Sri Trang Gloves Emerges as a Leader in Workplace Health and Safety
- First ILO-certified glove manufacturer globally
- The Company’s production facilities have been recognised for high standards of human rights care and workplace health and safety
Singapore, 19 December 2022 – Sri Trang Gloves (Thailand) Public Company Limited (“the Company”), a world-leading glove producer, is the first glove manufacturer to successfully clear all eleven indicators of forced labour used by the United Nations International Labour Office (“ILO”) audit on workplace health and safety to assess the standard of working conditions for employees. Sri Trang Gloves’ Hat Yai, Sadao, Surat Thani and Trang production facilities have additionally received the Business Social Compliance Initiative (“BSCI”) award, while its Hat Yai and Trang production facilities were further recognised by Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit (“SMETA”) for excellence in humane labour standards, health safety, environment and business ethics.
The ILO certification, which the Company’s Hat Yai, Surat Thani and Trang facilities obtained, recognises the Company’s best practices in managing and caring for its workers. The Company cleared the stringent requirements for the audit’s eleven indicators, namely Abuse of vulnerability, Deception, Restriction of movement, Isolation, Physical and sexual violence, Intimidation and threats, Retention of identity documents, Withholding of wages, Debt bondage, Abusive working and living conditions and Excessive overtime. This achievement is a first for the glove manufacturing industry worldwide, and a corporate milestone for Sri Trang Gloves as it remains committed to show care and love for its employees and local communities.
The Company’s Hat Yai, Sadao, Surat Thani and Trang production facilities obtained the highest possible “A” grade rating across all categories of the BSCI audit which included areas such as fair remuneration, occupational health and safety, as well as environment protection, and is the only glove manufacturer to receive these top scores. The audit methodology is based on ILO’s labour and international regulations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and seeks to improve the social performance of suppliers and enhance working standards.
The SMETA accolade received by Sri Trang Gloves’ Hat Yai and Trang facilities, is based on Sedex's social audit methodology that enables businesses to assess their sites and suppliers to understand working conditions in their supply chains.
In addition to its workplace health and safety achievements, the Company is also at the industry forefront in its environmental focus. As the only glove manufacturer that uses 100% renewable energy to manufacture its gloves, its greenhouse gases output level is the lowest in the gloves sector. The Company relies on the holistic integration of sustainability in its supply chain to create risk-free and safe gloves for its customers.
Commenting on the Company’s achievements, CEO Jarinya Jirojkul, said, “The workplace health and safety recognitions affirm our commitment to being an employer-of-choice and our commendable progress in becoming a global leader in corporate social responsibility. We are proud of the high standard of care and work environment that we provide for our workers and are looking to obtain the relevant certifications for our newer facilities. We expect to ramp up production capacity to 4.8 billion gloves by end-2022 and to exceed our 80% export target. Customers can use Sri Trang Gloves’ products with full confidence that our gloves are produced with the best-in-class ethical standards and utmost care for the environment.”
The recognition of Sri Trang Gloves’ efforts in caring for its employees comes as countries like the US and Canada are taking a firm stand against glove makers that abuse their workers, by terminating sizeable government purchasing contracts with these companies. In early December, the UK Department of Health was forced to scrap the way it sources medical gloves for its National Healthcare Service, after its buyers paid millions to a supplier accused of modern slavery.
