Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy

We are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in all our relationships across our business. Our reputation is extremely important to us and is built around us maintaining these standards.

Heras recognise anti-slavery and human trafficking as an important human rights issue and we are committed to taking appropriate and proportionate steps to ensure human rights are fully upheld in both the business and within our supply chain.

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “Act”) and constitutes our modern slavery and human trafficking statement and is updated on an annual basis.

Our policies

All employees are made aware of our anti-slavery and human trafficking policy through inductions, our employee handbook and on our intranet. We also have a robust grievance policy and whistleblowing policy in place allowing concerns to be reported on a confidential basis and without fear of recrimination.

Steps and reviews we have taken in the last 12 months:

  • Anti-slavery policy: we have conducted an annual review of our anti-slavery and human trafficking policy, which remains fir for purpose. The policy has, and continues to be, implemented throughout the business.
  • Staff recruitment: we have continued to actively enforce our policy on recruitment, which ensures that upon commencement of employment, we check that all employees are eligible to work in the UK and that they know their rates of pay, working hours, holiday entitlements and any other benefits.
  • Supplier due diligence: where applicable, we require our contractors to warrant to us that their operatives on site hold a valid Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) card.

What we intend to do in the next 12 months:

  • Staff awareness: we will issue communications to the business which raise awareness of modern slavery, include advice on how issues or suspicions can be reported, and provide important reminders about the risks of modern slavery within the workplace.
  • Compliance with this policy: we expect all employees to remain vigilant in their day to day working and we expect employees to report any concerns that they have. Employees must notify a manager or a member of the HR department as soon as possible if they have any reason to believe that modern slavery of any form may exist within our organisation or our supply chain. The manager and/or the HR department will thoroughly investigate said concern without delay.

Any employee who breaches our anti-slavery and human trafficking policy will face disciplinary action, which could result in dismissal for gross misconduct. We may terminate our relationship with other individuals and organisations working on our behalf if they also breach this policy.

September 2023