Interweave achieves Level 3 LSAS

We are very pleased to advise that we have achieved a Level 3 status following our latest Labour Standards Assurance System (LSAS) audit. NHS Supply Chain originally introduced LSAS in conjunction with the Department of Health, to provide an extra layer of governance for companies who supply goods into the NHS.

The audit process allows NHS procurement professionals to have additional confidence in the products that they are purchasing having been ethically sourced. It also signifies that the products are compliant with national and international legislation.

What Level 3 indicates

This is how the NHS Supply Chain describe a supplier who has been audited to Level 3 LSAS:

“The supplier has a robust system for managing labour standards in place. There is evidence of an established implementation system working over time and risk is being effectively mitigated where uncovered. This is a more action-oriented level of compliance.”

To attain this level of compliance, the team at Interweave have introduced new measures over the last 12 months to ensure that the standards required for Level 3 were being amply addressed.

This included introducing a Whistleblowing Policy, which has been distributed to all relevant parties in the supply chain. These companies have been requested to advertise the policy internally to all of their staff. If any of their staff spot something non-compliant going on in their workplace they can discreetly raise the issue directly with the Interweave management team.

Positive changes

Customer Services Manager, Tim Meadows, who is responsible for Interweave’s LSAS compliance and who has led the project to take the company up to Level 3, says:

“This is the culmination of 7 years work and reflects the ethics and philosophy of how we run our business. We have applied these standards across our whole business and not purely as a box ticking exercise to remain on frameworks or contracts.“

“We have definitely benefitted from taking these steps to improve the processes and quality in our own supply chain too – as it’s pointless cutting corners with something as important as this and it gives you a sense of fulfilment and pride, when you commit to optimisation and achieve these standards. It’s given the business a solid foundation and an open channel of communication with the companies we rely on in our supply chain”

Related reading: Interweave’s Labour Standards Policy