Our Commitment to Ethical & Responsible Trading
Published date: 17 December 2019
As a company ethical practices are a key consideration, see what we are doing to ensure this is practiced through our chain of command.
Burhouse is a huge supporter of human rights and ethical working practices – and being transparent about our procedures, sources and the background of our products is crucial. Here, we outline our commitment to sourcing quality products in an ethical and responsible way and discuss a recent visit to one of our suppliers in China.
Increasingly, the company is asked about the source and background of our products – and these are questions we’re happy to answer. We’re proud to have long-standing relationships with the majority of our suppliers and we endeavour to visit them as often as we can to fulfil our own enquiries about manufacturing standards and the ethical sourcing of products.
Made in China
For one of our recent buying trips, we spent the day in the manufacturing business of one of our partners based in China. We wanted to access the facilities the company has invested in to assess their ethical practices which allow the processing of gemstones into beads and cabochons.
ethical bead manufacture
Lapidary (the cutting of gemstones) is a long-standing skilled industry in China. There have been many changes over recent years to bring manufacturing in line with significantly higher and expected ethical standards. At a time when consumers are increasingly conscious about where products are made and the treatment of the workers, it’s of paramount importance to us to ensure we’re meeting industry standards in all aspects of our trade regarding ethical practices in the chain of command.
Certain requirements stated by the Chinese government are now mandatory to fulfil manufacturing standards and to be able to remain in business. This includes environmental, employment and working safety issues. Measures implemented by our supplier, which were clearly evident to us as visitors, included:
• On site water filtration units to clean water used in the processing of the gemstones.
• Ventilation systems are installed across all working areas, with water sprays used to reduce any dust caused by the cutting process.
• Employees are provided with safety shields and necessary safety equipment when working on machinery.
• Where jobs require a high level of concentration, employees are only permitted to work in two-hour shifts before they’re given a 30-minute break.
• No minors are employed and all staff are well looked after by the company.
The laws now in place in China have seen the closure of many smaller facilities at which companies have been unable to comply with the increasingly regulated conditions required within the industry.
