Life and Building Safety Initiative strives to ensure better working conditions for Apparel, Footwear & Accessories workers. We do this by promoting a safe, secure working environment. Helping organisations identify serious structural, fire and electrical safety risks, and providing them with sustainable solutions and improvements to address those risks.
While LABS focuses on the corporate responsibility to foster safety and respect for human rights, it in no way reduces the duty of governments and related enforcement agencies to ensure their citizens work in safe places. LABS engages with local governments to integrate best practices into policies.
LABS aims to improve worker safety in the apparel, foot wear and accessories industry by effectively identifying and mitigating the risks related to fire, electrical, and structural building safety and evacuation. LABS is a single-country based coherent and consistent worker-safety program to assess factories and provide a framework for monitoring and ensuring mitigation and remediation.
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To build a global mechanism to mitigate worker and building safety risks, multi-brand and local key stakeholder consultation and collaboration is essential.
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LABS is catalysing a transformative shift in business practices by championing responsible sourcing, gender empowerment, and the transition of the apparel sector towards sustainability, with a primary focus on worker safety. By promoting responsible sourcing, the initiative encourages businesses to prioritize suppliers committed to ethical and safe working conditions. Simultaneously, it actively supports gender empowerment, fostering inclusive workplaces that empower women in the industry.
Learn MoreLABS participants are a group of global brands and retailers, facilitated by IDH, who engage with local stakeholders like industry associations, CSOs, and governments and institutes to create better safety policies and provisions. These brands commit to work with the factories in a collaborative manner to work towards a safe working environment for the factory workers. Currently, the following brands are a part of the LABS Initiative.
Inspection firms assess factories to identify potential safety risks concerning fire, electrical systems, and structural integrity. These firms analyze assessment findings and suggest Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) to guide factories in the systematic remediation of identified issues. Through this collaborative approach, inspection firms contribute significantly to the enhancement of safety measures. The Inspection Firms associated with the program currently include:
Safety Training Firms provide comprehensive safety training, ensuring that factory employees are informed about critical aspects of occupational health and safety. This includes training for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) committees, empowering them with the skills needed to effectively contribute to a secure working environment. By imparting practical insights and best practices, Safety Training Firms enhance the overall safety culture within factories and foster a proactive and informed approach to addressing potential risks. The Safety Training firms associated with the program currently include:
Safety Training Firms provide comprehensive safety training, ensuring that factory employees are informed about critical aspects of occupational health and safety. This includes training for Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) committees, empowering them with the skills needed to effectively contribute to a secure working environment. By imparting practical insights and best practices, Safety Training Firms enhance the overall safety culture within factories and foster a proactive and informed approach to addressing potential risks. The Safety Training firms associated with the program currently include:
