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MY NAME ISLILY OUYANGI’m an environmental health and

safety auditor for HP in China. I’ve

been working for HP since 2003.

When HP Started auditing suppliers

in 2004, I spent four years training

our EHS auditor. Then I became a

full-time auditor in 2008.

These photos follow me and two of my fellow auditor on a

typical two-day supplier audit. They were taken with the kind

permission of our supplier in December 2009 and show how

we interact with factory management and workers. I am

grateful to the management for allowing us to document one

of our regular audits.

WE START EVERY AUDIT WITH AN OPEN MEETING

The group includes our audit team (in this

case me and my colleagues Emily Wang and

Ivy Liu, who are responsible for assessing

the labor, ethics and management. In this

meeting, we go over Hp’s social and

environmental responsibility program and

remind factory management of the

standards we expect from their facility.

It’s really important for us to have a good

relationship and to clearly convey our

expectations with the management at this

meeting, because it encourages them to take

our recommendations on-board.

MANAGEMENTLEADS US ON A TOUR,but we have access to any parts

of the facility we want to see.

We make sure to look

everywhere, behind doors and

in rooms that the managers

may not guide us to.

WHILE I WALK THROUGH THE FACTORY,I speak to managers and workers. Here, for

example, I am telling a worker that this

cleaning agent should be properly labeled as

hazardous, and that the work station needs a

notice showing correct emergency procedures

for working with the chemical. Because these

oversights were a relatively isolated incident,

it was a minor nonconformance. This assures

that the supplier will address this issue in

their corrective action plan, which HP will

verify in its follow-up audit. I also ask if they

know the correct equipment to wear to protect

against the chemical. These conversations help

indicate whether the correct training is being

provided.

AUDITS CAN ENCOURAGE GOOD

PRACTICES

When we worked with this management team at a

different factory, we recommend that they install a

barrier to prevent flooding if tanks in the wastewater

treatment facility leaked. They’ve taken our advice and

built a small curb around this tank.

WORKING FOR LONG PERIODSOver a conveyor belt presents an

ergonomics risk. In this situation the

risk for workers was too high

because the conveyor belt was not at

a comfortable height, so I advised

the management team to better

address these situations and to adopt

practices like job rotations to

minimize the risk of strains. This

factory received a minor

nonconformance for physically

demanding work because it lacked a

system to manage ergonomics risks

and had not trained its workers to

control them.

THERE ARE SOME CIRCUMSTANCESthat show management is on the

right track, but not quite there

yet. Here, for example, an enclosure

reduces the sound from a very noisy

stamping machine, which is a positive

step. However, there is someone

working inside the enclosure

temporarily which defeats the

purpose. This observation will

appear in HP’s final audit report.

FIRE SAFEIs an issue we monitor in our audits.

I often ask workers whether they

know how to safely leave the factory

if there is a fire, to check whether

fire safety training is being given

properly. I also check that the right

information is adequately visible so

workers can follow the correct

procedures. On this audit, the chart

provided was satisfactory.

TY

WE DON’T JUST INSPECT

FACTORY FLOORS,

but also communal areas such as canteens and

workers’ dormitories. This site is typical of other

factories and also has recreational spaces, such as

badminton courts and libraries. On-site health

clinics are also common in larger facilities.

THESE MACHINESare large rice cookers. The steam

escaping is quite hot and shows that

one is broken. I’m recommending to

the kitchen manager that they stop

using the broken device and put up a

barrier to protect workers from

being scalded. This problem will be

noted as an observation on HP’s

audit report.

A WORKER EXPLAINS TO MEHow vegetables are cleaned (this must be done

three times using fresh water). I’ve been on

other audits where water is used more than

once to wash vegetables, so it becomes dirty. In

this kitchen, they change the water every time

and use three different tanks, one after the

other. I also asked the kitchen manager what

else the tanks were used for, to check that

meat or poultry were not cleaned in the same

place as vegetables. On this occasion, everything

was done appropriately.

I KNOW THATit can be difficult for worker to

tell me the truth in front of their

bosses, so we always spend several

hours talking to them without their

supervisors around. In this photo,

my colleagues are talking to a small

group of workers that they

selected at random from a

production line of 75

WE WANT WORKERS TO BE HONEST WITH US,But often they are suspicious that

we will report to management what

they’ve said. I find the best way to

develop a good relationship with

workers is to spend a few minutes

developing rapport by asking them

about their background and

interests outside work. That’s why

my colleague Emily is doing here.

WE ALSO TAKE

INDIVIDUAL WORKERS

aside for private discussions. This sometimes

reveals additional information. Here, Ivy is

asking questions such as:

• Do you know about the Electronic Industry

code of conduct?

• How many hours did you work last month?

• Have you suffered inhumane treatment?

• Do you know how to calculate your salary, including overtime?

• Do you feel comfortable speaking to management?

• Do you have adequate hot water in your dormitory

These interviews corroborated findings from the factory tour

and the document review (next slide).

WE NEED THREE PIECES Of corroborating information to ensure there

are no nonconformances in each provision of

HP’s Electronic Industry Code of Conduct.

These can include items such as discussions with

workers, documentation about training courses,

or evidence of policies and procedures in

employee handbooks as pictured here. HP needs

to ensure employees are properly informed of

their rights and given access to grievance

procedures.

WE FINISH EACH AUDITWith a meeting with senior site

management, production

supervisors, and local social and

environmental responsibility staff.

I find it helpful to have them hear

directly from us the details of any

nonconformances we expect to

feature in the audit report,

because they will be responsible

for addressing them. Our audit

report is then delivered to the

factory within 30 days.