Under the framework of LABS program, IDH has collaborated with the Ministry of Construction (MOC) in Vietnam to develop ‘Technical guideline for Inspection and Assessment of Fire Safety Conditions of garment and footwear industrial factories’ in the country. The fire safety assessment methodology of LABS has been accepted and incorporated within this guideline.
A key component of the LABS program is continuously engaging with Governments to ensure sustainable production and harmonized standards for safety. The incorporation of LABS methodology by MOC into their legislative policy and framework is an important milestone towards this.
The MOC guideline can be viewed here.
The success of the program requires close cooperation and local collaboration with stakeholders. LABS will continue to keep this as a key focus and collaborate effectively with all groups committed to bringing about the sustainable transformation in the apparel, footwear and accessories sector.
As Covid-19 continues to keep the world in its grip, there is some good news as lockdowns in a few countries start to abate, and factories can resume some of their activities. With a few new factories joining the Life and Building Safety (LABS) program recently, LABS now has over 100 apparel factories registered. This marks a key milestone for the program as it works towards scaling and onboarding more factories to support them in mitigating risks related to fire, electrical and structural safety, and thereby providing safer working conditions for factory workers.
Out of the now 103 factories onboarded in Vietnam and India, assessments have been so far conducted in 74, and safety trainings have been conducted in 22. For the remaining factories, these activities will be planned in due course.
The current COVID-19 situation has impacted the program in the short to medium term, in terms of scaling up. Most activities at the factory-level are currently paused till further directives from the government in India and Vietnam on traveling and conducting in-person meetings.
The factories that are assessed have started working on remediations. Once the assessment has taken place and issues have been identified, a Corrective Action Plan (CAP) is drawn up. Within this CAP, the issues and required remediation activities are listed along with the corresponding timelines for factories to address these issues. The LABS team is following up with the factories to guide the factories on the remediation work.
With the current number of factories reached, LABS is helping protect 159,841 workers in the sector. These workers will have access to the LABS Helpline, which provides them with an opportunity to directly report issues related to fire, electrical and structural safety issues in their workplace.
Vietnam, October 21, 2019/India, November 6, 2019: Life And Building Safety (LABS) Initiative has launched a Helpline in Vietnam and India for the factories associated with the program in both countries. The Helpline provides direct access to the factories associated with the LABS program and gives them an opportunity to directly report issues related to fire, electrical and structural safety issues in their workplace.
The Helpline numbers in both countries are toll-free and can be reached through any landline and mobile phone. The callers have an option to keep their information confidential while registering their concerns on the Helpline.
The fire, electrical and structural safety issues registered through the Helpline will be forwarded to the LABS team and based on the level of priority, will be addressed within a stipulated time. The callers are given a Complaint ID, through which they can track the progress on the issue. For high priority issues, the callers are given advice on immediate action, and emergency phone numbers of the local authorities. Any issue which falls outside the purview of the LABS Initiative will be forwarded to the Brands Participants, for which the factory is a supplier.
The Helpline numbers will be exhibited in all factories that are associated with the program. Key data from the Helpline will also be published by LABS on a regular basis.
Vietnam, August 6, 2019/ India, August 28, 2019: IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative has launched its Life and Building Safety (LABS) initiative for the apparel and footwear sectors in India and Vietnam. Major brands including Bestseller, Gap Inc., Li & Fung, PVH, Target, VF Corporation, and Walmart have joined the program that will operate in all major industrial hubs, covering small, medium, and large enterprises in these countries. Together, in 2019, these brands cover hundreds of factories and around 163,400 workers in Vietnam and 125,000 workers in India.
With a pressing need to protect workers from structural, fire and electrical safety risks, several leading apparel brands approached IDH to leverage learnings from Bangladesh and replicate them in other key apparel sourcing countries. This led to the development of the LABS Initiative. The LABS participants include a group of European, Asian and US-based businesses, facilitated by the LABS Secretariat, which engages with local stakeholders such as industry associations, CSOs, governments, and institutes to create better safety policies and provisions. The LABS standard and methodology are based on international best practices and codes, such as the International Building Code, National Building Code of India among others. Under LABS, in addition to applicable country laws, factories commit to adhering to a harmonized, country-level standard around structural, fire, and electrical safety.
The LABS initiative has been launched in Vietnam on August 6, and in India on August 28. IDH will support the overall facilitation of LABS and the development of operational set up in the two countries.
Pramit Chanda, LABS Spokesperson said, “The tragic events at apparel factories in the last few years have brought to fore the pressing need to address life and building safety in the industry. Learning from such events, the Life and Building Safety (LABS) Initiative was established. Aimed at improving worker safety in the apparel and footwear industries, LABS effectively identifies and mitigates the potential risks related to fire, electrical, and structural building safety and evacuation. LABS is a coherent and consistent worker-safety program to assess factories and provide a framework for monitoring, mitigation and remediation.”
LABS is aimed at setting a benchmark safety standard against which apparel and footwear factories are assessed. The LABS assessment is not a code-compliance check; however, it defines a required level of safety based on international best practices, considering the local context. All technical standards consist of an interrelated set of measures which, taken together, are assumed to provide an acceptable level of safety in a building.
The Life and Building Safety (LABS) Initiative is an industry-driven program, in which multiple brands and retailers are joining forces together with public and civil society organizations, to mitigate preventable fire, electrical and structural buildings safety risks in key apparel and footwear producing countries.
Mrinalini Prasad, Communication Officer, IDH
Elske Stevenson, Communication Manager, IDH