Social Compliance Assessment
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and compliance to Social and Ethical code of conduct are considered as performance conduct of an organisation against Social standards related to human rights, labour regulation and working conditions. Acknowledging the complexity caused by legislative variations and industrial norms, we actively work with industrial partners and clients to enable organisations to implement social standards and meet compliance. Our services are available for various sectors, including textile, surgical, printing, food, minerals and aluminium. We cater for brand code of conduct, company’s own code of conduct and main compliance schemes including ISO26001, SMETA 4 pillar, SA8000, LSAS, RJC, ASI , OCS, RBA,PSCI , WRAP and BSCI.
We believe in enabling our clients all through their journey to deliver on social compliance be it their brand requirement, CSR initiative or Audit. Our services include;
- Gap analysis and improvement program
- Capacity building, training and coaching
- Systematic framework of continuous evaluation and improvement
- Performance measurement through assessments and audits
Medical Devices Social Compliance
Social Compliance of surgical tool manufacturing is a focal point for Western buyers after the reports of Child labour and human cost of manufacturing surgical goods. Medical devices is our specialist area of work from many years. Surgical supply chain is one of the most complex supply chain due to over 50 processes of manufacturing involved in the production , with multi vendor structure. Medical device social compliance is a global challenge and require timely adaptations and rigor.
We enable surgical Instrument manufacturing companies to reach social compliance in line with the international requirements to NHS Supplier code of conduct, Modern Slavery Act and Social value Act. Our services include industry specific interventions by providing tools, training, technical expertise, robust system and capacity building to meet social compliance.
Labour standards assurance system- LSAS
Labour standards assurance system is mandatory requirement from Public sector UK specifically for anyone supplying goods and services under public framework agreements to National Health Services. This applies now to OJEU, NHS supply chain, PASA, and NHS Shared Business services contracts. LSAS provides an integrated management system to assure organisation are following labour standards. The system builds on a continuous cycle of monitoring and improvement. LSAS is a progressive system with 4 levels of performance- Foundation ( Level 1), Implementation ( Level 2), Establishment ( Level 3) and Progressive ( Level 4). All four levels require to demonstrate progression in set timeframe as per supplier contract requirement.
NHS Supply Chain describes LSAS as:
“A Labour Standards Assurance System (LSAS) refers to the range of policies, procedures and practices that an organisation employs to identify labour standards abuses, mitigate risks and drive improvement”
This system is not a certificate scheme but provides a performance report against labour standards. LSAS is applicable to any company providing the product categories related to furniture, stationary, stainless steel, fabric and plastics to NHS Supply Chain. The framework revolves around 9 ETI principles, local labour laws and their implementation in the supply chain. The scope of the audit extends to the organisation itself, its contractors and subcontractors.
Global Sustainability UK is pioneer in providing complete LSAS solution to NHS suppliers across the globe from past 8 years. Our solution include:
Modern Slavery Assessment Tool – MSAT
NHS suppliers are located globally, presenting a complex supply chain. With the Modern Slavery Act 2015, NHS suppliers code of conduct and Social Value Act 2012 , NHS is faced with a challenge of becoming a responsible business. Section 54 of Modern Slavery Act refers to transparency of supply chains and a requirement for a modern slavery statement. It is crucial for NHS to be aware of the risks in supply chain pertinent to social and labour abuse including modern slavery related risks. This require a high level of commitment and collaboration. MSAT is a Free of cost tool accessible to suppliers for assessing their supply chains and identify any risks. MSAT will be an extension for organisations that are already on LSAS and will focus on
- Protecting Human rights in supply chain
- Transparency in supply chain
- Due dilligence
This tool requires review and constant update with any change to supplier, Developments in statement, policy, code of conduct, communication with suppliers, corrective actions, and system implementation.
Our team is well equipped to help businesses to support with MSAT self-assessment tool and reach compliance to the social standards as required by NHS. Our services are mapped to the tool and respond to all questions along with technical information, providing risk assessments, helping with documentation and evidence required , training of staff and delivering internal and supplier audits as per requirements of the new tool. We can help with
- Moderns slavery statement and its publication
- Supply chain mapping
- Identifying and map high risks in supply chain
- Risk prevention strategy and actions
- Establishing policies related to Modern Slavery, Human rights at work and Labour standards
- Technical assistance to collate procedures on delivering Social and Labour standards
- Embed due diligence
- Risk mapping and Actions at operational level
- KPIs to ensure effectiveness
- Detail impact analysis
- Training and collaboration
Beyond Social Audit (BSA)
The brands and retailers are engaged to improve social standards in their supply chains for many decades. The plethora of social audit schemes have increased burden on brands and suppliers without achieving desired social outcomes while the baseline issues still afloat. In terms of “lean manufacturing”, audits could be adding cost but not real value. This is a global challenge for all brands and industries. With the changing landscape of consumer demand, it was never more serious than today to evolve the industrial practices to a sustainable, reliable and impactful intervention.
