Services Finder Risk Identification and Management Advisory Services
As the global marketplace expands, the ability to thoroughly assess sourcing risks in new and existing supply chains is critical. UL helps businesses factor sustainability and social responsibility into their sourcing decisions.
Overview
Definition
UL helps customers identify and manage supply chain risks with in-depth business intelligence, including global and country risk indices, emerging markets research, and up-to-date labor standards compliance information for more than 140 countries.
Benefits
Failing to factor sustainability and social responsibility into business decisions can impact quality, cost and time within the value chain and expose companies to costly compliance issues. UL provides the tools needed to help identify and manage risks so companies can avoid or minimize issues that may adversely impact brand value.
Our services include:
UL's Global Risk Index measures social and labor risks by examining economic, social, political and labor rights factors. Globally respected indices from groups such as the United Nations, Transparency International, The Heritage Foundation and Freedom House are analyzed, normalized and scored for side-by-side comparisons by our extensive network of researchers. Key to the report is UL's internal data, anonymously gathered from more than 20,000 audits each year. This micro-level information from workplace assessments is aggregated and provides rich insights into the practical reality across the supply chain.
Country risk profiles are developed for every country in the world and track responsible sourcing news and trends in 10 categories, including work hours and overtime, wages and benefits, environmental responsibility, and abuse of labor.
Customized country risk profiles provide research on customer-specific topics. These risk profiles are designed specifically to help meet each of a customer's unique global sourcing needs and program measurements criteria.
Customized country risk calculators and scorecards examine relevant social, political and economic risk metrics. UL works with our customers to choose 15-20 metrics that impact their businesses the most, in order to create a detailed picture of relevant risks.
Emerging markets research provides empirical studies on labor, human rights and environmental risks related to specific countries and industries.
Deliverables
Details
Products this service applies to
Apparel and textiles, dietary supplements, electronics, electrical, food and beverage, footwear and leather goods, general consumer merchandise, health and beauty care, household chemicals, jewelry, watches, OTC/pharmaceuticals, premiums and promotional products, store brands/private label, toys, nursery and children's roducts
Applicable Standards
Conformity Certification for the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)
Promotes responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices in a transparent and accountable manner throughout the jewelry industry from mine to retail
Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP)
Provides a global cross-industry platform to promote the exchange of knowledge and best practices in order to build comparability and transparency between existing social compliance and environmental compliance systems
Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI)
Business-led initiative that provides a common code of conduct and supports efforts toward building an ethical supply chain by providing a step-by-step development-oriented system, applicable to all sectors and all sourcing countries
Sedex (Supplier Ethical Data Exchange)
A database designed to capture audit data and allow audited sites to interact with other members of the supply chain to show updates on efforts toward corrective action
International Finance Corporation (IFC) Sustainability Framework
Set of performance standards and guidelines on social and environmental sustainability for financial investing
European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
A clearly defined set of standards around governance and sustainability for financial investing
Additional Information
For more information on UL's risk identification and management advisory services, please e-mail us at RSinfo@ul.com.
