Introduction  

Modern slavery is a heinous crime and a morally reprehensible act that deprives a person’s liberty and dignity for another person’s gain. It is a real problem for millions of people around the world, including many in developed countries, who are being kept and exploited in various forms of slavery. Every company is at risk of being involved in this crime through its own operations and its supply chain.  

At Summit Medical and Scientific we have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are fully committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operation and supply chain. All employees are compensated to exceed the Real Living Wage and we expect all of our supply chain to do the same.We have taken concrete steps to tackle modern slavery, as outlined in our statement. This statement sets out the actions that we have taken to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to our business, and to implement steps to prevent slavery and human trafficking during the financial year 2023-2024.  

Our business and supply chains 

Summit Medical and Scientific is a UK based distributor for companies manufacturing equipment for use in the biomechanics, movement science and clinical rehabilitation markets.  Our sales partners are based in the USA, Canada, Denmark, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and Slovenia. Our sales market for these products covers the UK and Ireland only. 

 We establish a relationship of trust and integrity with all our suppliers, which is built upon mutually beneficial factors. Our supplier selection and on-boarding procedure includes due diligence of the supplier’s reputation, respect for the law, compliance with health, safety and environmental standards, and references.  

We haven’t been made aware of any allegations of human trafficking/slavery activities against any of our suppliers, but if we were, then we would act immediately against the supplier and report it to the relevant authorities if possible to do so.  

Risk assessment  

At the beginning of each Company financial year we conduct a risk assessment of our supply chain by taking into account:   

• The risk profile of individual countries based on the Global Slavery Index  
• The business activities of our suppliers  
• The presence of vulnerable demographic groups  
• A news analysis and the insights of labour and human rights groups  

This assessment determines our response and the risk controls that we implement. 

Policies  

Summit Medical and Scientific operates the following policies for identifying and preventing slavery and human trafficking in our operations:  

• Whistleblowing Policy – we encourage employees, customers and suppliers to report any suspicion of slavery or human trafficking without fear of retaliation.  
• Code of Conduct – our code encourages employees to do the right thing by clearly stating the actions and behaviour expected of them when representing the business. We strive to maintain the highest standards of employee conduct and ethical behaviour when operating abroad and managing our supply chain.  
• We ensure our supplier contracts make explicit reference to slavery and human trafficking. 

Supplier due diligence  

Summit Medical and Scientific conducts due diligence on all new suppliers during on-boarding and on existing suppliers at regular intervals. This includes:  

• Assessing risks in the provision of goods or services  
• Auditing the suppliers, and their health and safety standards, labour relations and employee contracts  
• In the event of non-compliance we would notify our supplier of the requirement to make improvements to substandard employment practices.  If this is not forthcoming we would sever our commercial relationship with them and report them to the appropriate authorities if possible. 

We require all suppliers to attest that:  

• They don’t use any form of forced, compulsory, child or slave labour  
• Their employees work voluntarily and are entitled to leave work  
• They provide each employee with an employment contract that contains a reasonable notice period for terminating their employment  
• They don’t require employees to post a deposit/bond and don’t withhold their salaries for any reasons  
• They don’t require employees to surrender their passports or work permits as a condition of employment  
• Any threat of violence, discrimination, harassment and intimidation is prohibited
• The use of worker-paid recruitment fees is prohibited
• Compulsory overtime is prohibited
• If cases of modern slavery were to be identified, they would provide access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery

Employee Awareness 

All full time employees who have received the Company’s Anti-Slavery Policy as part of the staff handbook.   

Annual Review 

This statement covers the period 1st August 2023 to 31st July 2024.  It will be reviewed and updated as necessary on 1st August 2024. 

Last reviewed November 2023.