Voluntary Modern Slavery Statement
White Wolf Constructions (WWC) holds the fundamental Human Rights of its employees, partners, suppliers, subcontractors and that of all Australians, as a matter of utmost importance. We are committed to ensuring our business acts respectfully, with integrity and maintains the highest of moral and ethical standards.
WWC strongly believes in the abolishment of Modern Slavery and as such, have produced this voluntary Modern Slavery statement for the reporting period covering the Australian Financial Year 2024.
Who We Are
Founded in 2009 by Directors Matthew Herbert and Thomas Clarke, White Wolf Constructions is a medium sized Construction Company based with its main office in Sydney’s, Sutherland Shire. From humble beginnings, Carpenters Matt and Tom created a small, local business in the hope of delivering quality construction work to Sydney based residents and businesses. Now, spanning Australia’s Eastern Seaboard with 60+ full-time employees and hundreds of trade partners, WWC not only offers exceptional private construction work but assists Australia’s largest Insurance Companies in supporting their customers when disaster strikes, through Insurance Building Repairs and Loss Adjusting.
Ownership
WWC is 100% privately owned, operating solely in Australia, with no intention to offshore any facet of the business. Over the past 15 years, WWC has seen significant growth. Throughout this, we have focused on maintaining internal management over the business and related functions, and for areas that require external support, we believe in supporting local businesses and services within the community.
What We Believe In
White Wolf Constructions is a proud business whose reputation and standing in market are incredibly important to its owners and employees. We value loyalty, drive the need for equality, believe in the strength of diversity, support the importance of inclusion and above all, consider respect and human rights to be a fundamental consideration for every person. We support the United Nations initiatives to end Modern Slavery in all its forms and feel strongly about our contribution.
When we consider the work that we deliver, WWC operates with the following set of values:
Quality
Focused on exceptional performance in all areas of our business, we pride ourselves on being quality builders and delivering a quality project. We strive to provide our clients with not only a superb, finished product but also with an exceptional experience over the course of the project.
Integrity
We demonstrate honesty and trustworthiness in all our interactions, behaviours and practices within White Wolf Constructions and with our client, communities and each other. We always strive to make the right choices and act in a manner that is transparent.
Safety
We uphold a positive and proactive safety culture, and lead by example in all aspects of our business. We strive to exceed best practice and instil this value in our staff and subcontractors.
Professionalism
We recognise that the way an organisation delivers a service is just as important as the service itself. We set positive examples and invest in personnel and subcontractors so that they maintain the highest standards of trustworthiness and reliability.
Innovation
We are not satisfied with status quo. We create ethical, forward-thinking solutions to surpass what has already been achieved by fostering an environment of trust, openness and collaboration. We identify, develop and deploy leading edge construction methods, plant and equipment and process improvement tools.
Accountability
We value the ability of our team to honour our commitments and take responsibility for our work. We always question what else can be done to rise above the circumstances and achieve the desired results. We also recognise the lasting and permanent presence of our work activities and strive to protect the environment by upholding sustainable practices as part of everyday business.
Supply Chain Risk Assessment
WWC recognises that Modern Slavery may occur in a variety of forms including, but not limited to, human trafficking, forced labour, bonded labour or debt bondage, domestic servitude, and forced child labour.
We are confident that within our Business Operations, we have a low risk of any activity related to Modern Slavery. Our corporate functions are handled locally, our customer service teams, and software design are managed in house, our design and printing facilities are local and our merchandise/branded uniforms are sourced locally and ethically including relevant suppliers complying to the BCSS (Better Cotton Standard System).
Our offices and warehouse are owned and operated by White Wolf Constructions, so areas of business operations commonly associated as high-risk including facilities management, cleaning or security services are either managed in house or with direct suppliers that are sourced locally for their like-minded approach to Human Rights and the abolishment of Modern Slavery.
WWC is aware that any risk to initiatives involving Modern Slavery would be in our secondary relationships, those supplying services to our direct business relationships and materials/technology access where local supply is limited:
Subcontractors
White Wolf Constructions operates a significant proportion of our Insurance Building Repair business utilising the support of Subcontracting Trades. We have an expectation that all subcontractors of White Wolf Constructions act in accordance with the moral and ethical values expected of a WWC Employee. As such, subcontractors are bound by extensive Terms & Conditions that detail our expectations on the specifics of Modern Slavery, Human Rights and the ethical sourcing of materials.
Raw Materials
As an industry, we recognise that construction requires the use of raw materials that are not always able to be accessed via local production and can be sourced from countries with higher risks of Modern Slavery than Australia. We are aware that Timber, Bricks, Cement, Rubber, Carpet, Glass, Paint, Piping, Steel, Tiles and Ceramic, amongst others, can be associated with high-risk locations and continually review opportunities to mitigate this risk within our processes.
As a direct business, White Wolf Constructions makes a preference to use local supply of raw materials where possible. Additionally, we conduct due diligence to ensure our variety of suppliers (who source raw materials locally and internationally) have Ethical Sourcing Programs and Modern Slavery Initiatives to mitigate risk in the international procurement of such products.
White Wolf Constructions understands our timber suppliers import from a variety of sources, but we ensure they adhere to Responsible Timber Sourcing Policies that only utilise, or give preference to, PEFC and FSC third party certified products.
As above, we detail our expectations of ethical sourcing to our subcontractors within their terms and conditions for each and every work order.
Technology
We remain aware that certain elements within technology supply pose a risk to Modern Slavery activities, including the cobalt mined for lithium batteries. Whilst we cannot enforce change in this area, we remain diligent in supporting technology suppliers with a like-minded belief in Human Rights.
Governance
White Wolf Constructions has a zero tolerance for discrimination including but not limited to that related to gender, sexuality, age, ethnicity and disability. Employees must treat fellow employees, customers, suppliers, contractors, or other persons with whom they deal in the course of their employment with respect and in a non-discriminatory manner.
WWC Employees are asked to acknowledge and adhere to an extensive Code of Conduct which specify expectation of Human Rights behaviour and anti-bribery and corruption, as well as numerous workplace policies including Anti-Bullying, Sexual Harassment and Modern Slavery.
We conduct regular training sessions with employees and have introduced Modern Slavery Risk Awareness training as a requirement of all staff and a willingness to share training and materials with subcontractors.