Business news : PUMA will sign Agreement on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh

Herzogenaurach, Germany, 4 June 2013 - The Sportlifestyle company PUMA announced at its stakeholder meeting "Talks at Banz" that it will sign the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Agreement set up by global trade union IndustryAll this week to ensure that the company's six supplier factories in Bangladesh adhere to high standards of social and working conditions, ensuring the safety and health of its workers. PUMA's Chief Commercial Officer Stefano Caroti pointed out that through signing the agreement PUMA's supplier factories will have to undergo independent safety inspections and audit reports will be made public. Carrying out repairs and renovations that result from the independent inspections are mandatory for the supplier.

"The agreement requires PUMA to underwrite the costs and to cut off business with any factory that refuses to make necessary safety upgrades. It gives workers and their unions a role in the process according to the non-profit Worker Rights Consortium," said Caroti at PUMA's stakeholder meeting at the Banz monastery in Bad Staffelstein in front of 67 participants from non-governmental organizations, academia, suppliers and corporations.

PUMA sources 11% of its apparel products from six supplier factories in Bangladesh. All PUMA suppliers in Bangladesh were A to B+-rated after having been audited by PUMA's audit team.
PUMA has defined clear mandatory standards for all suppliers in the "PUMA.Safe Handbook of Occupational Health and Safety," which includes specifications on working safety as well as the architecture and structural engineering aspects of their buildings (See Chapter 9 on http://about.puma.com/category/sustainability/puma-standard/).

Following the building collapse in Bangladesh in April, we immediately contacted all PUMA suppliers to receive confirmation from the suppliers that they are following these regulations and to request the structural engineering certificates for all buildings. Future audits of supplier factories will be carried out with a renewed focus on these aspects.

A special guest at PUMA's 10th annual stakeholder meeting - that focussed on the question "How to let Consumers live and support Sustainability" - was Nazma Akter, President of the Bangladesh Combined Garment Workers Federation and a former child worker in an apparel factory, who elaborated on the working conditions in Bangladesh supplier factories and called upon PUMA to increase the sourcing volumes from Bangladesh in order to support the important apparel industry of the country.
PUMA's stakeholder meeting took place from June 3 to 4, 2013.

A full list of PUMA suppliers is available on:
http://about.puma.com/category/sustainability/puma-standard/

Media Contact:
Kerstin Neuber - Corporate Communications - PUMA SE - +49 9132 81 2984 - kerstin.neuber@puma.com

ABOUT PUMA
PUMA is one of the world's leading Sportlifestyle companies that designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories. It is committed to working in ways that contribute to the world by supporting Creativity, SAFE Sustainability and Peace, and by staying true to the principles of being Fair, Honest, Positive and Creative in decisions made and actions taken. PUMA starts in Sport and ends in Fashion. Its Sport Performance and Lifestyle labels include categories such as Football, Running, Motorsports, Golf and Sailing. Sport Fashion features collaborations with renowned designer labels such as Alexander McQueen and Mihara Yasuhiro. The PUMA Group owns the brands PUMA, Cobra Golf and Tretorn. The company, which was founded in 1948, distributes its products in more than 120 countries, employs about 11,000 people worldwide and has headquarters in Herzogenaurach/Germany, Boston, London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://www.puma.com

Source Puma  through Press Release

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