Since its launch, LABS has reached over 564,750 workers in India and Vietnam to provide safer working conditions and collaborated with factories to remediate pressing safety issues. As of December 2021, approximately 63% of the issues identified across 265 factories in both countries were remediated because of LABS’ intervention.
Operating in a complex and dynamic value chain, LABS Initiative recognizes upcoming challenges. The program, with its strong coalition of global brands, will continue to convene key industry stakeholders and decision-makers including the private sector, governments, Civil Society actors, and NGO’s to unlock resources and work jointly towards preventing and mitigating fire, electrical, and structural risks in the apparel and footwear industry.
The goal of this report is twofold; as we approach the end of the second full year of LABS operations, we aim to present an introduction to our approach and methodology followed by program achievements and our learnings to date.
The Life and Building Safety (LABS) Initiative is expanding into Indonesia. In consultation with Archetype, LABS initiated work to modify the LABS Standard and Methodology (the “Standard”) for Indonesia by considering the local legal requirements against which the apparel, footwear, and accessories factories will be measured on structural, fire, and electrical safety parameters.
Today, LABS organized a consulting workshop to discuss the first draft of the Standard with industry stakeholder groups including, but not limited to, government, apparel and footwear factories, trade associations, civil society organizations (CSOs), and brand partners.
The draft Standard was presented to the participants during the workshop; afterwards, panel discussions and group sessions were conducted to deliberate on the opportunities to provide a safer work environment. Input received will be incorporated into the final version of the LABS Standard and Methodology for Indonesia, which will be adhered during the pilot phase of the program.
LABS’ aim is to set 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 best practices internationally by considering the local context. All technical standards consist of an interrelated set of measures that should provide an acceptable level of safety in a building.
Through its associated firms, LABS has conducted over 400 safety assessments and delivered 650 safety trainings in apparel and footwear factories in India, Vietnam and Cambodia. LABS has also commenced identifying and onboarding associated firms to operationalize the program in Indonesia.