BS 25700 – Organizational Responses to Modern Slavery

Recorded: 22 March 2022 (13:00 - 14:30 UK time)

What’s this webinar about?

BS 25700 is our new guidance document for organizations on managing modern slavery risks in their operations, supply chains and wider operating environment. This webinar provides an overview of the standard laced with personal experience and expertise to make it more meaningful to the audience.

Who is this webinar for?

Organizations from all sectors and of any size, noting that modern slavery is often associated with agriculture, construction, events, domestic work, hotels and accommodation, textiles, and warehouses and distribution.

What will participants gain?

• A clearer understanding of what constitutes modern slavery
• Guidance on managing and reducing the risks of modern slavery
• Shared insights and expertise on the topic
• The opportunity to question our experts

Agenda

13:00 - 13:05 Welcome and introduction - Dave Adamson, Lead Standards Development Manager, British Standards Institution (BSI)

13:05 - 13:15 Overview of Modern Slavery - Akilah Jardine, Senior Policy Lead - Modern Slavery, Orbis Procurement - Surrey County Council and Alex Trautrims, Associate Director, University of Nottingham

13:15 - 13:25 Understanding the Context of the organization - Gabriela Gutierrez-Huerter, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in International Management, King's Business School

13:25 - 13:35 Leadership and Commitment - James Sinclair, Managing Partner, Ethical Innovations

13:35 - 13:45 Support for Managing Modern Slavery - Colleen Theron FIEMA, Director, Ardea International

13:45 - 13:55 Operation - Safak Tartanoglu Bennett, Research Fellow, University of Greenwich

13:55 - 14.05 Responsible Procurement - Helen Carter, Lead Consultant, Action Sustainability

14:05 - 14:15 Risk Management - Amy Benstead , Lecturer in Fashion Management, The University of Manchester

14:15 - 14:30 Q&A led by Alex Trautrims

14:30 Close of the webinar

For help understanding and responding to the risks of modern slavery, please watch the webinar now.

Dave Adamson is a Lead Standards Development Manager at the British Standards Institution. He is responsible for standardisation activities in resilience, continuity, crisis management and risk management. 

Dr Akilah Jardine is Co-Chair of the BSI Technical Committee working on BS 25700. She is a Senior Policy Lead on Modern Slavery at Orbis Procurement. Orbis Procurement is a shared services partnership between Brighton and Hove City Council, East Sussex County Council, and Surrey County Council. Her role involves overseeing the design and delivery of anti-slavery approaches within the authorities’ supply chains. Before joining Orbis Procurement, she was a Research Fellow focusing on modern slavery, labour exploitation and business response with the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham.

Dr Alexander Trautrims is an Associate Professor in Operations and Supply Chain Management and leads the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab Business & Economies programme. He enjoys conducting research, knowledge exchange, and intervention projects in close collaboration with businesses, NGOs, public sector, and policymakers, and has published in leading academic journals on the topic of modern slavery in supply chains. He serves as a technical expert on the Council of Europe’s Drafting Committee on Trafficking for the Purpose of Labour Exploitation, is a member on the UN Procurement Human Trafficking and Forced Labour Task Force, and is working with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to advise States on their measures against human trafficking for labour exploitation.

Dr Gabriela Gutierrez-Huerter O is an Assistant Professor in International Management at King’s Business School, King’s College London, UK. She received her PhD from the University of Nottingham. Her work is at the intersection of international business, CSR and comparative institutional analysis. Recently, she has been part of an interdisciplinary research project studying the responses of the UK construction industry to the issue of modern slavery.

Gabriela’s work has been published in the ‘Journal of International Business Studies’ and ‘Research in Global Strategic Management’ and the ‘Journal of Business Ethics’. She teaches Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics and Sustainability at the Undergraduate level. Gabriela is also a member of OS4Future, a movement of organization and management scientists who wish to inspire fellow academics to take action on climate change leading by example in research, teaching and impact.

James is an international human rights lawyer and fair labour pioneer based in London.

He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from York University, postgraduate legal qualifications from the University of Law, a Master’s Degree in International Relations from King’s College London and a PhD in International Human Rights Law and Political Economy from King’s College London. His PhD focuses on labour rights in global supply chains.

James qualified as a Barrister in 2001 and developed an international litigation practice. In 2006, he co-founded FSI Worldwide, a UN award winning fair labour organisation, which operates in 10 countries and has offered protected employment to thousands of migrant and other vulnerable workers from South Asia and East Africa.

