Modern Slavery Statement

Harris Group continually works to prevent slavery and human trafficking from taking place in our manufacturing supply chains and operations, in line with the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Our Business

 For more than 50 years, Harris Group has set ourselves apart from the competition through a spirit of innovation, a strong moral conviction and a commitment to excellence in customer service – all qualities instilled in the entire Harris team by our founder Pino Harris.

Today, with strong executive leadership, exciting brand partnerships and significant investment in our parts and service infrastructure we are not only building on that legacy but forging a new path, towards a future of clean, sustainable and cost-effective commercial and mass transportation solutions.

Our Operations

As of January 1st, 2021, we employed approximately 107 full-time and part-time employees. We have a dedicated head of human resources who oversees statutory employee representation obligations so that we can engage directly with our workers to maintain and encourage open dialogue.

Our Supply Chain 

Harris Group is committed to improving the working conditions of people around the world who are a part of our supply chain. We source products for our businesses around the world from suppliers from Asia and Europe. We recognise the need to monitor for conditions that put workers at risk of forced labour.

Policies and Controls

 Harris Group has set clear standards on the prevention of forced labour in its supply chain. Harris Groups purchase and service agreements require our manufacturing suppliers, and service providers supporting our operations to comply with these standards.

We evaluate and address risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in the following ways:

• Our suppliers must not use forced labour – slave, prison, indentured, bonded, or otherwise.
• Our suppliers must not traffic workers or in any other way exploit workers by means of threat, force, coercion, abduction, or fraud. Working must be voluntary, and workers must be free to leave work and terminate their employment or other work status with reasonable notice.
• Workers shall not be required to pay recruitment, hiring, or other similar fees related to their employment and our suppliers must bear or reimburse to their workers the cost of any such fees. All fees and expenses charged to workers must be disclosed to Harris Group and communicated to workers in their native language in advance of employment.
• Our suppliers must not require workers to surrender government issued identification, passports, or work permits as a condition of working, and our suppliers may only temporarily hold onto such documents to the extent reasonably necessary to complete legitimate administrative and immigration processing.
• Workers must be given clear, understandable contracts regarding the terms and conditions of their engagement in a language understood by the worker.

 Risk Assessment

We use desk-based research to analyse the risk of modern slavery in our supply chain and operations. While modern slavery can be found in all countries and industries, we acknowledge that there is a heightened risk with:

• domestic and international migrant labour;
• contract, agency, and temporary workers;
• vulnerable populations (e.g. refugees); and
• young, or student workers. 

 Due Diligence Processes

 Harris Group assesses manufacturing suppliers and service providers for continued compliance and improvement.

Assessments may include:

• Site inspection of all areas of the site and any living quarters;
• Confidential worker interviews or surveys conducted without site management present;
• Review and analysis of site documents or licences to assess, workers’ age, contracts, compensation, working hours, and workplace conditions; and
• Identification of past compliance issues, areas for improvement, and development of a remediation plan.

Audit reports and findings are reviewed regularly by senior leadership and corrective action plans are implemented as needed.

Partnerships and Stakeholder Engagement

 To ensure that our policies and programs incorporate internationally recognised human rights standards, we have incorporated the following standard into our sales dealer network agreement contract:

The Dealer is required to ensure that it and any of its subsidiaries or suppliers are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations regarding employee rights and immigration legislation and that is not engaged in illegal employment, slavery or forced labour, human trafficking or child labour;

Support to Suppliers

We offer suppliers guidance to help understand Harris’ requirements by remote training to support continuous improvement.

Approval for this statement

 This statement was approved by the Harris Group’s Managing Director and C.E.O on 1^st January 2021.

Denise Harris
Managing Director and C.E.O.