We acknowledge audits can be effective tool of measuring the performance but nowhere near bringing the change in behavior and practices. To meet this challenge, we have developed a tool combining best elements of audit and education. This tool would serve as a generic platform for suppliers and brands to achieve change in practice and embed social and labour standards compliance. The tool is unique in its applicability and caters for all Social compliance schemes and code of conduct.
Unlike other models available in the market this is the only model that talks about all three sides of triangle- i.e. Brand, Suppliers and workers and equally benefit all stakeholders. Once this tool is adapted it can deliver on any social audit schemes.
- Benefits for brands: Cost Effective, Change led, Sustainable, 1-2 days depending on factory size
- Benefits for suppliers: Happy workforce, free Education by experts, Increased productivity
- Benefits for worker: Fair Wages, Personal development, Workers rights,
The tool will enable companies to calculate return on investment (ROI). Research shows happy workers are 13% more productive and 28.4% less absent than unhappy workers. It will also assist companies to see exact benefits if 100% of their staff is happy.
It is a systematic approach to identify the gaps through self-assessment. The education plan is agreed with the factory before the visit in light with their potential non-conformities. This is followed by facilitating appraisal-based dialogue between workers representatives and management and agree on a plan of action. This will eventually built factory management and worker’s understanding on key issues and encourage them to take ownership for a sustainable solution.
This tool uses universal principles of social sustainability and will address CoC of any brand and any social audit scheme. This is an intervention-based model that will deliver desired outcomes instead of tick box exercise against a traditional checklist. This will address all concerns raised by the brands and help businesses flourish with happy and productive workforce.
UK responsible person will act on behalf of non-UK manufacturers to perform specific tasks regarding manufacturers obligations under these regulations. The key tasks and responsibilities of this role will include registering with the MHRA before a device is placed on the UK market. The responsible person also coordinates any requests between manufacturer and MHRA and immediately report any complaints to the manufacture. A full list of the responsibilities are set out in Part II (r. 7A), Part III (r. 21A) and Part IV (r. 33A) and in new Parts VIII and IX in regulation 77 (for medical devices) and regulation 146 (for in-vitro diagnostic devices (IVDs)) of the UK MDR 2002 (as amended by the UK MDR 2019).
Global Sustainability UK has been supporting business from many years by providing services as authorised Representative for UK and Europe including getting free sale certificates. Under new Medical Devices regulation in Europe, new responsibilities are added to the role of EU AR that includes being legally responsible to retain all technical documents and certificates regarding devices. AR should have access to any changes in the medical devices, maintenance records, and post market clinical follow up. It is also required that EU AR information should be robust and including in product communication materials and labels including Inserts, IFU’s and user manuals.
As your authorised Representative in UK and Europe, we will provide following services.
We will represent your business in UK and Europe, maintain your technical file as per MDR requirements, managing your electronic data submissions, liaise with competent authority on your behalf for any submissions or queries, getting you approved for CE mark by a competent authority, update all parties for any serious incidents, keep you updated for any changes in the regulations.
Sustainable Supply Chain (SSC)
Globally there are many cases where Brands with the best intentions, audit schemes and systems still face bad media reputation due to failing to perform on social sustainability standards, labour and human rights abuse in supply chain. Be it NIKE, Apple or Kick all unfolds the story behind the wall of child labour, forced labour and lack of provision of fair wages in global supply chains. Today transparency in supply chain is bigger challenge for businesses than Cost reductions, flexibility and speed of delivery.
GSUK offers a holistic solution that assures full adherence to labour standards and transparency in supply chain. Our program provides end to end capacity building and training across the supply chain. The selected programs will provide a paradigm to the team on maximizing their potential and enable them to add value to the organisation at various levels in Hierarchy.
It is 4 tier programs as described below:
SSC looks at the process from raw material to the final consumption addressing Social, Environmental and Economical components of sustainability. This program is based on below Global Compact Principles
Our sustainable supply chain program will cover building on strengths, identifying gaps, providing training and comprehensive technical implementation of Sustainability standards and measures.
Modern Slavery Elimination Program (MSeP)
UN Sustainable Development Goals now call for an end to slavery by 2030. As a result modern slavery legislation introduced and impacted many countries including UK, EU, US and Australia. The legislation has created a challenge for businesses from Public and Private sector to address the issue.
We have devised a program to address all 7 elements of modern slavery in their supply chain. We support companies develop Modern Slavery statement, establish anti modern slavery framework and assurance system. Our model equip organisations with implementation tools to address modern slavery in supply chain.
Our program assists organisations to deliver on robust modern slavery statement to comply with the legislative requirements, provide training, identify modern slavery risks and provide a Business continuity plan (BCP) incorporating Modern Slavery element. Our experts have worked closely with government agencies like GLA to devise a structure appropriate to organisation needs and deliver actionable program on Modern slavery.