Labs Program / Idh

The mission of IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative is to catalyse systemic change through collaborative action and to achieve market transformation for impact at scale. IDH convenes companies, CSOs, governments and others in public-private partnerships. Starting its operation in Vietnam in 2010, IDH has since established strong partnerships with businesses, government and civil society organizations working on coffee, tea, cocoa, spices/pepper, aquaculture and apparel/footwear sectors. In 2019, IDH together with brands have launched Life and Building Safety (LABS) Initiative in Vietnam. LABS Initiative is an industry-driven program, in which multiple brands and retailers are joining forces with public organizations to operate a scalable program to mitigate preventable fire, electrical and structural safety risks in key apparel and footwear producing countries in a targeted way. Many workers in key apparel producing countries work in unsafe environments which can have lethal consequences. That’s why it’s the mission of the Life and Building Safety (LABS) Initiative to provide safer working conditions for factory workers in the apparel and footwear industry. We organize our activities around identifying and solving risks related to fire and electrical hazards, structural building safety, and evacuation, so workers can lead better lives. This is done by developing country-specific solutions. Here, we create a life-safety program that delivers a harmonized framework for monitoring, assessment, risk reduction, and remediation. More details of the LABS Initiative can be read on its website: (http://www.labsinitiative.com)