This 32nd synthesis report which covers assessments done in 393 factories. The main findings are presented below:
Following a downward trend during the period 2010 – 2013, the overall compliance levels have gone up slightly during the reporting period;
♦ The top ten non compliance issues remain the same as those of previous years and include, amongst others overtime and issues around Occupational Safety and Health. Although resolving some of these issues requires significant capital investments, many can be addressed through the development of comprehensive OSH management systems.
♦ Non compliance on overtime, both overtime being an exception as well as ensuring that overtime does not exceed 2 hours per day, remain high, respectively 94% and 76%. Non‐compliance on this issue is primarily due to both factory practices as well as pressure from actors along the supply chain.
♦ One year of public reporting has demonstrated important improvements, among others on severance payments, emergency preparedness and around payment of bonuses. Not all the 21 critical issues that are part of the public reporting demonstrate improvements and thus the programme will continue to measure change and work with its partners to ensure impact.
♦ Although overall compliance levels show a slight increase, there are areas with positive as well as negative change. Positive changes are most commonly due to greater commitment on the part of the employer to address working conditions, increased worker‐management cooperation at the factory level and greater commitment or pressure from the buyer with the factory to make change.
♦ Negative changes can be due to a decline in the factory’s business, leading them to deprioritize working conditions, change in management or not sustainably addressing working conditions.
This report also shows how compliance levels have gone up since the start of the programme. Not only overall compliance levels have gone up since 2001, the levels of factory level compliance during first visits have also gone up considerably, which suggest that over time, the awareness of factories on working conditions has gone up.