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Health and Safety:
WORKPLACE CODE PROVISION: "Employers will provide a safe and healthy working environment to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of work or as a result of the operation of employer facilities."
Click here to access FLA Benchmarks for this provision.
FLA Year Two IEM Findings - Health and Safety
* Please note that these findings represent the 1,595 incidences of separate noncompliance issues as found in 105 of the 110 factories subjected to IEMs in Year Two.
Click here for more about the way this data was collected.
In all regions, the most commonly reported noncompliance issues related to Health and Safety, making up a total of 46 percent of all reported noncompliance in Year Two. As compared to other Code provisions, e.g., Freedom of Association, Harassment or Abuse, or Nondiscrimination, many Health and Safety issues are readily detectable through a careful visual and chemical inspection. This may in part explain its high rate of reported noncompliance vis-à-vis the other Code provisions. Nonetheless, the findings clearly indicate that Health and Safety issues are pervasive around the globe.
Click here to access a breakdown of Year Two reported noncompliance issues tallied according to the Health and Safety benchmarks.
In Year Two, FLA-accredited monitors uncovered some of the Health and Safety issues that are not strictly delineated in the FLA benchmarks, but which were important to bring to the attention of companies. For example, in one factory in Bangladesh, female workers were observed using the scrap dyed cloth from the factory floor for sanitary protection during menstruation and were therefore experiencing genital disorders. In another case in India, consultations with local resources showed that 80 percent of female garment workers were suffering from iron deficiency anemia. Issues such as these require investigation of root causes, which necessitate a more comprehensive approach to monitoring. To this end, the FLA is developing a new monitoring instrument and methods for training monitors to uncover patterns in the occurrence of noncompliance. The FLA Sustainable Compliance Project is designed to identify and address root causes of noncompliance as well.
With regard to remediating Health and Safety noncompliance, various participating companies have moved to create factory systems that prevent such issues from recurring in the future. For instance, some companies have encouraged employees to participate in worker Health and Safety committees. In one independently monitored facility, a company worked with a factory to establish a position for a Health and Safety inspector who is responsible for monitoring Health and Safety compliance on a periodic basis. In other factories in South and Southeast Asia, companies have contracted third parties to carry out health and safety awareness programs for workers and supervisors.
Please click here to visit the tracking charts to review how various companies have worked to remediate these and other issues.
To better understand how the data reported in this section was composed, click here
Link to:
FLA BENCHMARKS: HEALTH AND SAFETY
A. WORKPLACE CODE PROVISION: Employers will provide a safe and healthy working environment to prevent accidents and injury to health arising out of, linked with, or occurring in the course of work or as a result of the operation of employer facilities.
B. Benchmarks
- Employer will comply with applicable health and safely laws and regulations. In any case where laws and Code of conduct are contradictory, the higher standards will apply. The factory will possess all legally required permits.
- All documents required to be available to workers and management by applicable laws (such as policies, MSDS, etc.) shall be made available in the prescribed manner and in the local language or language spoken by majority of the workers if different from the local language.
- All applicable legally required or recommended elements of safe evacuation (such as posting of evacuation plans, unblocked aisles/exits, employee education, evacuation procedures, etc.) shall be complied with and workers shall be trained in proper safety, first aid, and evacuation procedures.
- All safety and medical equipment (such as fire fighting equipment, first aid kits, etc.) shall be in place, maintained as prescribed and accessible to the employees.
- Workers shall wear appropriate protective equipment (such as gloves, eye protection, hearing protection, respiratory protection, etc.) to prevent unsafe exposure (such as inhalation or contact with solvent vapors, noise, dust, etc.) to hazardous elements including medical waste.
- All chemicals and hazardous substances should be properly labeled and stored in accordance with applicable laws. Workers should receive training, appropriate to their job responsibilities, in the safe use of chemicals and other hazardous substances.
- To prevent unsafe exposure to hazardous chemicals, appropriate accommodations shall be made for pregnant women and minors as required by applicable laws in a manner that does not unreasonably disadvantage employees.
- All ventilation, plumbing, electrical, and lighting services shall be provided and maintained to conform to applicable laws and prevent hazardous conditions to employees in the facility.
- All safety and accident reports shall be maintained for at least one year, or longer if required by law.
- All production machinery and equipment shall be maintained, properly guarded, and operated in a safe manner.
- All facilities including factory buildings, toilets, canteens, kitchens, and clinics, shall be kept clean and safe and be in compliance with applicable laws.
- All food preparation shall be prepared, stored, and served in a sanitary manner in accordance with applicable laws. Safe drinking water should be available in each building.
- All dormitories shall be kept secure, clean and have safety provisions (such as fire extinguishers, first aid kits, unobstructed emergency exits, emergency lighting etc.). Emergency evacuation drills should also be conducted at least annually.
- Workers should be involved in planning for safety, including through worker safety committees.
| Health and Safety Benchmarks |
Number of Noncompliance Issues |
Percent of Total |
| Fire Safety Health and Safety legal compliance |
60 |
8% |
| Document Maintenance/ Accessibility |
40 |
5 % |
| Postings and Evacuation Procedure |
153 |
21 % |
| Safety Equipment |
89 |
12 % |
| PPE |
79 |
11 % |
| Chemical Management |
54 |
7 % |
| Chemical Management for Pregnant women and juvenile workers |
4 |
1 % |
| Ventilation/ Electrical/ facility maintenance |
69 |
9 % |
| Accident Record Maintenance |
17 |
2 % |
| Machinery Maintenance |
42 |
6 % |
| Sanitation in Facilities |
56 |
8 % |
| Sanitation in Dining Area |
17 |
2 % |
| Sanitation in Dormitories |
8 |
1 % |
| Worker Participation |
18 |
2 % |
| Health & Safety Other |
35 |
5 % |
| Total |
741 |
100 % |
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