As the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted supply chains around the world, stakeholders have been engaging the Apprise Audit team to discuss potential modifications to the application as they adapt and adjust its operational usage in the evolving circumstances. For example, due to travel restrictions between and within countries, some auditors have been unable to complete routine factory inspections where they utilized Apprise Audit. The absence of these inspections may leave workers more vulnerable to exploitation as mechanisms to ensure accountability and compliance are interrupted. Although designed as a tool to be administered by a frontline responder and used by workers, stakeholders have expressed interest in modifying Apprise Audit to allow workers to instead self-administer the questionnaire. In other cases, local audit teams are able to visit factories, and there has been interest from stakeholders in adding new questions to the Apprise Audit questionnaire to inquire about COVID-19 related matters. These could include questions regarding the availability of hand-washing facilities, mask distribution and usage, adherence to social distancing guidelines and any other protocols mandated by governments or corporations that are applicable in factories. This will continue to support major corporations to understand practices in the factories that comprise their supply chains.

https://www.apprise.solutions

• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Thailand
• Viet Nam

Apprise Audit is a multi-lingual mobile phone application that was designed to overcome challenges associated with social compliance auditing and to improve frontline responders’ detection of indicators of labour exploitation and forced labour during worker interviews. Downloaded on the auditor’s phone and used to interview workers through an audio questionnaire, Apprise Audit is comprised of questions that assesses the working conditions of factories and other facilities in global supply chains. It was developed and refined by a group of stakeholders, which includes auditors, workers, brand representatives and human trafficking experts. Apprise Audit flags indicators of vulnerability adapted from the International Labour Organisation (ILO)’s “Indicators of Forced Labour”. Following the interview sessions, the responses are summarised and any vulnerabilities that were flagged are used to direct auditors’ on site inspections. Afterwards, interviews are uploaded and organised on a web-server which can be accessed by companies to analyse and track factories’ performances. This content management system allows authorised users to collate, analyse and track worker interview data. Apprise Audit is promoting digital transformation within supply chains of multinational corporations, enabling them to easily track labour exploitation within supply chains in order to make changes to working conditions.