Ethical Policy
We have been importing from around the world for since 1998 and our policy has always been to try and influence the suppliers we deal with in the welfare of their individual employees. Therefore instead of donating money to overseas charities we have our suppliers ethically audited and work with them to improve the factories for the benefit of their own employees.
In the early days we tended to visit factories very regularly ourselves, however over time as the factories themselves have got larger and more technical and as the distance between them has increased (the journey from our candle factory to canvas factory takes 14 hours, but they are both located in China) we've begun to structure our standards and use unannounced factory audits.
We audit our factories according to Ethical Trade Initiative. Audits generally take 2 to 3 people a couple of days to do. The idea is that once an audit has been done, the supplier has an agreed time frame (normally immediate or 30 days) to bring thisgs up to our standard. Below is an outline of what our auditors failed a factory for that we were proposing to use.
However the key to understand is that providing the factory puts in place a system for meeting all these faults within an agreed time frame, they know that we will work with them going forward. Once they've met these standards, we will continue to audit them and work with them to improve their standards even further. Often a supplier will begin with a factory with not even basic emergency evacuation procedures in place and pretty quickly come to realize that looking after their workers, increases their business with us.
To be clear we are not a charity, but our founder Michael is quite clear - he sees our relationships with our supplier, like our customers, to be a long term relationship and as such we are fully prepared to work with them to raise the standards in their factories and raise the standards of our products.
Audit Improvements required for TM Factory, Ningbo China 2/2/09
1. To respect the workers' right of freedom of association and collective bargaining; to set up a trade union or other parallel mechanism. To improve the communication channel between management and workers.
2. To pass the fire safety assessment from fire security and safety department, and to obtain the building fire safety certification
3. To provide adequate emergency light, evacuation indication sign and suitable escape route plan at all fire exits and evacuation routes of the workshops, and storehouse
4. To conduct at least one fire drill and fire training per year;
5. To record all training and drill-related activities in documents and pictures; all files shall be well kept.
6. Electrical switch shall be covered with fire-resistant plastic tube.
7. To post safety operation guidelines on machines or in conspicuous places in the workplace. To instruct the workers to operate machines in compliance with the guidelines.
8. To install fire alarm device where acute work-related injury may occur.
9. To provide one first aider per 50 workers in the workplace. To guarantee one first aider on-site in each workshop.
10. To install eye-wash and cleaning facility in poisonous and hazardous workplace where acute work-related injury may occur
11. To provide free charge of occupational health examination for workers at occupational hazardous posts before they take up the posts, when they are in the posts (at least once a year) and when they leave the posts; to set up personal occupational health tracking files for these workers.
12. Monetary penalty shall not be implemented as a disciplinary restriction measure. To remove this policy and announce this to all employees.
13. To pay statutory overtime premium in accordance with the requirement of Labour Law of PRC: 150% for ordinary overtime, 200% for rest day's overtime, and 300% for public holiday's overtime
14. To reduce working hours, the total working hours per week should not exceed 48 hours, and to obtain the permission of the comprehensive working hour system from local labour bureau.
15. To pay social insurance for all employees according to the statutory requirement
16. To display the Chinese version of ETI Base Code in conspicuous places in the workplaces, dormitory and worker canteen; to train workers to be aware of the code and of their basic rights.
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