Apple releases 2015 supplier progress report focusing on education, health, and safety

Tim Cook at Foxconn
Tim Cook at Foxconn (Image credit: Apple)

Apple has released its annual supplier responsibility report for 2015 today, touching on the ways in which it has made progress towards ensuring its suppliers' workers are treated fairly. Overall, the report focuses on improvements in key areas such as health and safety, working hours, and worker education.

In this years report, Apple says that it performed 633 audits on suppliers in 19 countries, and even made calls to 30,000 workers to ensure they were being treated fairly. On the topic of education, Apple says that it trained 2.3 million workers on their rights throughout 2014, and even launched a new app-based education program using iPads at 10 different sites. Additionally, Apple has made health and safety a top priority by enrolling 156 new suppliers and 392 more participants in its EHS academy, which it launched in 2013 with the goal of increasing education about fire safety, chemical management, and ergonomics.

On the topic of labor rights, Apple notes that it has "achieved 92 percent compliance" with its 60-hour maximum workweek, something for which the company recently came under fire after the BBC aired an undercover investigation into Apple's supply chain last December.

Finally, Apple says that it has made a concerted effort to eliminate bonded labor, a practice in which contract workers often find themselves in debt to their employer for recruitment costs incurred from going through a third-party recruiter:

To protect foreign contract workers, Apple required our suppliers to reimburse US$3.96 million in excess fees to over 4500 foreign contractors in 2014, bringing the total reimbursements to US$20.96 million to over 30,000 foreign contract workers since our program began in 2008. To drive change, we also audited 100 percent of our top 200 facilities that were most at risk of hiring foreign workers, conducting nearly 70 bonded labor assessments.

For much more, including ways in which Apple is acting to reduce its environmental impact, you can check out the full report from the source link below.

Source: Apple{.nofollow}

Dan Thorp-Lancaster