20 August 2025 - Ansell announces its plan to expand coverage of its Supplier Management Framework to a broader range of suppliers following a recent review of Malaysian ceramic former suppliers. This move reflects Ansell’s commitment to ensuring safe, fair and respectful labour practices across its global supply chain.

As outlined in our Human Rights Statement, Ansell is committed to respecting human rights, including the labour rights of workers across our own operations and supply chain, in line with the expectations set out in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) and the ten UN Global Compact Principles.

This commitment is reflected in the policies, standards and frameworks that govern our relationships with suppliers, including our Supplier Code of Conduct, Responsible Sourcing Policy and Supplier Management Framework (SMF). Launched in 2021, the SMF is a risk-based due diligence system that enables us to monitor suppliers, identify risks, assess compliance and engage with suppliers directly to educate, guide and oversee their remediation of any identified issues. The SMF sets out guidelines for regular auditing of prioritised suppliers based on a range of factors, including their risk profile and the level of our spend with them.

Elevating Labour Standards Across Our Supply Chain

Since the rollout of the SMF, we have continued to broaden the scope and coverage of our due diligence activities. At present, the SMF covers hundreds of suppliers, representing more than 85% of Ansell’s finished goods and raw material supplier spend.

Under the SMF, we have seen positive corrective actions by many suppliers, including our finished goods suppliers reimbursing over US$30 million in recruitment fees to more than 19,000 impacted workers.

Our SMF has also driven improvement in areas of our supply chain that receive less scrutiny on labour rights than the glove sector, such as the packaging industry. In FY23, Ansell on-boarded our packaging suppliers to our SMF. Subsequent due diligence with these suppliers identified over 750 of their workers had paid recruitment fees to secure employment. In each case we worked to encourage remediation for the impacted workers, leading to more than US$700,000 being reimbursed.

Ansell continues to see improved labour, health and safety standards across suppliers that fall within the scope of the SMF, demonstrating its importance in driving real and measurable change in a complex industry.

Addressing Allegations at Ceramic Former Suppliers

Earlier this year, Ansell became aware of labour rights allegations at a small Malaysian supplier of ceramic formers used in the production of our single use gloves. Allegations included debt bondage through the payment of recruitment fees, underpayment of wages, retention of identity documents, health and safety issues, and unsatisfactory living conditions.

Like all Ansell suppliers, the company subject to the allegations had signed our Supplier Code of Conduct. However, as both a small supplier to Ansell (representing less than 0.1% of our total global supplier spend) and an indirect supplier - those suppliers who provide materials or equipment used in the manufacturing process but not incorporated into our finished goods - the company fell outside the scope of our SMF.

In response to the allegations, Ansell acted immediately to:

• investigate the issues and to reiterate our clear expectations that all suppliers act in accordance with their obligations under our Supplier Code of Conduct.
• engage with the company and encourage a formal recruitment fee investigation by the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA). This resulted in an agreed repayment plan for recruitment fees to be completed by January 2026, with three repayments made under this plan to date; and
• provide advance payment for orders (covering all FY26 supply requirements) and expedited payments for goods delivered to Ansell to support the company’s cash flow and ability to fund the agreed remediation.

While working through the allegations raised in this case, Ansell initiated a broader review of all of our ceramic former suppliers, which identified similar compliance issues across multiple suppliers. This review included on-site inspections, worker accommodation visits, the development of corrective action plans with agreed timelines for reimbursement of recruitment fees and ongoing engagement with management of the suppliers.

Ansell has chosen not to walk away from the suppliers subject to review and we continue to engage with them closely to ensure remediation plans are effectively implemented. In addition to engaging directly with the suppliers, Ansell has been working in collaboration with the RBA (which operates the Responsible Glove Alliance) and other customers to address the issues identified.

Following these findings, Ansell has initiated a review of the SMF scoping criteria and thresholds. As part of this process, we will expand SMF coverage to include all ceramic former suppliers. We are also assessing our broader network of over 1,600 small indirect suppliers to determine which should be included in the SMF due diligence program.

Our ongoing commitment to responsible supply chains

Labour rights remain a challenge in the PPE and glove industry, and the regions in which Ansell operates. In working with suppliers that have not met international labour standards or complied with Ansell’s Supplier Code of Conduct, our approach follows the recommendations of human rights experts working in this field. In the first instance, we seek to work constructively with impacted suppliers to address concerns; only if there is no commitment to improvement evident will we then consider terminating the relationship.

In order to address systemic challenges in the industry, we also engage with external stakeholders, including through our participation in the Responsible Glove Alliance, collaboration with peer companies, and engagement with suppliers, industry groups, worker organisations and governments.

Ansell remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding human rights and driving change across the PPE and glove industry. We are focused on transparency and continuous improvement in identifying and addressing modern slavery risks throughout our supply chain.

For more information about our commitment to securing safe, fair, and respectful working conditions across our supply chain, visit our website to review our policies and our most recent Labour Rights Report.

ENDS