While helping to develop FSI between 2007 and 2014 James lived, worked and travelled extensively across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, advising governments, corporates and NGOs on fair labour issues. Following his return to London in 2014 James launched Ethical Innovations, which advises clients on ESG, global labour rights and sustainable business practices.

In 2019, James was awarded a grant by DFID to develop and lead the Fair Labour Alliance (FLA) a social innovation program that develops and implements practical improvements in international labour supply chains.

Colleen is a tri-qualified solicitor and founder of Ardea International, a specialist company providing sustainability, business and human rights and modern slavery expertise to enable companies to meet both their legal obligations and develop voluntary best practice standards. She is a fellow of IEMA and a research fellow of the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery and Abuse and a lecturer at Birkbeck University, London on human rights and business.

She has over 30 years of legal and commercial experience of working with business, organisations and NGOs across sectors and provides training and online resources on human rights, modern slavery, and sustainability issues. Her book ‘Strategic Sustainable Procurement: law and best practice‘ is published by Routledge.  She recently published a chapter ‘Modern Slavery and Transparency in Supply Chains- the Role of Business’ in The Modern Slavery Agenda: Policy, Politics and Practice in the UK’.

She has spoken widely on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, modern slavery and sustainable business. She sits on the advisory board for LexisPSL Environment, is a committee member of the Social Responsibility Alliance and is an independent member of the APSCA Disciplinary Board for Member Firms. She is nominated as one of the Top 100 UK Corporate Modern slavery influencers in 2018.

Dr. Safak Tartanoglu Bennett is a Research Fellow at Centre for Research on Employment of Work (CREW) at University of Greenwich. She joined University of Greenwich in October 2019. Prior to this, she worked as a Lecturer at the University of Manchester, Alliance Manchester Business School. She took research and teaching posts at University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, Uludag University, Turkey and a visiting position at University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Her research focuses on sociology of work, aspects of work and employment relations, control and resistance mechanisms in organisations and labour rights in global supply chains. Her current research interests include worker opposition, collective actions and resistance mechanisms in global garment production networks. She is contributing to the debate with a supplier country (Turkey) perspective and investigating the issue with an understanding of collective actions in their political and social context.

Helen is an experienced procurement professional who after 10 years in the profession found a new way of making it even more interesting – namely sustainable procurement.  After working in Direct mail, manufacturing and then Infrastructure and construction Helen embarked on a journey of supporting Carillion in its quest to embed the flexible framework and drive more sustainable procurement practices.

After a few years of this challenging but successful endeavour she discovered an appetite to learn more and joined Action Sustainability as a consultant.  Over the last 10 years with the organisation, she has worked with a number of clients including LGA, OSCE, Network Rail, TFL, Skanska, Barratt Developments, Bouygues, Gas Networks Ireland and many more.

She has developed and delivered numerous training course (too many to mention if you ask her), provided process support in terms of developing strategies and policies, supplier development plans, PQQ’s and ITT’s.  Although her passion is procurement and supply chains,  over the last 6 years, she has expanded her expertise and has become AS’s centre of knowledge in the fight to combat modern slavery. Developing numerous tools designed to help organisations and their supply chains go beyond legislation and embed good procurement due diligence.

Dr Amy Benstead is a Lecturer in Fashion Management at The University of Manchester (Department of Materials, Faculty of Science & Engineering). She holds a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University Management School and is a board member of the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA). She has considerable knowledge and international experience gained in the fashion industry, most recently as Senior Merchandise Manager based in Istanbul, Turkey at global sourcing company Li & Fung, where her main responsibilities included managing the sourcing and production for major UK fashion retailers. Her research interests include Sustainable Supply Chain Management and Global Sourcing, with a particular focus on Modern Slavery. Amy’s research investigates transparency in supply chains, collaboration amongst brands and retailers in response to modern slavery legislation, modern slavery detection and remediation.

BSI is committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with this webinar contributing to Goal 1 on ending poverty, Goal 5 on gender equality, Goal 8 on decent work and economic growth, Goal 9 on industry, innovation and infrastructure, Goal 10 on reduced inequalities, Goal 11 on sustainable cities and communities, Goal 12 on responsible consumption and production, Goal 13 on climate action, Goal 16 on peace, justice and strong institutions, and Goal 17 on partnership for the goals.