System, which has been accredited by SGS Inspections and all surrounding legislation such as the newly enforced GDPR regulations.

We only partner with responsible suppliers who source and manufacture goods that are produced in a sustainable way from an environmental and social perspective; those that conduct their business with integrity and honest through a code of conduct, sound ethical trading polices including the UK Modern Slavery Act and UK Bribery Act, quality management systems that are accredited by recognised bodies such as BSi and SGS, environmental management policies and safety management systems, all of which need to meet the statutory and regulatory requirements of the industry.  We have a zero-tolerance policy on violence, exploitation and abuse of children and workers throughout our supply chain.

We regularly review our suppliers, their policies and performance, keeping our files up to date, to ensure that we are partnered with the right businesses to ensure that our reputation is upheld and that we always meet the needs of our clients with quality products that are produced under strictly governed procedures and policies.  Suppliers shall adhere to our code of practice and with legislative issues as they apply in each area of our operations nationwide.
Our commitment regarding social responsibility is reflected in our company policies and our ongoing employee training programs and we have procedures in place to facilitate the delivery of the same high standards from our suppliers. We have implemented and review to an agreed schedule right – to - work checks on all new suppliers and employees.

Due Diligence Process

We assess areas of our business and supply chains where there is a risk of modern slavery and human trafficking occurring. Our Procurement function undertakes an annual assessment of our supply chain with particular reference to those areas which we consider to be of a higher risk such as those goods from outside the EU in particular China. Our Supplier Requirements Standard (Code of Practice) is a key element of our terms and conditions and outlines our needs and expectations nationwide.
We shall endeavour to work with suppliers who can share our values and support us to create the agreed outcomes. We are therefore working within our supply chain to ensure that we can achieve greater social, economic and environmental benefits in each area of our operations.
Compliance with applicable legislation is a key issue for the company and our supplier base. We are therefore focused on the provision of safe working conditions, treating our staff and supplier base with dignity and respect, and being environmentally responsible in accordance with our agreed systems and procedures.

Fair Working Practices Question

John Preston & Co recognises its responsibility to its employees and is committed to ensuring that all employees of the company are treated fairly and equally, irrespective of race, colour, ethnic origin, gender, marital status, disability, sexual orientation or age.

We offer an excellent remuneration package with contracted hours, salaries that exceed the minimum living wage requirements, flexible working options such as hours to accommodate outside commitments, pension schemes and training opportunities.  We hold annual team building events, and an annual Christmas party to which ALL staff are invited and which is funded by the company.

Our team are at the centre of everything we do, which leads to a motivated and focussed workforce who strive to achieve both business goals and often personal goals for example learning languages which are not always pivotal to their role, but broaden their skillset.  By offering a good work-v-life balance we have retained some of our highly skilled workforce for over 10 years.

We regularly review our resources and where additional resource is required, we have a fair advertising policy to ensure that both internal and external candidates are given the same opportunities to apply for roles and we follow strict criteria to ensure our recruitment selection process is open and fair to all.  We recruit the person that is most suited to the role from their full skill set.

Our staff and their opinions are vital to the way we operate; we ask staff to be part of various committees like health and safety, auditing and fire marshalling, giving them the opportunity to broaden their knowledge, gain new qualifications by undertaking training for these duties and take on responsibilities out with their immediate roles which they report to the management teams with suggestions for improvement, this empowers the individual to have a sense of belonging and stay with the company for many years to come.

Should any member of our staff feel that they are being treated unfairly, we have regular team meetings allowing us to discuss any issues, an open door policy to allow staff to raise concerns and bring incidents to the attention of our management team, grievance policies and detailed procedures, all of which would be implemented to ensure our staff feel content in their place of work, which leads to productive work outcomes in the delivery of the service we provide, in essence staff can speak to management at any time.

Continual Improvement

In order to identify strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities in our management systems, we shall monitor and analyses trends using the following data points:
• Characteristics of processes, services and their trends;
• Conformity to customer and legal requirements;
• Risk Assessments
• Customer satisfaction and perception data;
• Supplier assessment and performance data;
• Results of planned actions taken to address risks and opportunities;
• Improvement opportunities identified during internal audits and management reviews;
• Training available to staff

 

Nick Cooke
Managing Director

Date 22 February 2024