"Safety initiative for apparel-footwear units in Vietnam", 13 August 2019

The Sustainable Trade Initiative Vietnam (IDH) and the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association (VITAS) recently launched the ‘Life and Building Safety Initiative’ (LABS) in Hanoi to boost safer working conditions for apparel-footwear factory workers. The initiative will assist factories to meet domestic and international requirements on fire, electrical and structural safety.

IDH, in coordination with a number of large brands and retailers, such as Bestseller, Gap, Li & Fung, PVH, Target, VF Corporation and Walmart, built a set of standards applied by these brands to assist Vietnamese enterprises to fulfil requirements from international brands and distributors, according to a Vietnamese media report...

...LABS is an industry-driven programme, in which multiple brands and retailers are joining forces with public and civil society organisations to operate a scalable programme to eliminate preventable fire, electrical and structural safety risks in key apparel and footwear producing countries in a targeted way.