Adidas 2000 Annual Report Download - page 50

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Rapid Progress in Social and Environmental Affairs
The adidas-Salomon Group has always been committed to
ensuring socially responsible, safe and environmentally sustain-
able practices both within our Company and our supply chain.
This year, we underlined our commitment to these goals by
further promoting our “Standards of Engagement” (SOE). These
standards lay out our requirements for labor, health, safety and
environmental issues in our suppliers’ factories as well as being
the basis for our international factory monitoring program.
Complete SOE Team in Place
The SOE program is being implemented by an internal monitor-
ing team made up of 23 people. These individuals come from
13 different countries and have a very broad range of experi-
ence in areas such as production and sourcing, chemistry, labor
law, manufacturing and environmental management, and non-
governmental organizations. They are organized into three
regional teams covering Asia, the Americas and Europe. When-
ever possible, our field auditors come from the communities
in which they are working, which also means that they have
first-hand knowledge of local regulations. This enables us
to communicate more effectively with both workers and
management.
As well as monitoring the status of factories, the key role of the
SOE team is to support and train our business partners to con-
tinuously upgrade and improve working conditions. This clearly
symbolizes our Company’s belief that open and responsible
partnerships with our suppliers are the fundamental basis for
social, environmental and economic gains in the supply chain.
Highlights in 2000
The “Standards of Engagement” were recently updated, incor-
porating new research and feedback from key organizations
and suppliers, to define more clearly our goals and guidelines.
These standards act as a benchmark for the SOE team for
factory monitoring and they also provide factory management
with concrete starting points for conditions in the workplace.
In 2000, following the formation of the complete SOE team,
factory monitoring and training sessions given by the team
increased substantially. The majority of factories of our inter-
national business partners were visited and action plans for
further improvement were developed together with factory
management. In the rare cases where indications of serious
non-compliance were found and where the management
refused to cooperate, business relations were terminated.
This course of action is a last resort. adidas-Salomon prefers
to stay in partnership and to work from the inside to help
encourage factory improvements.
In 2000, the SOE team provided 150 training sessions to
suppliers on fire safety, mechanical safety, labor law and
environmental management. In 2001 and 2002, this will
increase to 200 sessions per year.
As a basis for training, a health, safety and environment manual
for the footwear and textile industry was presented to our
business partners in April 2000. It provides them with clear
and practical advice to help improve working conditions and
environmental performance.
adidas-Salomon actively seeks partnerships with a range of
organizations in order to improve standards in the workplace
and to minimize the environmental impact of factory operations.
In Vietnam, for example, we are working with suppliers, trade
unions and governmental and non-governmental organizations
on a project to improve health and safety in shoe factories.
Social & Environmental Report