Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this tragedy. At Walmart, our goal is to positively impact global supply chain practices both by raising our own standards and by partnering with other stakeholders to improve the standards for workers across the industry. This is why we are focused on investing our resources in proactive programs that will address fire safety in the garment and textile industry in Bangladesh and prevent fires before they happen.
We have taken a number of steps to improve fire safety in Bangladesh, including:
- instituting a zero tolerance policy for unauthorized subcontracting and strengthened our fire safety standards in Bangladesh,
- contributing $1.6 million to launch the Environmental Health and Safety academy in Bangladesh to provide comprehensive training on fire safety and environmental, health and workplace safety, and
- continuing to actively work with key stakeholders to raise awareness of fire safety and establish best practices for fire prevention in Bangladesh to improve the industry as a whole.
###