Due Diligence for Healthy Workplaces in the European Tanning Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility is vital to pursue the systemic changes needed within business and value chains to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.un.org/ sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-developmentgoals/). The fashion industry is no exception. Much needs to be done in Global Value Chains of the fashion industry to redress reputation, regain its appeal and respect its ambitions. COTANCE and industriAll-Europe, the leather sector's European Social Partners, want to spearhead this process in their Industry. The health & safety in tannery workplaces represents a key priority for leather value chains and the Social Dialogue at sector level is the right instrument for setting Due Diligence standards which are technically feasible, appropriate and effective, and can lead businesses to exploit new opportunities and gain enhanced competitiveness. In the frame of an EU sponsored Social Dialogue project, with the support of the University of Northampton (UK), was launched a survey to find out more about the levels of maturity and integration of health and safety practices in tannery workplaces and its communication along the leather value chain. This paper presents the main outcomes from this survey (http://www.euroleather.com/index.php/ documents/245-due-diligence-survey-report).