*International Accord helps us prevent and mitigate potential violations related to occupational health and safety

IDENTIFIED POTENTIAL VIOLATIONS

At hummel we view Occupational Health and Safety as the most significant human right risks to the external workers. The Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than a thousand workers demonstrated how important building- fire- and electrical safety is, among other things within the scope of Occupational Health & Safety. This is why hummel is part of The International Accord, a building safety initiative, in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The initiative inspects factories and ensures building, electric and fire safety follows agreed upon international standards. International Accord also provides training sessions for factory staff and a complaint mechanism which goes out to all member brands.      

We furthermore see Overtime and Unauthorized Outsourcing as serious concerns. To prevent and mitigate risks of contributing to overtime and outsourcing, we have established a data orientated forecasting team to ensure that our suppliers receive reliable forecasts for their production planning, and we use our local QC and office staff to confirm actual production sites. Overtime and outsourcing have often been associated with the fast fashion industry, bad forecasting, changes to products and short lead times.

Forced Labour (including international and domestic migrant exploitation) and Child Labour remains a potential violation and a deep concern in the countries we operate in, according to several NGO´s and government reports. hummel has strict policies against forced labour and child labour, yet constant monitoring and accountability is needed to enforce our policies. hummel has identified geographical areas and stages in our supply chain that are especially vulnerable to violations. hummel aims to prevent the potential violations through increased supply chain traceability on certain materials, no-sourcing policies for certain areas, increased monitoring and presence in the factories, DNA-testing for fabric origin and supplier engagement. It must be stressed that hummel has never seen nor been made aware of forced labour or child labour in its supply chain, which is why it is marked as a potential violation based on NGO reports related to countries, we work in. Forced Labour and Child Labour is more likely to take place in production made for local markets, unauthorized factories, the raw material stages of production and other stages/areas far from visits from brands, government, and private inspections. hummel´s presence is often limited to its contractual suppliers, which is why we share our human rights concerns with our suppliers and expect them to visit their suppliers as well as cascading our code of conduct or their own. Going forward hummel will increase its CSR focus on factories beyond contractual suppliers.

For other general human rights violations often associated with the Garment and Footwear sector we refer to the “OECD´s Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector”, here violations related to living wages, sexual harassment, trade unions and collective bargaining, hazardous chemicals, greenhouse gas emissions are mentioned among others.

We continue to invest and make use of new and better methods and technologies for prevention and mitigation of potential violations.