Standards body ranks Chinese and Italian suppliers as 鈥榟igh risk鈥�
Large quantities of materials used in the UK construction industry are being supplied by countries with a high risk of workplace slavery, according to a new report.
The British Standards Institute (BSI) has rated China, which provided almost a fifth (18%) of imported construction materials into the UK in 2015, as a 鈥渉igh risk鈥� country for modern day slavery.
The organisation鈥檚 Trafficking & Supply Chain Slavery Patterns Index also ranked Italy as 鈥渉igh risk鈥�, with 6.4% of the total 拢13.8bn of construction materials imported into the UK from the country.
Theresa May has made ending the 鈥渂arbaric evil鈥� of modern slavery a priority of her permiership, while the UK鈥檚 independent anti-slavery commission has indentified construction as one of four core focus sectors.
The BSI ranked 191 source countries and 193 destination countries from low to severe based on the risk score, and estimated there were 45 million people in slavery around the world in 2016.
Chris McCann, a principal consultant at BSI, said: 鈥淸Firms should] focus their efforts on identifying and assessing 鈥榓t-risk鈥� suppliers and to manage the risks proactively to safeguard their workforce and protect their own reputation.鈥�
The index鈥檚 lead developer, BSI鈥檚 Michiko Shima, said: 鈥淭he presentation of tens of thousands of pairings of source/destination countries and their relative risk provides a broad understanding of the breadth of threats to global supply chains.
鈥淭hese include human rights abuses, security threats and business continuity risks.鈥�
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