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Grahame Gardner has achieved an important NHS accreditation which ensures the company is delivering the highest possible ethical standards in its factories both in the UK and abroad.
The Leicester-based firm, which has provided workwear to the NHS since the service was founded in 1948, has gained level three of the Labour Standards Assurance System (LSAS), the NHS’s own benchmark, to ensure that the businesses it works with are ethically sound and protect its labour market.
Simon Ward, group director of Grahame Gardner, said: “We are extremely proud of our long-standing relationship with the NHS having provided workwear to them over the last 70 years which continues to this day.
“As a family business, founded in 1906 with family values at our core, we never compromise on the ethical side of our business and it is extremely important to us that we know the factories we work with in the UK as well as in other parts of the world have the highest possible standards. LSAS allows us to demonstrate this and we are delighted to have moved up from level two to three on our recent assessment.”
In other good news, for the third year running, the company has also been confirmed as a rated supplier on the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Sustainability Index (CIPS). This covers Grahame Gardner, as well as its sister company Gymphlex and the GFORCE sportswear brand.
CIPS offers a comprehensive assessment of environmental, economic and social sustainability. It is the only independent, verified measurement tool allowing suppliers to share their sustainability credentials with buyers. Areas included within the scoring mechanism include: financial governance, robustness, integrity and ethics, waste management, environmental consumption, water consumption, employment practice, people management and development and human rights compliance.
Mr Ward added: “For us as a supplier, CSI helps us to demonstrate excellence in sustainability to industry-approved levels, strengthening information sharing with our customers and supporting any new business bids. We are really pleased to have achieved this standard for the third year running.
“We performed very well indeed for economic and social criteria with marks both over 90% and we are within the industry standard for environmental, however there is room for improvement here and this is something that will are already looking at in readiness for our next review in 2019.”
