Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking & Anti-Child Labour Statement

Organisational Structure

We specialise in the design, manufacture and supply of complete bridge structures, including beams, parapets and retaining walls. Other major products manufactured include bespoke units, storage tanks, box culverts, tunnel segments, frame buildings & future geosystems.

The Shay Murtagh Group has its head office based in Raharney, Co Westmeath, Ireland and also has subsidiary companies, Evans Concrete Products Ltd (located in Derbyshire, UK) and Structural Research Ltd (Located in Viana, Portugal).

Our Business

With over 40 years’ experience and approximately 300 skilled employees, we are a market leading manufacturer of precast and pre-stressed concrete products for the construction and civil engineering industry in Ireland and the UK.

Our Supply Chains

Our supply chains include the provision of raw materials principally related to construction and civil engineering projects.

Our Policies on Slavery, Human Trafficking & Child Labour

“Modern slavery” refers to the offences of human trafficking, slavery, servitude, and forced or compulsory labour. This can then be considered under the below heading headings:

• the sexual exploitation of adults;
• the trafficking of adults into conditions of labour & criminal exploitation;
• the trafficking of minors into conditions of sexual, criminal or labour exploitation;

“Human trafficking” involves the recruitment, transfer or obtaining of an individual through coercion, abduction, fraud or force to exploit them. Although human trafficking often involves an international cross-border element, Ireland and the UK are considered low-level.

Modern slavery includes victims who have been brought from overseas and vulnerable people in the UK and in Ireland who are forced to work illegally against their will across many different sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, construction, retail and manufacturing.

Use of Child labour is not permissible at Shay Murtagh and its group of Companies. We support the development of legitimate workplace apprenticeship, work experience and cooperative programmes for the educational benefit of young people in partnership with reputable educational bodies. Shay Murtagh do not employ any person below the legal age limit at the workplace. No employee is made to work against his/her will or work as bonded/forced labour, or subject to corporal punishment or coercion of any type related to work.

Shay Murtagh will not use involuntary prison or forced labour in any of its operations or manufacture of our products.

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chain or in any part of our business. Our Modern slavery statement reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all areas of our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chain.

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk

• We practice the direct recruitment of employees to our company and have screening processes in place to check identification and right to work
• This includes a statement from employee about previous work experience, skills and education to be used in interview process. Reference checks are conducted in appropriate circumstances. Copies of passports are to be provided to ensure right to work and age requirements. Employee to provide personal bank account information for direct employee (not shared) to facilitate the direct payment of wages to employee.
• Where possible we build long standing relationships with local suppliers and contractors and make clear our expectations of business behaviour
• The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the company Human Resources department, who do not permit minors to enter the factory site as workers. There is zero tolerance policy towards its breach. Employment contracts and other records, documenting all relevant details of employees, including age, are maintained by Shay Murtagh Group and are open to verification by any authorised personnel or relevant statutory body.
• With regards to national or international supply chains, our point of contact is preferably with UK companies and we expect these entities to have suitable policies and processes to combat modern slavery and human trafficking.
• We have in place systems to encourage the reporting of concerns and the protection of whistle blowers.

Supplier/Contractor Adherence to our Values

We have zero tolerance to modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour. We expect all those in our supply chain and contractors to comply with our values. The Operations and Directors are responsible for compliance in their respective departments and for their supplier relationships.

Shay Murtagh maintains a preferred subcontractor/supplier list. To ensure all those in our supply chain and subcontractors comply with our values we conduct due diligence on all subcontractors and suppliers before allowing them to become a preferred supplier.

Our Modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour forms part of our contract with all subcontractors/suppliers and they are required to confirm that no part of their business operations contradicts this policy. We are committed as a Company to tackling modern slavery and human trafficking and want to work with suppliers who share our values.