Navigating Important Changes To The Modern Slavery Act
Learn what recent changes to the Act mean for your sites and contractors. Discover how you can enhance compliance and ethical practices across site operations.
TL:DR (Too Long:Didn’t Read) – Key Takeaways
- What is the Modern Slavery Act: It is crucial Australian legislation requiring businesses to identify, address, and report on risks of modern slavery in their operations and supply chains.
- Impact on Facility Management: The Act affects businesses that employ service providers and contractors including cleaners, maintenance workers, and security personnel (Who are often at risk of modern slavery due to subcontracting).
- New Rules & Thresholds: The Act lowers the reporting threshold to $50 million annual revenue; Mandatory due diligence required for businesses that qualify.
- Increased Oversight: The first federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner has been appointed and will increase enforcement and oversight.
- The Need For A Proactive Approach: Non-compliance risks severe financial and reputation damage. Businesses must now adopt evidence-based strategies to manage modern-slavery risks.
- How Can You Stay Compliant: Accurate, data driven reporting platforms are helping businesses stay compliant, update policies in real-time, and ensure complete transparency. Learn the best processes and tips to ensure your people and sites are safe.
The Modern Slavery Act continues to impact small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), mandating decisive action against exploitation. With recent government reviews and new recommendations, staying up-to-date and adapting policies and practices is crucial. Ensuring your operations and supply chains are free from exploitation is now not only a moral imperative but a legal obligation to protect your business from reputation damage and financial penalties.
Why Should You Care?
Within the facilities management industry, modern slavery risks can be present (and often hidden) in the wide range of services – from cleaning, maintenance, security, catering, to waste management and more. Layers of subcontracting, particularly common in these industries, can further obscure these exploitative practices, making them even more challenging to detect and address. The risk of non-compliance with modern slavery falls back on businesses despite contracting or sub-contracting arrangements.
Non-compliance with the Modern Slavery Act can lead to significant financial penalties and reputation damage. Furthermore, beyond legal obligations and financial penalties, customers, investors, and partners increasingly expect businesses to uphold strong ethical standards. Addressing modern slavery is not just about compliance; it is about safeguarding human rights, enhancing your brand’s reputation, and ensuring long-term operational success.
Recent Changes & Their Implications
In May 2023, the Australian Government completed an independent review of the Modern Slavery Act, led by Professor John McMillan. The review found that while the Act had increased awareness, it had not resulted in meaningful changes for people affected by modern slavery. As a result, the following key recommendations from the review were implemented:
- Lowering the reporting threshold to $50 million to include more businesses;
- The proactive requirement to demonstrate Modern Slavery policies were implemented effectively within businesses;
- Introduction of new mandatory reporting criteria, including identifying modern slavery incidents and grevance mechanisms; and
- The establishment of an Anti-Slavery Commissioner to oversee the implementation and enforement of the Act, and coordinate national efforts against modern slavery. In May 2024 the Australian Government established Australia’s first federal Anti-Slavery Commissioner to support the mission and regulatory change.
These changes highlighted the demand and growing expectations from government to demonstrate evidence-based approaches to managing modern slavery risk.
Strengthening Modern Slavery Practice
Many of our clients have successfully navigated the growing complexities of the Modern Slavery Act. The following three key features have been integrated into our platform to ensure complete compliance for modern slavery reporting:
- A Central Repository: The Verified platform is integrating and serving as a central repository for modern slavery statements and policies, ensuring easy access and integration as required in reporting workflows;
- Real-Time Updates: Businesses are efficiently updating policies and ensuring that all stakeholders have immediate access to the most current information; and
- Transparency & Tracking: The platform’s existing tracking capability provides auditable transparency on who has reviewed policies and seen critical documents to ensure practice is understood by all relevant parties.
Tips To Stay Compliant
To ensure you and your business stay compliant, Facility Managers can implement best practice within their operational workflows and reporting procedures. Here are some tips to ensure compliance:
- Regularly Review and Update Policies: Ensure all policies are up-to-date and accessible to employees, contractors, and visitors.
- Implement Strong Reporting Mechanisms: Facilitate confidential and anonymous disclosure of concerns to tackle modern slavery effectively.
- Engage in Continuous Monitoring: Regularly audit supply chains and operations to identify and mitigate risks.
- Educate and Train Staff: Provide ongoing training to ensure all stakeholders understand modern slavery risks and how to report them.
Staying compliant with the Modern Slavery Act requires continuous effort and adaption to new regulations. The Verified team is passionate about helping businesses navigate these changes and promote ethical practices across their operations.
For more information on how Verified can assist you in meeting these requirements, contact us on 1300 133 950 or via email.