Apple Issues 2014 Supplier Progress Reports--Details

Apple Supplier Responsibility

2014 Progress Report

Apple is deeply committed to expanding opportunities for the people who make

our products and ensuring these workers are treated with respect and dignity.

We will continue to work closely with our suppliers and stakeholders to provide

fair and safe workplaces and protect the environment wherever Apple products

are manufactured.

Highlights from Our 2014 Report

•

We launched the Apple Supplier Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) Academy,

an 18-month curriculum aimed at raising the level of EHS expertise in our supply

chain. In 2013, over 240 factory personnel

—

representing more than 270,000

workers

—

enrolled in this program.

•

We started a project to drive accountability for the vocational schools that place

student interns in our supplier facilities.

•

We drove our suppliers to achieve an average of 95 percent compliance with our

standard maximum 60-hour workweek. We tracked more than 1 million workers

weekly in this program.

•

We confirmed in January 2014 that all active, identified tantalum smelters in our

supply chain were verified as conflict-free by third-party auditors.

•

We released a list of the smelters and refiners whose tin, tantalum, tungsten, and

gold we use so it’s clear which ones have been verified as conflict-free and which

ones still need independent verification.

•

We launched a pilot of our Clean Water Program with 13 supplier sites

—

who

collectively use more than 41 million cubic meters of water per year

—

with a

goal to reuse a significant amount of treated process wastewater and recycle

water within the production process.

•

We continued to seek out abuses of migrant workers by conducting 33 audits

specific to this topic, including 16 factories not previously audited. We required

suppliers to reimburse these foreign contract workers US$3.9 million in excessive

fees paid to labor brokers, bringing our total reimbursements since 2008 to

US$16.9 million.

•

We have driven our suppliers to train more than 3.8 million workers on their

rights since 2008

—

including over 1.5 million in 2013 alone.

•

We conducted 451 audits at all levels of our supply chain

—

a 51 percent increase

from 298 audits in 2012

—

in facilities where nearly 1.5 million workers make

Apple products.

•

We strengthened our Supplier Code of Conduct and publicly released our Supplier

Responsibility Standards

—

a document with more than 100 pages outlining

Apple’s detailed expectations on labor and human rights, ethics, health and safety,

and environment.