The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) has published a Mandarin translation of its “Health & Safety Guidelines for Workers in Denim Finishing” report.
The report is a comprehensive guidance dedicated to helping denim finishing facilities provide a safe and healthy work environment that prevents accidents, injuries and illnesses. The guidance is an open-industry resource available to AAFA members and the broader community to drive health and safety for workers in the denim manufacturing industry.
“This guide is a supplement that can be used by denim finishing facilities to enhance health and safety practices and reduce risks to their workers and their organization,” Nate Herman, senior vice president for policy at the AAFA, said. “Our hope is that this translation will help move the needle forward in a region that supplies more than 15 percent of U.S. denim imports. We wish to thank Bureau Veritas for their critical technical support in making this Mandarin translation a reality.”
The AAFA “Health & Safety Guidelines for Workers in Denim Finishing” is produced by AAFA’s Safety in Denim Finishing Working Group, which is dedicated to the establishment of the most responsible health and safety practices for the industry.
The guidelines include benefits for suppliers, such as reducing accidents, injuries and illnesses in factories, which in turn increases morale and productivity. For buyers, following the guidelines improves reputation and scores in Higg FEM, ZDHC and Social & Labor Convergence Program (SLCP), as well as improvement in social compliance audit scores.
General, facility-wide guidelines are offered for noise, compressed air, chemicals management, ventilation, personal protective equipment (PPE) and emergency preparedness.
In addition, “Quicklists” simplify and enhance the communication of the most important aspects of this guide. Factory management or health and safety teams use the Quicklists as useful communication tools or checklists to ensure that proper procedures and work practices are in place.
Over the next few months, AAFA said it will translate the document into Vietnamese, Spanish, Bangla and Turkish. Combined with the Mandarin translation, those translations will cover the countries that supply nearly two-thirds of all U.S. denim imports.
