Hiya! :bigwave:

I have done a search here, but cannot find what I am looking for.
We have in the past furnished our suppliers with a questionnaire relating to quality systems only and selected and monitored them on their ability to provide good products or service.

However, we now want to ask our suppliers questions on health & safety, environmental issues, human rights etc.

I am in a predicament as to who and who not to send the questionnaire to as we have a database of approx 70 suppliers ranging from cleaning staff to secure destruction of hard drives and images. We also outsource some processes oversees.

I believe we should only appraise those suppliers who are business critical, but saying that should we not also ensure that the suppliers of our pens, chairs and photocopying paper are paying their staff at least minimum wage and have adequate washroom facilities? Or that the supplier of our cardboard boxes has implemented a health & safety regime at their premises?

How do we choose??:bonk:

Have you defined business critical?

If all the new requirements apply to all, I would sent it to all of them. 70 suppliers is manageable.

I look at the things you are looking to assess as different from just quality critical purchases. You might be able to produce grade a widgets using parts that were produced by blind midget cannibals, being forced to work against their will, making pennies a day and being charged for bathroom breaks (my apologies in advance if I have offended anyone, it's only an example), but morally, your company may decide they prefer to spend more money elsewhere and know that workers are treated fairly. 70 suppliers is not many. (I wish that is all we had to worry about) I'm thinking you may be better off looking at this information from all of them. Who's to say that the pens you are buying didn't come from that place with the captive cannibals?

It comes back to what are you trying to assess and for what purpose?

I'd certainly want (for my own protection) to know that, say, a contracted in supplier to fix the airconditiong on the roof had good insurance and OHS!

But your cardboard box supplier might be a trifle miffed if you answer them questions they think are intrusive and you have no business asking. (Especially if they've got Transsylvanian midgets slaving out back without light, power or water - nice one, SteelMaiden). :D

Whereas if it's in line with your corporate objectives to also choose/assess/want your suppliers to be on board in various realms of corporate social responsibility, that's a different ballgame.

In the past we included detailed questions concerning health & safety, environmental issues, human rights etc. in our survey questionnaire. Recently our legal department ordered us to remove these questions! I suggest that you verify if adding them does not pose a similar problem. It might be enough just to ask if they are certified to the specific the standards; for example ISO 14001, etc.

I look at the things you are looking to assess as different from just quality critical purchases. You might be able to produce grade a widgets using parts that were produced by blind midget cannibals, being forced to work against their will, making pennies a day and being charged for bathroom breaks (my apologies in advance if I have offended anyone, it's only an example)

That is a great example....and a great laugh 1st thing in the morning.


Phil:biglaugh:

In the past we included detailed questions concerning health & safety, environmental issues, human rights etc. in our survey questionnaire. Recently our legal department ordered us to remove these questions! I suggest that you verify if adding them does not pose a similar problem. It might be enough just to ask if they are certified to the specific the standards; for example ISO 14001, etc.

I attached a file from the IKEA IWAY, this is one 3 pages, what they expect from suppliers regarding health & safety and environment.

Maybe it helps.
Regards,

TamTom